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Despite being diagnosed with a likely soy allergy and confirming it with a food challenge, I also challenged gluten-free tamari separately and decided I could handle it. But paying a little more attention to the fact that I felt lousy the day after Denise and I would have sushi, and also when I’d make stir-fry, I started experimenting with making my own soy sauce substitute. I did try coconut aminos. I didn’t like them. Your mileage may vary, but coconut aminos can also be a bit on the pricey side. Regardless of what you find that works for you, I think that soy sauce is a handy flavor to have in your arsenal for so many uses.
I looked at and tried a variety of recipes online, but none were quite exactly what I wanted, taste-wise. This recipe is my version — I’d suggest trying it in this size (makes a little less than a cup) and then seeing what you might want more or less of in your own final version. Then, if you find you use it regularly, double it. So far, it seems to last safely about a month in the fridge. None of mine has made it past that.
This sauce works best, in my opinion, in cooked or mixed recipes, so stir-fry, teriyaki, marinades of all sorts (like jerky), rather than as a dipping sauce for sushi. Although, hey, it works there, too, but it shows its differences a little more.
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (be sure this is free of “caramel coloring”)
2 teaspoons rice vinegar (free of sweeteners)
3 teaspoons molasses
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns (lightly smash one or two if you really like pepper flavor)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic or one large clove, smashed
1 large chunk of ginger — approximately 1 inch square, but chopped into 4 or so pieces
1 pinch of onion powder
1 teaspoon (or so) of salt
In a saucepan, mix all the ingredients except the salt. A fork or whisk seems to work best to incorporate the onion powder and fully blend the molasses.
Bring to a boil, then turn down to a high simmer (it should still be bubbling briskly) and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, until reduced by 1/3 in volume.
Remove from heat, whisk in salt. Allow the mixture to cool, then strain and bottle. Store in the fridge.
*I would not highly recommend veggie stock for this, although if you really roasted the veg good and brown, it might be okay. Mushroom broth or stock has a richer flavor in the right direction for a soy sauce replacer, though, so if you want to make this vegan or vegetarian, and you’re not allergic to mushrooms, check out that option. There is at least one boxed brand on the market, or Vegetarian Times has a recipe.
If you tweak this to your tastes, please let us know! Post your recipe or a link below in the comments.
When Mary Kate and I began to plan the cookout we held several weeks ago (grilling, friends and lots o’ posts for the blog, what could be better?), we started with thinking about what ingredients were in season and could be grilled. We wanted to do a dessert, but I couldn’t figure out anything with my restrictions by the time we were solidifying the menu. I had seen a recipe for peach salsa for canning, but I wondered what it would be like grilled instead, because it would bring out the sweetness of the peaches and combine it with some lovely caramelized, smokey flavors. So we tried it. It’s good. And for those of you that can’t have chips like me (the corn chips are only to make the picture pretty in my case, although Mary Kate can eat them), this salsa is really good on pork chops as a sauce. You could also use it as a marinade or a glaze on pork or chicken, depending on how finely you chop the ingredients or just put it in the blender for a peach barbecue sauce. This is a low heat salsa, so don’t be afraid because I’m posting it. For the chili heads, don’t worry, I’ve got a hot sauce coming up in few weeks that blows my head off, and will have appropriate warnings.
Grilled Peach Salsa
1 pound of peaches, grilled
1 small red red onion, grilled
1/2 of a orange bell pepper, grilled (If you don’t know what to do with the half of orange bell pepper you’ll have left over, de-stem and de-seed it, put it in a freezer zip top bag and put it in your freezer. Peppers need no additional prep to freeze. Use it the next time you make a soup, stew, chili or marinara sauce.)
2 jalapeno peppers, grilled
1/2 of a bulb of garlic, with top cut off and with most of the outer layer peels removed (Grill the whole bulb and put the remainder in the fridge to use for mashed potatoes or something else where roasted garlic would be awesome)
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil or other safe-for-you oil
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
**Please keep in mind as you look at the pictures that I was cooking a whole lot of other things the day we were grilling, so the pictures do not reflect the correct amounts of the ingredients shown, or may show additional ingredients. Also, my original recipe made a holy ton of salsa, so we cut the ingredients in half for the purposes of this post.
De-stem and de-seed your peppers.
