BLUEBERRY-BANANA YOGURT POPS!

Hot, humid days call for cold treats but because I try to refrain from as much artificial fructose-glucose as possible (ie: anything not in fresh fruit form), I can't consume copious amounts of popsicles and freezies as I used to.

Confession time: I did consume 1/2 a No Name freeze pop with Sean when he picked me up from work on Thursday as we had some in our work freezer. I also consumed a whole one on Friday after work because my dad didn't want to split one with me. I figured that splitting a whole one wouldn't result in a fructose-glucose migraine attack and I was right. So far-so good with the whole freeze pop consumption but the day is still young.

In an effort to make healthy, all-natural popsicles, here's my recipe for blueberry-banana yogurt pops, which are high fructose corn syrup-free, yay!

BLUEBERRY-BANANA YOGURT POPSICLES
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup blueberries (I prefer firm blueberries)
- 3/4 cup of yogurt
- juice of 1/4 of a lemon
- maple syrup (optional, if your bananas are not ripe)

Directions:

1. Blend bananas in Magic Bullet (or your blender/food processor/Vita Mix).
2. Add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour into 8 ice-pop molds, pop on the lids and carefully transfer to freezer.
4. Wait. At least 8 hours. Ugh! It's best to leave the house if your house is not air-conditioned like mine, because it's unwise to open the freezer to cool yourself off as the popsicles would take even longer to freeze.

Okay so yeah, that isn't really a recipe per se but there are ingredients and proper measurements, which is a more than I can say for most of the food I post on here. Honestly, this popsicle recipe is dead simple. I took a small taste of my yogurt mixture before pouring into the popsicle molds and cannot wait for them to set. Mmmm...fruity, yogurty goodness.

I'll report back with the results.

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I'm back as promised. A little bit late, I'll admit...but I've been busy; I've watched the FIFA World Cup, gone to Caplansky's again, seen Despicable Me, cooled down at Sean's air-conditioned house and more.

Here are the finished results of the frozen yogurt pops:As you can see (or maybe not), a non-air-conditioned house on a hot day means that your frozen pop will melt pretty darn quickly. You're going to have to eat this fast. Pretty fast. It's okay though because there will be 7 more waiting for you in the freezer. Yum.

ILLEGALLY HOT

This is a kind of hot I am NOT down with. I don't care what anyone else in town thinks or says about me but I hate the heat. Ironically, with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. It was 28.5C earlier today but felt more like 32 or something like that with the humidity. Tomorrow is going to be 29C but feel like 35C with the humidity--not cool! It makes me angry. It makes my angry. I get heat rashes, my face gets red, my whole body feels like it's burning up, my head starts to hurt and I get grumpy. I get really, really, really grumpy.

I've spent much of the afternoon doing nothing but sitting infront of my laptop streaming past episodes of Top Chef Masters and sipping on water with lemon, lime and cucumber slices. I'm trying to move as little as possible. It doesn't help that my windows are curtain-less, a result of my parents getting our windows redone a few YEARS ago. Yep, you read that right...we had our windows redone years ago but I am still curtain-less.

I still managed to bake earlier this afternoon as I had planned but stuck to one recipe instead of two. Hey, you're lucky I baked at all, what with the oven having to be turned on and having to actually mix things in a bowl instead of using my trusted KitchenAid stand mixer. I followed The Single Dish's for Raspberry Cinnamon muffins but used all-purpose flour (we're out of whole wheat flour and today is a holiday so no non-Asian stores are open) and organic strawberry jam (because that's what I picked up from Walmart). So in essence I followed the original recipe that she followed from MyRecipes.com.

Strawberry Cinnamon Muffins
from MyRecipes.com via The Single Dish

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt (I used organic plain yogurt, although adding 1/4 tsp of vanilla would have been a good idea)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (I melted my butter and let it cool a little bit)
- 3 tbsp 1% low-fat milk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten (I didn't beat my egg)
- Cooking spray (I have a can of Pam I have to use up otherwise I'm not a fan of cooking spray)
- 1/4 cup strawberry jam
- Muffin topping: mixture of 1 tbsp of sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Rough directions (aka "my directions, not from MyRecipes.com")

