Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Burst o' sunshine

January sucks. I know it's not January anymore, but I spent all of January missing the sun, sleeping in and being rather unproductive, so I'm still bitter.

February is a little better, because now when I leave work at a reasonable hour, it's not yet pitch black outside. There's also Family Day, for some provinces at least (including mine), and as much as Family Day sounds like a holiday to celebrate right-wing propaganda, it is actually nice to have a long weekend to look forward to in the dead of winter. And for some reason, Groundhog Day, which is really the silliest day of the year--based on folklore that is actually contrary to logic, yet we all play along--at least gets me thinking about the end of winter, even though it's six weeks away.

Even with the increased daylight recently, I've been craving a little sunshine. So when I remembered I had a mango--purchased last week and at that point over-ripe--sitting in my kitchen, waiting to be eaten, I got a little excited. "A-ha! I can make mango popsicles." I had some soy-yogurt in the fridge that would blend nicely with over-ripe mango, and make a delicious frozen pop.

So I did. It is ridiculously easy.
1. Clean fruit.
2. Put fruit and and soygurt in a bowl.
3. Blend with hand blender.
4. Pour into popsicle molds.
5. Freeze.

Popsicle molds cost a couple bucks. They're well worth it, especially in the summer (especially in humid, sticky Toronto) when all you want is some way to get come cool back to your body. Even in the middle of summer, mango popsicles are a yummy burst of sunshine.