Peppers de-stemmed and de-seeded – Photo by J. Andrews
Place the peppers on the grill and grill until they get a bit tender and have a bit of char on them.
Peppers on the grill – Photo by J. AndrewsPeppers and Garlic on the grill – Photo by J. Andrews
Take your garlic bulb, slice off the top so that the cloves are exposed a bit (see the picture and description in our previous Grilled Salsa recipe), and place it on some aluminum foil large enough to wrap the garlic in as shown in the picture above. Drizzle the olive oil over your garlic bulb, and wrap the aluminum foil around it and place it on the grill. Roast the garlic until the cloves are cooked and mushy.
Trim and peel your onion and then slice it in about half to one inches slices and place on the grill. Grill until you have a bit of char, and the onion is tender. (Ours were a bit more charred probably than strictly necessary, we were having issues with the grill, totally user error.)
Sliced Onions – Photo by J. AndrewsSliced onions on the grill – Photo by J. AndrewsSliced onions on the grill just before they got a bit too done – Photo by J. Andrews
Cut your peaches in half and remove the pit. On some of them I had to cut the peaches in quarters to get the pit out, but it’ll still work, it’s just halves are a little easier to manipulate on the grill. Place the peaches on the grill and grill until they are a bit more tender and have some nice charring on the outside.
Peaches in halves and quarters – Photo by J. AndrewsPeaches on the grill – Photo by J. Andrews
Once all your grilled ingredients are cooked, squeeze out the roasted garlic from the cloves, and put the garlic, peppers, onions, and peaches in a blender or food processor, and process until chopped to the level of chunkiness that you like. I used the manual food processor from Pampered Chef because I wouldn’t have to truck everything back inside or find an electric outlet (no affiliation, I just like it). You are likely going to have to process in batches. Place all the chopped ingredients in a large bowl and add the white wine vinegar, brown sugar, cumin and cayenne pepper. Mix thoroughly.
Completed Grilled Peach Salsa – Photo by J. Andrews
When Mary Kate invited me to go berry picking earlier this summer, I had already done a good bit of canning with blueberries. So when I wound up about 6 cups of blueberries, I decided I want to do something other than jam and syrups, since I had already made syrups and blueberry butter. In poking around online for ideas, I found a canning recipe for blueberry barbecue sauce. I make some tweaks to it in order to make it safe for me, and reduced the amounts by half to make a more reasonable amount for those of you who aren’t into canning. If you do want to can it, the original recipe is here. This is a low heat sauce, as verified by others, so don’t worry that just because I’m posting it, you won’t be able to handle it.
Blueberry Barbecue Sauce
Makes about 2 cups.
1 3/4 cups of fresh blueberries
1/4 cup of safe-for-you ketchup (I don’t have a corn safe one so I make it myself)
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon of fresh grated ginger
1/8 of a teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes
1/4 teaspoon Penzey’s Cajun Seasoning
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a medium boil. Stir and lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for about 15 minutes. Use a hand blender to puree all the ingredients, being careful not to splash, or pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.
Once the sauce has cooled you can store it in the refrigerator or freezer until you’re ready to use it. When grilling, I prefer to use a dry rub first, and then once the meat is almost completely cooked, I use a silicone pastry brush to coat the meat with the sauce and then grill each side to warm and/or char up the sauce.
Blueberry Barbecue Sauce – Photo by J. AndrewsBrushing pork with Blueberry Barbecue Sauce – Photo by J. AndrewsGrilling each side after coating with Blueberry Barbecue Sauce – Photo by J. AndrewsBoneless pork ribs with Blueberry Barbecue Sauce – Photo by J. Andrews
I hate writing recipes I know Denise can’t eat, but that’s one of the things we deal with with food allergies — I almost feel guilty eating things someone else can’t. But I also know not to push that guilt on them. So sorry, corn-allergic friends and readers, but this one isn’t for you.
With our CSA share, we are currently getting a ton of corn — about 6 ears a week. And I get all of it (which, I think works out — Denise has taken all the lettuce because I don’t eat it.) Corn on the cob is awesome (if you’re not allergic), but frankly, it gets boring quickly. Using up all the leftover corn gave rise a few variations to this recipe, a corn stew, though I’m not entirely sure about calling it a “stew.” It’s not primarily broth, like a soup, but it’s not a chowder because there is no cream or milk in it (though if you stir in the cashew sour cream suggested as a topping, BAM: chowder!). So we’ll go with stew. English. So imprecise sometimes.