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Prepare muffin tins. You have two options (cue memories of Choose Your Own Adventure books): Option #1: spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Option #2: Line muffin tin with muffin liners and spray those with cooking spray. I just went ahead with Option #3 (fooled ya, didn't I?): spray 6 muffin tins with cooking spray and line the remaining 6 with muffin liners and spray those with cooking spray too. (I actually did this because I wanted to see which method I preferred better, plus I'm getting a little tired of all those used muffin liners. They're actually quite a waste of money.)
3. Mix first five ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt) together. I usually use a whisk but have been known to use a fork if the whisk is already dirty from other cooking/baking. It works just as well in my opinion.
4. Make a "well" in the center and add the next four ingredients (butter, milk, egg and yogurt). Fold wet and dry ingredients together with a spatula. Do NOT overmix!
5. Fill muffin tin (or muffin liners) halfway with batter. Divide the 1/4 cup of jam between the 12 muffin tins, placing a small spoonful in the center of the batter. I did this to keep things neat and tidy.
6. Sprinkle muffin topping evenly over each muffin and then bake for 15 minutes.

When your muffins are done and you've let them cooled--perhaps you've gone out for 90 minutes to get your nails done and pick up groceries at the Asian market (two of the only things you can do on a public holiday)--your muffins will look like this:
I dived into one as soon as I could and it was amazing. Considering it only contained 1/4 of butter, it tasted really rich but still light and airy. The strawberry jam center wasn't too overpowering either. I used organic strawberry jam with no additives so it wasn't as strong or sugary-sweet as one of those regular brands would have been but I liked it that way. Plus the slightly crunchy top from the sugar and cinnamon was a great addition. Sean loved it too. I told him about the organic jam situation but he said he liked it. He actually said it was one of his favourite things that I have baked. Yippee! To make the top even crunchier, next time I would use turbinado sugar with the cinnamon. Mmm...I can't wait until the next batch I make! Ooh and maybe using some wildberry jam instead...mmm.

Rewinding back the day a little bit...lunch consisted of fried vermicelli noodles with pork and some various veggies including green onions (or scallions, if you prefer) and that's pretty much all I can remember. Whoops. The old mind ain't what she used to be!

KALE CHIPS MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER

It's a little bit before 8 in the evening and can you believe that it's 27C or 81F? That's just f'ing insane. I am not down with this weather. My cheeks are red and feel like they're burning and a heat rash that began from yesterday's chemistry prep is starting to blister. Not cool. I feel miserable. I feel completely and utterly miserable. I've felt sick all week long.

I also have a migraine. No surprise there. I don't know whether it was someone's horrendous use of perfume or what, but midway through the workday, the migraine came a callin'. UGH!!!! Frustration does not even begin to explain how I feel. From the stomach cramps to the nausea to the migraines to the overall body aches--it's just plain ridiculous now. Granted, I know I'm living on "borrowed time" but c'mon, will someone just give me a break already??

Anyway, in more awesome food news, I made kale chips tonight! I followed a mixture of Kath's recipe found here and Smitten Kitchen's recipe found here. I made two batches, baking both at 300F for 20 minutes. For the first batch I used garlic salt as the seasoning and for the second batch I used ground Parmesan cheese. I would have also used fine sea salt but I just plum forgot. Actually, it was the migraine but whatevs.

After 20 minutes, I took both pans out of the oven and let them cool slightly before popping one into my mouth. Mmmm...kale chip heaven! Then I popped another and another and another. I stopped myself before my "taste testing" got out of control and let the kale chips cool completely.

Then I stored them in my trusty Christmas tin:
And of course, I noshed on a few more before heading out with my dad to print some old photos of Sean. I'm trying to get caught up on our photo albums and am currently working on September of 2007:


Check out that chippy goodness one more time:
Seriously, these are so addictive. They're so light and airy and who the hell needs the pre-packaged, overpriced crap at Whole Foods (sorry WF), when you can make your own for $1.99 a bunch? Aaaaand, even better news, the batch that I made was only half of the bunch! So I've still got half a bunch of kale waiting in the fridge just anticipating the moment they get to be turned into yummy chips.

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Elina over at Healthy and Sane is hosting a giveaway for 1 of 5 items from CSN Stores. All you have to do to win is of course, head on over to her blog and enter the giveaway! The prizes range from a cookbook holder, a crockpot (what I'm vying for), a digital food scale, a George Foreman grill or a chip and dip bowl. All fantastic prizes and one of them could be yours. Definitely head on over to Healthy and Sane for your chance to win. Also, be sure to check out some of Elina's other blog posts as she is definitely one of my top three daily blog reads.