Mistakes that work…

One of my very favorite things is a mistake that turn into huge success– i.e. chocolate chip cookies, post-it notes, etc. etc. With the weather turning warmer and not a lot of options for things to do right now I was reminded of our stint at making DIY popsicles last summer and so I got out our reusable set and we’re back it. So for this week’s blog I decided to do a little history on popsicles and was happy to find out that they were first invented by mistake by a 11-year old boy. As the legend goes, Frank Epperson was a child living in Oakland and one night he accidently left a cup of water, powdered soda mix and the stirring stick outside. It ended up dropping below freezing that night and when he woke up in the morning he found the drink was frozen and the stirring stick had turned into a perfect handle. You can read more about the history here.

With an estimated 2 billion popsicles sold every year I like using the Helistar Popsicle Mold

so that I am not contributing to the waste that comes with store bought popsicles (think individual plastic wrap for each one). It is made of food grade silicone so the popsicles slide out easier and it doesn’t crack (we had that happen to a cheaper plastic set I used to have). They are one of the easiest things to make and a great way to use fruit before it goes bad and disguise it as a treat - double win! We have tried several of the recipes from here. The 22nd recipe in there – the Kiwi Watermelon - was one of our favorites because the contrast of colors made it super fun. One of the most basic and favorite recipes was just dropping in whole pieces of fruit and then pouring lemonade in the mold until it was full. The fruit looks really cool frozen in the lemonade. Another favorite was this site, we’ve had good success with most of them too.

Next up, adult flavored popsicles – we may need to buy another set and have two versions going each time! Enjoy and happy summer to you all!