If you’ve never taken corn off the cob, here are some ideas about how to do this. I just use my largest cutting board and a long thin knife and clean up the mess.
This stew is completely vegan, but depending on the toppings you choose, you might alter that. I suggest considering, as toppings: avocado, crumbled bacon, scallion greens, cashew sour cream, cheese (vegan or not, as you decide), and cilantro. You sure don’t need all of these, but this stew kind of begs for a topping or two. In any case, it highlights the sweet corn that says “summer” to so many people.
Fresh Corn Stew is Versatile: with bacon, vegan, and with cashew sour cream
Fresh Corn Stew
about 2 T oil or fat of your choice (if you are going to top this with bacon, consider using the fat!)
2 leeks, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 Italian pepper, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
3 ears of fresh sweet corn, cooked and kernels cut off the cob (between 1.5 and 2 cups)
1 teaspoon dried basil (or about 4 leaves fresh, chopped)
3 small fresh tomatoes, cut into chunks (between 3/4 and 1 cup)
Toppings, all optional:
scallions
cashew sour cream*
fresh cilantro, chopped
bacon, cooked and crumbled
cheese or cheese substitute
avocado
In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add leeks, stir well, and then add chopped pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until soft.
Add corn kernels, stir well, and then add basil, salt, and pepper. If you are using commercial broth, go light on the salt until you’ve tasted the broth. Stir seasonings in well.
Add broth and bring to a low boil. Add tomatoes, and when low boil is again achieved, turn down the heat to low and simmer about 10 minutes.
Top as desired, and enjoy. This soup is great the next day.
Cashew Sour Cream (modified from oh she glows!) (obviously this makes it not nut-free)
1/2 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight or in hot water for a few hours
3 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons lime juice
pinch salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon chives
Add cashews, water, and lime juice to blender. Blend until smooth. Stir in chives and salt. Refrigerate for an hour to thicken.
Zesty Mexican Style Bean Salad – Photo by J. Andrews
I modified this recipe from a recipe in an old Weight Watcher’s magazine. The original had raw green bell pepper and Great Northern beans in it instead, but back in the day before food allergies, I preferred it with roasted red pepper in a jar and garbanzo beans, and with some added spice enhancement. (Shocker, I know.) These days I can’t buy roasted red peppers at the store because of the citric acid, and I’ve been meaning to can my own so I could make this, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet with everything else on my plate. So when Mary Kate and I decided to have a cookout, a light bulb went off that I could grill the red peppers and make this again. You could also broil the red peppers in your oven. (Not sure why that did not occur to me until I went to type up this post; I could have been making this all along. Sigh.)
Zesty Mexican Style Bean Salad
1 – 15 ounce can of black beans (Find a safe brand for you. I pressure can my own from dry beans.)
1 – 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans (Find a safe brand for you. I pressure can my own from dry beans.)
1 1/2 cups of chopped tomatoes
1 cup grilled or broiled red bell pepper (about one and half peppers)
1 cup of sliced green onions
1 cup of salsa (Make sure you use a safe for you brand. I used my home canned salsa.)
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of Adobo seasoning (If you don’t have Adobo seasoning or you don’t have a safe version, mix 1/8 cup of paprika, 1 1/2 Tablespoons of ground black pepper, 1 Tablespoon of onion powder, 1 Tablespoon of dried oregano, 1 Tablespoon of ground cumin, 1/2 Tablespoon of ground chipotle, and 1/2 Tablespoon of garlic powder, this makes half a cup of seasoning)
hot sauce to taste (Use a safe for you brand. I used my own homemade version of Sriracha.)
Cut your red bell peppers into quarters and seed and de-stem them.
Quartered and de-seeded peppers – Photo by J. Andrews
Place the red bell pepper quarters on a hot grill or under the broiler in your oven on a rack with a cookie sheet under it, and grill/broil them until they have a bit of char and are tender. When they are done, take them off the grill or out of the oven and let them cool a bit.
Peppers on the grill – Photo by J. Andrews
In a large bowl, place the chopped tomatoes, sliced green onions, salsa, red wine vinegar, cilantro, salt, black pepper, and Adobo seasoning. Drain and rinse the black beans and garbanzo beans and add them to the bowl.
