Heat Wave Popsicles!

Michael and I live in Venice beach, and these last two weeks have been BRUTAL! It is so hot. Today I actually ventured east of Lincoln in to Hollywood and broke out into a sweat the second I left the card. Though summer is winding down, the heat sure as hell is kicking in. Best way to beat it….popsicles. I don’t know about you guys, but I am very fond of sweets that aren’t overly sugary, so we came up with four different popsicle flavors; two creamy, and two fruity. These are delicious, super easy, healthy, and in the matter of an hour you have yourself a cold snack to take to the beach. Just make sure you eat it before it melts!!!
*I bought a café mocha from Starbucks because I don’t drink coffee and for the life of me have no idea how to make it!

**Because there is no sugar added to these, the lime one can be very tart, so add any if you like. It is all a matter of preference.

*** Popsicle molds usually come in 4, so buy 3 to make all of these at once.

Our flavors are:

Café Mocha Raspberry Bliss
Coconut Banana Almond Milk Surprise
Mango Papaya Pineapple Fiesta in Your Mouth
Lime Orange Delight

Ingredients: makes 3 popsicles
Café Mocha Raspberry Bliss:
½ cup raspberries
Tall Café Mocha from Starbucks

Coconut Banana Almond Milk Surprise:
1 ripe banana
½ cup coconut almond milk
2 Tlb. Coconut milk

Mango Papaya Pineapple Fiesta in Your Mouth
1/3 of a really ripe mango
¼ of a papaya
3 Tlb. Crushed pineapple
¼ cup pineapple juice

Lime Orange Delight:
4 Limes
2 juicing oranges

Café Mocha Raspberry Bliss

Take the raspberries and using a fork crush them, then split them among the four molds and drop them into the mold. Next pour the café mocha until you reach the top.

Banana Almond Milk Surprise

Slice up 1/3 of the banana into slivers and set aside, take the rest of the banana and mash it up with the coconut milk, split the mix  amongst the four molds, and then line the sides with a few of the banana slivers so that when they freeze you can see the banana. Next pour in the coconut almond milk until it fills to the top, and if need be use a knife to move around the banana mix so that it seeps in.

Mango Papaya Pineapple Fiesta in Your Mouth

Mush up the mango and divide and pour into the four molds, next dice up the papaya super small and divide amongst the four. Next….place some crushed pineapple in the four and then pour pineapple juice until the top.

Lime Orange Delight

Squeeze three of the limes, and thinly slice and remove the rind from the remaining one. If you are not in to tart things, add a  Tlb. of sugar to the lime juice. Pour the juice in and line the side of the mold with the lime slices. Let freeze for about 30 minutes before squeezing the orange and pouring into the mold, so that you have a nice separation in color and flavor.

Place popsicle sticks in all of the molds. I put a piece of tape across the top of the mold and flip a little bit of the edge up to stick and hold the stick in place. Put in the freeze and freeze for about an hour or two. A trick to get them out of the mold now, is fill a bowl with hot water, and place the mold in it so that the water comes just under the top. This allows the sides to unfreeze a little, wiggle them, and pop ‘em out!! Now EAT!!! Yum.

Jumbo Tarragon Shrimp Roll with an Orange Mayo

Not all of us can afford lobster for lobster rolls, and let’s face it when you are feeding a bunch of mouths and you have had a couple of cocktails at a BBQ no one will know the difference. We give you the shrimp roll! Tadah! This roll is very simple, we combined grilled shrimp, mayonnaise, tarragon, green and purple cabbage, and bread. What truly makes this roll unique however is the orange mayonnaise we made to bring a touch of brightness to your palette, and create that fresh summer taste.

Mayonnaise:

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 juicing orange
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp. white wine vinegar

Shrimp Roll: (makes 4 rolls)

4 Rolls- we prefer sourdough or kaiser
2 Lbs. of  jumbo deveined and peeled shrimp
2 twigs fresh tarragon
1/4 cup orange mayonnaise
1/2 a green cabbage
1/2 purple cabbage
1 lemon

To make the mayo, mix one egg,  juice from one orange, and vinegar, and pour into a blender. Most all blenders have an area on the lid where you can pour stuff in while you are blending. While blending everything on a low speed, slowly add the oil, and salt until the mixture starts to thicken. Next add your egg yolk, and continue to blend. If the mixture doesn’t thicken to a normal mayo consistency add another yolk and oil until it reaches desired thickness. Pour out and refrigerate for about an hour to let set, and you are ready to use!

For the shrimp roll; cut your bread so that there is about an inch left where it is still attached, so you can fill the bread with goodies. Now chop into thin slivers all of your cabbage and mix together. The purple will add a nice color that everyone will appreciate.

Butterfly your shrimp and season with salt, pepper, and tarragon (for tarragon chop 2/3 or the tarragon leaving the rest to the side). Grill the shrimp until it is completely opaque and a beautiful orange. Mix your shrimp in with the orange mayonnaise and get ready to eat it.

Now all we need to do is assemble everything. Spread some mayo on the bread. Lay some cabbage down, now stuff your shrimp into the roll. Sprinkle the left over tarragon on top, and top off with some more cabbage and if needed a squeeze of some lemon. Enjoy! There is no way you will be disappointed!