Rocket and Roses Dragon Fruit, Pear & Coconut Sorbet Ice Lollies

Kitchen Play List:  No Doubt ~ Hey Baby
                                     Xtina ~ Candy Man
                                     Gwen Stefani ~ Holaback Grrl
                                      Rolling Stones ~ Brown Sugar
                                      Xtina ~ Dirty

Oh my goodness...were these ices a bitch to get out of the lolly moulds? It took both my Mum and I to persuade them out. Helped along by hot water soaks, cold water rinses and a lot of begging and then swearing! lol

But please don't be put off the recipe by the previous statement. It was in fact down to the lolly moulds I used. They have very short sticks that simply lifted out when pulled so My Love has decided to drill some holes in them for the next use for the fillings to freeze together...Good idea no? lol. Just wished we'd thought of that before! As they were only 99p a set I suppose I couldn't really expect more. Anyway....lol

The inspiration came from a piece of research that I read on Dragon Fruits and the suggested pairing of fruits. Pear and lime were high on the list and I had both available and something always makes me think 'coconut' when I use lime. lol. So that was that. lol. 

So these ices may not look their best but they had been subjected to many implements of torture lol. (And the old camera was not co-operating at all! Urgh!) But what they lacked in presentation this time...they sure made up for in taste. The dragon fruit and pear go perfectly together and the lime and coconut give them a refreshing after taste. I used half fat coconut milk this time so the texture was more sorbet than I expected but both my Mum and I agreed that was a bonus. It kept with the refreshing aspect to them. The sweetener in the recipe is Agave Nectar to keep the GI's down. I was advised to put twice the sweetener in a recipe as they lose a lot of sweetness during the freezing process. I did and we both agreed that they weren't sweet at all. More of a hint of sweetness...so I guess the advice was right. lol.

OK you can laugh at them...they can take it! Rocket and Roses Dragon Fruit, Pear & Coconut Sorbet Lollies.

Rocket and Roses Dragon Fruit, Pear & Coconut Sorbet Lollies
(Original recipe from the Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen)  Makes 12 lollies/ices.

1 med/large dragon fruit, halved
2 dessert pears, peeled and cored
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup/8fl oz coconut milk 
4 tbsp Agave Nectar or sweetener of choice

Spoon the flesh out of the dragon fruit into a blender followed by the remaining ingredients. Blitz until almost smooth. Your mixture should be just 'off white' with the seeds of the dragon fruit through out. Pour into ice lolly moulds and put the sticks into them and seal. Place in the freezer until frozen then enjoy. 

NB bring them out of the freezer to stand for 5 minutes before you want them to help with easing them out of the mould. Good luck and I hope you enjoy them as much as we have....~Red~  

Simple Frozen Banana Sticks

Kitchen Play List:  Kylie ~ Two Hearts
                                     Nickelback ~ This is How You Remind Me

So simple...so tasty and no hidden sugars

These little beauties are so simple that once you try them yourself, you'll be kicking yourself for not thinking of them before..at least I did. I found this mold/storer that many years ago I've quite honestly forgotten where and when. I have a vague hazy recollection of them arriving in the post so I think it was possibly LakeLand Plastics...which any foodie knows is a fantastic shop...you can lose hours in there. They never let you forget about them either..as you can order online and they have many shops across the UK and they send colourful and so tempting catalogues...damn them! lol. Anyway..I also have one for strawberries and a orange segment which looks like a small bomb lol.

There is no lengthy process to making theses lovely treats...simply peel the banana and take of the bottom brown end and then make sure all the stringy bits are removed. Insert the stick into the chopped off end and then lay them into the tray...I told you it was so simple! You could do this with regular lolly sticks and place them in a freezble container...

The only effort is to not eat them before they go in the freezer! lol

Then place the cover/lid over them and leave them in the freezer to...well..freeze. lol.

They are delicious as they are and little ones love them. But if you fancy something different for maybe a BBQ then it's nice to melt some chocolate and dip the end of the banana in the choc and then roll them in chopped nuts. The chocolate hardens quite quickly so you have a delicious treat.

Enjoy!

Gadgets ~ Rocket Ice Lolly Moulds and Umbrella Ice Lolly Moulds

I have very fond memories from my earlier childhood of running around on hot summer days and then being called into the house by my Mum and being given an ice lolly from the freezer. The flavours were usually lemon, orange or tropical fruit. The moulds were from Tupperware as my Mum was once a rep for them. I loved these lollies and they were always so refreshing. I remember with great excitement one summer when a blackcurrant batch came out of the freezer and me and my cousins M & H fought to be in the front of the line. lol. Ah memories...

I'm going to start a section of this blog and devote it solely to this wonderful homemade treat. As the number of my nephew and nieces and friends children expand I am shocked and stunned by how expensive the store bought ices are. And the preservatives in them are awful. And My Love and I enjoy an iced treat every now and then too. So I am going to start creating healthier ices which will have all the flavour and less of the junk. I hope you try them out. 

As part of our wedding presents we were given a voucher for a store that we rarely use but was very surprised when we found a set of Rocket lolly moulds. So they were purchased and sat along side the ice cream maker we bought with the same voucher. The store bought 'Rocket' lollies are one of our favourites to this day so we had to buy these moulds.

Rocket Ice Lolly Moulds

 I was very lucky to be given a voucher from a friend for my birthday for Argos. And as I thumbed through the catalogue I found the most lovely set of Umbrella Ice Lolly Moulds. And as I have a collection of Umbrellas and the idea for the 'Lolly' section had already formed in my mind I took it as a sign that I should purhcase them. So I did..and they make me smile..

 

 Sometimes you just have to have things around that make the everyday reality a little lighter and these definitely make me smile. These Umbrella moulds can be bought from Argos for £4.99. 

So I shall be making lollies with many differing ingredients and I hope as the weather heats up you will try them yourself. I have tried a test run on both moulds with just water and that worked very well so I am confident they will work well in the future. 

So look out for the Yummy Ice Lollies label in the future and I hope you enjoy!  ~Red~