A Popping Good Time

If you're not ready to work in a hot kitchen with your child, try these cool recipes instead. No oven or stove required, so don't worry. Read on for recipes, tips and more!

 

PRETTY PLEASE, CAN I HAVE A POPSICLE?

Thirst-quenching, cold and delicious, popsicles are so easy to make you'll be wondering why you ever bought them. You can get special popsicle moulds, or just use a plastic drink cup and a wooden popsicle stick.

Once they have frozen solid, take them out of their moulds, wrap them individually in parchment paper, or pop them into a Ziploc bag, then help your child write the flavour and date down with a permanent marker. Now your moulds are free for another round of experimentation!

Basic popsicles: You can freeze just about any liquid you want - think lime juice, orange juice, Ribena, lemon tea of even a fizzy drink. Liven things up by using more than one flavour - mix it up or freeze each flavour layer as you go.

Easy fruitsicles: For a healthier twist, whizz up your child's favourite fresh fruit in a blender and then freeze the mixture. Try mixing more than one - watermelon and lime for plenty of vitamin C, or banana and coconut for a touch of fibre, for example. You can even leave a piece of whole (unblended) fruit in each mould - a personal favourite is fresh pieces of strawberry in home-made lemonade. Yum!

Yogurt on the go: For a creamier popsicle, add a little yogurt. Choose a low-fat, low-sugar yogurt and blend with your choice of fruit. If that's simply too much effort, one mum has a nifty time-saving tip: Buy mini-pots of yogurt, cut a slit in the top of each pot, insert a popsicle stick and freeze. Voila! Mini yogurt pops without any fuss or muss!

 

Fancy popsicles: Once you've gotten hang of things, try more complicated popsicle recipes. This one creates such pretty popsicles your child may not want to eat them!

2 cups blended watermelon
1 fresh young Thai coconut
Juice of 1 lime
3 kiwi fruits
Popsicle moulds

1. Fill each mould about 2/3 full with the blended watermelon. Insert sticks and freeze.
2. Blend coconut water and coconut flesh together and fill half the remaining space in the mould. Freeze again.
3. Peel the kiwi fruit and blend. Fill the mould and freeze.
4. Unmould and admire your handiwork!

SCREAMING FOR ICE CREAM

Ice cream can be a little more complicated to make, but this recipe is easy enough for a young child - especially if you can give him a hand with making sure the bags are well sealed.

Most children absolutely love the shaking and best of all, the ice cream can be eaten straight out of the bag so cleaning up is a cinch!

 

Please note that the following recipe only makes one serving (roughly 250ml or 1 cup) of ice cream, so you can double or triple up as necessary, depending on how many children are involved!

Ice cubes (enough to fill a large freezer bag about half full)
Half cup light cream
Half cup whole milk
Half cup salt (the bigger the grains, the better)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 small Ziploc bag
1 large Ziploc bag
Your child's favourite ice cream fixings - chocolate chips, peanuts, jelly beans, Orea cookies, strawberry syrup...

1. Combine sugar, cream, milk, and vanilla in the smaller bag and seal it well.
2. Put the salt and ice into the large bag.
3. Put the smaller bag into the larger bag and seal well. You may want to double check your child's bag to make sure it won't spill.
4. Shake! It should take about five minutes for the mixture to firm up. Stop when you reach ice-cream consistency.
5. Open the small bag, add your favourite fixings and enjoy!