All ingredients except the grilled red pepper – Photo by J. Andrews
Now that your red bell pepper has probably cooled down a bit, either give them a quick spin in a food processor to chop them into small pieces, or chop them up finely with a knife, and put them in the large bowl.
Mix everything in the bowl together very well with a spatula or spoon. You want to make sure that none of the spices are clumping up. Taste it, and then decide how much hot sauce to need to add. Mix in the hot sauce really well.
Mix all ingredients together – Photo by J. Andrews
If you have safe chips, feel free to eat this with them. I don’t at the moment, but I’m happy just eating it with a fork or spoon. It also holds up very well in the refrigerator if you have leftovers.
Grilled Chimichurri Pork Chops. Photo by J. Andrews
A few years ago my friend Liz was up in the Boston area and we went out to dinner somewhere north of Boston. I think it was an Argentinian restaurant, but I’m not 100% sure. This was pre food allergy apocalypse, but I was in a phase of not eating much beef. For whatever reason I ordered pork chops, which, I think, is an odd choice for me — I can’t recall ordering them out before or since. But these were amazing. They were marinated in chimichurri sauce and then grilled. This recipe is my attempt to recreate that meal, but also just to make chimichurri.
Chimichurri sauce, as the internet has well-educated me, is a traditional Argentinian condiment that the non-South American internet has fallen in love with, and, as the internet is wont to do, bastardized. Yes, you can add all sorts of ingredients to all sorts of recipes, but then they are no longer that thing, right? So far as I can tell, this is a reasonably traditional chimichurri. From what I can tell, it doesn’t really need anything else — it’s really good as it is.
The other thing that internet writers rail against is the claim that, in Argentina, chimichurri is used “like ketchup” or “on everything.” Now, I do have one friend who does use ketchup on everything, but overall, ketchup is not all that universal in my opinion. But I do think that the reason writers may say these things about chimichurri is that it really is amazing and, if you make it, YOU might want to use it on everything. And because I’m me, I’m frying my breakfast potatoes in it now. I may need chimichurri in my life forever. See, internet, that’s just projection.
I pulled the parsley apart, measured it, and scaled the recipe to the amount of parsley I had. I’d suggest you consider doing the same unless you are way better at using up leftover parsley than I am. I’m pretty sure that traditionally, fresh oregano would be used. I couldn’t find any. I used dried. I also used a food processor. Tradition only goes so far. This recipe does make way more than you need for a recipe of pork chops, unless you’re cooking for a mob, so make plans for the leftovers. (Breakfast potatoes.)
Chimichurri Sauce Grilled Pork Chops
4 cups flat leaf parsley, leaves removed from stems (one bunch of parsley)
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
6 cloves of garlic, or about 1/4 of the head
2 pinches red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or you know, “enough.” Do people measure freshly ground pepper, really? I never do.)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1.5 cups olive oil
This is what herbs look like when “ground” in a food processor
With your S-blade in your food processor, pulse the parsley down a bit.
Add the oregano, garlic, salt, and red and black peppers. Pulse until ground.
Scrape the ground herbs and spices into a bowl. Stir in the vinegar, and then the oil — use a fork to get the best mixing.
Let this sit at room temperature for 2 hours to let the flavors meld, and then bottle up and store in the fridge. I’m assuming this will last a few weeks. To use, spoon herbs up from the bottom and use as a marinade, condiment, or anything else you can think up.
For the pork chops:
thick, bone-in pork chops, however many you need.
In a glass dish, spoon a layer of chimichurri into the bottom of a glass dish. Place pork chops on top of this layer, and top with thick spoonsful of chimichurri. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 12 hours or so.
Marinated pork chops. Photo by J. Andrews
Grill by the “piled” method — put all your charcoal to one side (or turn on half the burners). Place the meat over the hot side of the grill to sear the outside, both sides, and then move to the cool side of the grill (which really isn’t cool) and cook until done. For pork, that’s 145°F, remembering to rest the meat for at least three minutes after cooking before cutting into.
Add some extra chimichurri before serving. Then proceed to prove the internet right and use chimichurri on all the things.
(P.S. to my friend Cathy, yes, this is just like when I discovered lefse and put “inappropriate” things on it.)
Hot Dog with Ketchup, Mustard, Relish, and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut, and a bad attempt food styling using the sauerkraut juice – Photo by J. Andrews.
