Frozen Caballos

The new favorite treat at our house--popscicles.

Or, as Clara tends to call them, "po-cay-yos". For a few weeks, she was calling them "caballos". Yes, the Spanish word for horses . . . no idea why.

But she's so into them that she knows them both by their English name AND the Spanish name. Coffee is about the only other thing that makes this category. Gotta be clear here--to whoever she may ask for a flavored block of ice.

And ask she does. First thing after waking up, in her high-pitched, cartoon-character voice, "Pocayos? Pink pocayo?" After at a month or two of eating them regularly, she's still in denial that we never, ever indulge until after her nap. Or maybe she's hoping I'll slip and she'll get lucky.

All winter/spring, I had been on the lookout for popsicle molds, but hadn't had any luck. (To be honest, I hadn't looked THAT hard.) I know I saw them last summer in Jojutla, in one of those stores that sells nothing but cheap plastic products. We don't live by any of those stores here in Saltillo and, while we pass one on our bus route, it never seemed worth the extra 6 pesos to make the special trip. So, in May when I visited Indiana, lo and behold, Wal-Mart's seasonal aisle stocked popscicle molds. Bought them then and there. Again, this probably wasn't something I necessarily needed to import to Mexico (I still think I could find them somewhere in Saltillo), but I thought I'd regret it if I didn't take advantage of the opportunity presented.

Too true.

When my friends borrowed our cochera for their garage sale in June, I thought it was the perfect time to inaugurate the popscicle molds, so I dumped some extra-concentrated jamaica water in the molds. As June was pretty brutal heat-wise, and our cochera gets next-to-no shade, the flavored chunks of ice were a godsend. And it's so easy, it's now a steady habit.

So far I've tried jamaica popscicles, tamarindo, cafe con leche (and a LOT of sugar!), horchata, banana milkshakes, and strawberry lemonade from Chili's left over from a kiddie cup (divine). I've currently got a handful of limes that I may squeeze, sweeten and freeze tomorrow. But, beyond those obvious flavors, does anyone have any other yummy variations on the popscicle?

Given its easy-ness, delicious-ness, and positive nutrition factor, the banana milkshake popscicles are our standby.

• In a blender, throw together one or two VERY ripe bananas, a teaspoon of cinnamon, two tablespoons of peanut butter, and enough milk to bring the entire concoction to two cups (works well for 8 individual popscicles).
  
• Blend, freeze overnight, eat. Feel guilt-free, as just about every food group is represented, AND there's no added sugar! Woo-hoo!

Note: the only popscicle flop we've had so far were the horchata ones, made from Princesa brand concentrate. I had never used this concentrate before, so I didn't realize that even in a pitcher of water, it needs constant stirring anytime anyone wants a glass of horchata, as the concentrate immediately sinks to the bottom of the pitcher. The same is true of the popsicles, so when I left them in the freezer overnight, the very tops of each popscicle were loaded with chalky-white concentrate, while the bottom 4-inches of popscicle were merely sweetened water.

Just a word to the wise!

Everything else has frozen fairly uniformly. And, with the coffee ones, I am happy to announce that I'm finally NOT missing the mocha frappes from the Italian Coffee Company. So good. So much colder. And I'm not spending 30+ pesos on them. Excellent.