I love all kinds of frozen treats. All kinds. Except weird yuppie/hipster ones like rosemary or green tea, which are earthy, bitter flavors. I really don't like smoothies much. The texture is wrong. Milkshake, yes, if it's not too sugary. Smoothie, no, unless it's watery, rather than fibrous.

2ManyDiversions suggested that my too-cold frozen yoghurt would be better as pops, so I half thawed it and put it in my old popsicle maker from college. Y'know, the kind where we conserved ends of juice and the juice from canned fruit. It worked. Then she posted a whole wonderful thread about all the different kinds of fruit popsicles she'd been making. I was inspired! I got some new popsicle molds of the type where each pop is in its own mold and there's a stand to hold them up while they're freezing. An added benefit besides not having to take them all out to get one is that one can just walk off with one, and the warmth of one's hand will loosen it within a minute.

Old popsicle maker with fresh strawberries in yoghurt

Somewhere in the process, this Summer I also finally got an RV style cooler. I'd been wanting one for awhile, for warmer than normal fridge/freezer temperatures for ice cream and wine, and the possibility to be a cheese cave. Due to the being stuck at home, I popped for a two zone one which can do two temperatures at once, rather than having to decide between uses. The wine is in a compromise that's a little too cold for red and a little too warm for white, but holds eight bottles conveniently. The other side is set 15-20° F higher than my regular freezer, and is much better for ice cream. It's also good for popsicles. :) And I have a Vita-Mix.

I've made a lot of fruit popsicles over the years, and paletas and a few other things frozen on sticks. 2Many's fancy combos inspired me, however. I thought, "Green beans are sweet. How about green bean popsicles?" They ended up green bean, mint and unsweetened pure pomegranate juice. Then I had apricots that never softened but tasted good, so I whirred them up with a little almond butter that needed using up, and lucked out that the color was more like cardboard than certain more unappealing orange-browns (it looks lighter in the mold). It sure tasted good! I also made spinach and pear, which was lovely and pearish.

green bean mint

Spinach pear

Then came the grapefruit. I had a red grapefruit from my farm box. They're supposed to be sweet! This one was very sour. But I pretty much supremed it (the "pretty much" meaning I was removing all the pith and membrane, but not making actual pretty slices. I think I should have gotten out the juicer.) I had to break out the pomegranate juice to get it less sour enough to be edible, blended with a whole bunch of chard, which is pretty sweet for greens. They were good but challenging, and definitely a gateway pop.

With scorching temperatures, I wasn't about to make ice cream or pudding, which require finicky, stand over the stove cooking, and I had some dental work coming which was going to make big chewing a no-no. Bye-bye breakfast salads. :( Bring on the savory pops! I got yet more molds, each half dozen with a different color top/stick to make it easier to keep track of flavors. I did a bunch of giant rainbow chard, stems and all, with a couple small gold beets, and a couple small red beets. The beets were steamed, but still quite firm. There's a hint of red beet flavor, and the beets altogether keep them from tasting too "green" (as in chlorophyll). Spinach (one large bunch) and apple (2 small)--not as good as pear, but nice. Heirloom tomato (2 rose, 1 yellow), basil and a scallion, tasted like nothing much in the blender, but is delicious eating. Frozen gazpacho-ish flavor.

And the ultimate--looking for protein--chicken soup! That's just a rich stock (lots of chicken) with some S&P. My Atlas pepper mill grinds very fine. The largest flecks sank, but most can be tasted throughout. Yes, they're weird. But they taste good! And make a nice snack. The one in the picture is the only one that had much fat. It's easy to avoid with freezing. :) The veggie forward pops are excellent snacks too. It's hard to make vegetables into an easy grab treat, but these are great!

I'm a popsicle convert!