When I was diagnosed with the dairy allergy, I could still have Pearl and Boars Head hot dogs. And then came the corn allergy, and wiped out both of those choices too. So I was left with trying to make my own. The thing is you really need a KitchenAid Mixer with the Food Grinder attachment and the Sausage Stuffer accessory or a sausage stuffing machine (they have those, seriously, who knew?) to make this. Or you can just make them into patties and fry them. We did that with a bit of the leftover filling and it tasted hot dog-like.
You can get a beef collagen casing from LEM Products, which is what I did (I’m not saying it’s not corn contaminated, it probably is, but I seemed to tolerate them okay, and I only plan to do this once in a great while) or you can get someDeWied Natural Sheep Casings.
By the way, we have no affiliation with Amazon, the above links are just so that you can see the product and look at the information.
I didn’t grind my own meat but you could. I decided to cheat and get some ground beef because this was going to be a big enough process all on its own without getting all Denise crazy. You may also want to use a food processor, as discussed below to get a better texture in the filling. This recipe does take two days, so please read the whole thing.
Also before anyone asks, the hot dog bun pictured is not gluten-free or otherwise safe. I don’t have a safe hot dog bun yet, but I thought the pictures would look stupid if it was just a hot dog on a plate with condiments. Don’t worry, we fed it to my husband who has no food allergies.
Homemade Hot Dogs:
Again, this recipe does take two days, so please read the whole thing.
2 1/2 pounds of ground beef (don’t get any leaner than 80% or you’ll have really dry icky hot dogs)
1 Tablespoon and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup of ice water
1 Tablespoon of ground mustard
1 Tablespoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder
2 Tablespoons of cane sugar syrup (You will need to make it ahead of time – there are two good recipes and I’ve used both before. The one from thekitchn.com makes about a quart, and the one from justapinch.com makes about two cups.)
hot dog casings (see notes above for your choices)
On the first day, take the ground beef, the kosher salt and the ice water and put it in a bowl. Knead the ingredients together with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
Ground Beef Mixture
On the second day when you’re ready to start stuffing, place the mustard, paprika, coriander, black pepper and garlic power in a small bowl and mix well.
Spices before mixing
Take the ground beef out of the fridge and pour the spice mixture and the cane sugar syrup over the ground meat. Knead the spices and cane sugar syrup into the meat until everything is well incorporated.
Knead spices and cane sugar syrup into ground beef mixture
If you do not have a food processor, place the ground beef mixture into your KitchenAid mixer bowl, use the flat beater attachment and turn the mixer to high and beat for several several minutes. Just understand that the texture may be a bit more rustic than if you used a food processor. If you do have a food processor, in batches, process the ground beef mixture with the regular chopping blade and process into a fine paste.
Ground beef mixture in mixer
When you have finished processing the ground beef mixture either in the food processor or the mixture, spread a piece of parchment paper, or cling wrap out on a cookie sheet. I like to lay a sheet of parchment paper down first, just for ease of cleaning and it makes it easier to remove the paste later to put in the food grinder to stuff the casings. Spread the paste out on the cookie sheet so that it is a even layer across the cookie sheet. Place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Ground beef mixture spread out on cookie sheet
While you are waiting for the ground beef mixture to chill, set up your KitchenAid Mixer with the Food Grinder attachment and the Sausage Stuffer accessory. Depending on the size your casing you’ll need to choose the larger or smaller nozzle. I needed to use the smaller nozzle with the casing I chose, and I used very little of it. I probably have enough casings left to do 5 or 6 more batches. Slide the casing on the nozzle.
KitchenAid mixer set up with Food Grinder, Sausage Stuffer and with casing on nozzle
When the ground beef mixture has chillled, take it out, and place small-ish meat ball sized blobs of ground beef mixture in the food grinder. Slide a bit of the casing forward and tie the end closed before you start the mixer. Put the mixer on speed 4, and as meat comes out, hold the casing on the nozzle so that more casing does not slide out until the casing has been filled by the meat coming out. It’s easier said that done, and I found that it was helpful to have my husband assist me at this point, as I needed the two extra hands. Make sure you shut off the mixer just before the last bit of casing is filled as you’re going to want to have room to tie it off. Add more casing if you have more ground beef mixture and repeat this process to fill the casing. I will say that is easier if you have one person run the Food Grinder and one person deal with the casing.
