Hey peeps!
The weather here has been crazy at the moment- hot one moment, windy and cold the next, then dry, then thundery rain… our meals have been all over the place because of it. One day we want a hot dinner and warm drinks, and another day salad for tea and iced tea to drink!
Recently Sainsbury’s kindly sent me a few bits for my blog- some basil and lemongrass paste, and some ice lolly moulds. As soon as I saw the lemongrass paste, lollies popped into my head. Innocent used to make a smoothie with coconut and lemongrass which was just so summery, and I fancied trying to recreate it. Luckily this weekend was warm!
I actually used my star moulds in the end. Now, this is not the most scientific of recipes- I had to measure the capacity of the lolly moulds (mine were about 400ml in total), so in a jug I mixed pureed mango (around 300ml- this was tinned as I couldn’t get fresh ones and didn’t want to use frozen fruit as I don’t think it can be frozen twice) with coconut milk (around 100ml), and then added a tsp lemongrass paste.
I then poured the mixture into moulds and left in the freezer. I fancy trying a pineapple version too, as I think pineapple and coconut will go very well together too.
They didn’t take too long to freeze either- we enjoyed our first taste the same evening.
I had loads of the puree and milk left over, so I am going to sort out my ice cream maker and see if I can churn it up to make a sort of sorbet.
I do like fruit puree lollies, but I prefer them with a little coconut milk as it makes them so creamy and really summery.
The basil paste was crying out to go in some tomato sauce with gnocchi.
This again is not really a recipe. Chop a red onion, brown in a little oil, and then add passata, basil and a little salt. The tomato sauce does splatter all over the place- you have been warned!
While that is simmering away, cook some gnocchi. You can buy ready made packs in the fridge section (not sure how to make it from potatoes), and we tend to cook half and freeze the other half for another time. It takes about 5 minutes to cook.
Then put the gnocchi and tomato sauce in a dish, add some pieces of mozzerella (optional) and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Top with a little fresh basil if you have it. We tend to serve this with a salad. Crusty bread would be good for the tomato and basil sauce, but it tends to be pretty filling by itself.
Do you match your meals with the weather? We do have a few summer only meals (avocado and bean wraps) but some meals (like sweet potato chilli) we love so much we keep on having all the way through the year. I would only have ice lollies when it is really hot though, as they make me so cold!
Those lolly pop mould are so cute. I do like making my own ice lollies, so quick and easy. We had a stew for dinner tonight which isn’t summery at all, but I go through seasonal changes with some foods depending on the time of year.
I think they were from Lakeland.
I love homemade lollies, the kids made super UNHEALTHY ones once out of sprite … made one heck of a mess the first time as they filled the moulds up all the way first time and it spilled all over the freezer 🙂
That is very funny! Not for you though!
Those lollies look yummy! I don’t really mind eating hot dishes in the summer, although the last week or two has been so humid/hot that having the oven on is a problem so we’ve had more summery dishes.
Yes I agree, cooking a hot dinner is worse than eating it when it is so hot!
I love those star ice lolly moulds! Very cute!
We tend to go more summery with our meals this time of year – more salads (for me), sandwiches and cooler, smaller meals. Soup and casseroles are more of a winter dish in our house.
The moulds are lakeland I think 🙂
Those lollies look delicious, what a fun star shaped mould too! James and I tend to eat salad all year round, salad with tomato, cucumbers and avocado feature as a side almost every day!
I love salad but certain things like fresh tomatoes I only tend to have in the summer 🙂
If I did I wouldn’t be eating porridge every morning for breakfast hehe. I don’t mind eating hot or cold meals when it’s hot or cold! But I will drink more hot drinks in the cold.
The ice lollies sound lovely! I love the more creamy ones rather than the plain fruit water ones. Coconut milk sounds like a great addition. Love those moulds as well!
Yes the coconut milk makes them lovely and creamy 🙂
Wow I love those lolly moulds. I see so many good looking ice lollies and ice creams on blogs at the moment but we have a tiny freezer compartment and I just can’t warrant the space 🙁 can I come over for a lolly?!
I would post you one but I don’t think they would survive !
Homemade ice lollies are the best, aren’t they! Especially when made with coconut milk.
My eating is never seasonal – I will often eat soup in the summer and salad in the winter.
I don’t think I could eat soup in the summer! But I do have salad in the winter sometimes 🙂
I have been loving homemade lollies – just made some choco fudge ones last night and tried not to eat them all!!
They sound lovely 🙂
Wow the lemongrass combo sounds so good! That’s totally genius. I keep seeing homemade lolly recipes and I’ve finally been convinced to buy some lolly moulds! Will have to give these ones a go 😉
It was a bit more unusual than just a fruity flavour- hope yours go well if you make them 🙂
How cool are those ice-lollies?! That gnocchi looks super-tasty too 🙂
The lollies look great, love the star shapes 🙂
I would never have thought of using lemongrass in an ice lolly.