Holding casing while mixture fills it
Once you have filled the casing, you are going to want to portion off your hotdogs by twisting the casing. Be careful, I broke one strand open trying to portion them off.
Twisting filled casing to portion hotdogsHot dogs after portioning
Preheat your oven to 225ºF and place your hotdogs on a rack on another sheet pan.
Hotdogs before cooking in oven
Place the hot dogs in the oven and cook until their internal temperature is 150ºF. This could take 40 minutes to an hour. Check them with a meat thermometer occasionally.
Hotdogs after coming out of the oven
Transfer them to a bowl of ice water, and when cool you can store them in the fridge or freezer to use later.
Cooked hotdogs cooling in ice water bath
We saved out a couple from the ice water bath, and fried them up immediately. After all, all that hard work had to be rewarded right?
Homemade Hotdogs fried in a skillet
We froze the remainder and took them to a cook out and grilled them.
Hot Dogs on the Grill – Photo by J. Andrews
Hot dog with ketchup, relish and mustard – Photo by J. Andrews
Mint Lemonade Rocket Pops with raspberries. Photo by J. Andrews
The frozen fruity goodness of popsicles is pure summer magic — so much so that in the middle of winter, when I’m starting to believe summer is a myth, I crave popsicles. Many popsicles are safe for people with allergens, though I’d be concerned personally if I had nut anaphylaxis, but reading the ingredients list on your average box is an education in chemical compounds. We had plastic molds as kids, and my brother and I dreamed up all sorts of combinations — many of them were juice and Sprite, as soda carbonation leaves fun holes in a frozen pop. But this summer, I wanted to make something slightly more suited to an adult palate.
So with the aid of some fun new Tovolo molds from our local kitchen store (Things Are Cooking, on Main Street in Concord), I’m working on making my own. The molds are kind of amazing, and it’s hard to choose, but I am me, so rocket pops were a given. I also ended up with the twin pops, which do break apart just like the ones we occasionally got as kids. That’s probably one of the few things my brother and I were good at sharing.
Making ice pops can be super easy — just find a juice you like, pour, and freeze. But I wanted something different. Lemonade would be the other thing I’m really hung up on this summer, and it’s also hard to get it right — so I figured I’d make my own and make a fancy pop out of it. What I decided on was a tart lemonde with mint in the sugar water, and raspberries added to the pops. The result is a bit tart, a bit sweet, with a refreshing hint of mint and the surprise of bits of berries inside it. These took a little over 4 hours to freeze, so plan accordingly.
Rocket Pops Vs. Twin Pop. If you ever played 1980s video games you can imagine the sounds Denise and I were making while poor Jack asked us to just hold the pops still so he could take the photograph. Photo by J. Andrews.
Raspberry-Mint-Lemonade Rocket Pops
5 lemons, freshly squeezed (3/4 cups juice)
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup sugar
1 sprig of mint (10 or so leaves)
1/2 a carton of raspberries
Squeeze the lemons and strain out pulp and seeds.
Put the sugar in a heat safe bowl and mix in the mint leaves. Pour the boiling water over the sugar and mint, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
Mix the lemon juice and the sugar-mint water. Add the raspberries and lightly crush — you don’t really want to make raspberry-lemonade so much as you want a bit of essence of raspberry in the juice and some flattened raspberries that will be frozen into your pops.
The molds I have have a pretty solid base, but the openings aren’t huge. A measuring cup with a pouring spout worked perfectly. Be careful not to overfill them, as that gets messy, and you still need to insert the sticks.
Unmolding may require running the mold under hot water for a minute. The nice thing about these molds is that they are individual, not all one piece, which makes them easier to take apart. Do whatever your molds require, then sit in the sun and enjoy a pop.
If you’re looking for new molds, can I highly suggest rocket shapes? Too much fun. This recipe makes a full 6 rocket pops and a full six (so 12) twin pops. Cut it down if you’re only doing one mold. My original recipe made enough for 4 molds, but I don’t have them and don’t have near enough freezer space either for that many. If you have the small molds that are most commonly sold, this recipe may also make too much juice. If you have leftovers (you might) you will need to add a bit more water to make a drinkable lemonade; this is more like a concentrate.
Rocket pop flying solo, to the Top Gun theme. Photo by J. Andrews
