Bariatric Foodie Play with your food
So first let’s address the elephant in the room: this is not the most attractive popsicle you’ve ever seen.
If this popsicle were at television character, it’d probably be Jan Brady (not that Jan wasn’t attractive but she never thought she was as attractive as Marsha), especially in comparison to my Strawberry-Mint & Cheesecake protein pops. If it were a cartoon character, it’d be Eeyore – shy, unassuming, but super sweet when you look past all that.
I debated whether or not to “jazz” this pop up. I could have added food coloring or other stuff to make it look all Martha Stewart, but guess what? It is what it is. Which is a very yummy but not-so-pretty protein popsicle! I do not apologize for how it looks – I celebrate how it looks because it looks like natural, yummy, peachy, gingery goodness to me. So let’s just get that out of the way and move on, shall we?
I’m on sort of a popsicle kick right now.
Part of it is because of time management. I am finally back to work (click here for why I was off work for an extended period of time) which means back to not having leisurely summer days full of sunlight to play with my food and photograph it. I spent what few leisurely days I got from my time off on the Zoodle book (and that’s a good thing because I’m starting to feel like you all will murder me in my sleep if I don’t release the damn thing soon).
Anyhoo. Peach and ginger. This is a favorite combination of mine. But it has to be done right. Because ginger can get…overwhelming. It’s one of those spices where, in the right amounts, it can make culinary magic but too much? And you not only regret eating the dish but learning to eat in the first place!
But thankfully I’ve peach-ginger’d enough stuff to know that balance and respect it.
So when thinking of popsicles lately I’ve been in the mind of grown-up popsicles. I have the luxury of thinking this way for a few reasons:
- My kids don’t live with me for the summer so I don’t have to deal with “Ewwwwww! What’s in that???”
- Even if they did live with me they are old enough to make their own popsicles if furnished with the correct ingredients to do so.
- Because whenever I think of grown up popsicles I think of boozy ones and I didn’t want that because…no. I’m not going there on this blog. So I figured I’d use my powers of food-play for good and not evil.
Anyway, this concept started at this darling little farm stand I visit from time to time. It’s not anywhere near my house so I just go whenever I’m in the area. This particular day I’d gone to the Amish market to hit up their dry good store. (SIDEBAR: I’m not sure about anywhere else where the Amish do commerce, but in this particular market their dry goods store has EVERYTHING. I love it! I think I just scored a bunch of stuff for pickling and a few different types of salt – kosher, pink himalayan, etc.)
The guy at this farm stand has been instrumental in my food education over the years. He’s half of the powerhouse behind his family’s farm. He sells the produce and his brother grows it. So that means you only get what’s in season and usually when it comes into full season there is a LOT of it.
Well, he’s just starting to get peaches. Which…peaches. Sigh. Oh la, la.
I love peaches. They are just the best thing ever. Like…on a hot summer day, you reach into the fridge and find a perfectly ripe peach and you go out onto your porch and you take a big old wet, sloppy bite and you don’t even care that the juices are running down your chin because the beautiful nectar from those sweet, cold peaches has you temporarily mesmerized.
Yep. I. Love. Peaches.
So anyway another thing I love about the guy at the farmstand is that he always gives you way more than what you paid for. Like…seriously. I went for the peaches and I also bought some pickling cucumbers (since I’d just procured every pickling spice known to man) but I left with the peaches, the cukes, some blackberries, a carton of jalapeno peppers, and a big fat tomato. That’s just how he rolls. If he feels you need more produce than what you’ve bought, he will load you down.
But I digress.
I have this problem. I always over-buy produce. Even when the girls are with me I just buy too much. But I will argue that it’s not my fault. It is the produce’s fault. It shouldn’t be so beautiful and vibrant and succulent looking. Then I wouldn’t want to buy all the things. I’d just want to buy some of the things. And leave the rest of the things for someone else.
But as it stands I bought way too many peaches and that is when I decided to add to my grown-folk popsicle repertoire.
So in thinking what this pop should be, the ginger was a no-brainer. As I mentioned, I love peach and ginger together. But I’ve recently come to the conclusion that all adult food has at least three adjectives before the noun. For example:
- Salted Caramel Mocha Cheesecake
- Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Peach Ginger Chia Popsicles
In my case there are actually four adjectives, as this is a protein popsicle and I had to let you guys know that! Couldn’t have you thinking I do willy-nilly things like eat a popsicle without protein! (Because nobody does that, right? #sarcasm)
So the chia idea was born of the desire for a third adjective but I picked that ingredient in particular for a few other reasons:
- Chia seeds are highly nutritious.
- Black chia seeds would look good against the peaches. (Hey, I’m also a hobby food photographer so I’m just keeping it real)
- Chia seeds give an interesting texture to things I add them to and it’s one that I like very much. It almost gives them a carbonated mouth-feel.
So chia seeds it was!
The rest came together quite organically. Making the pops wasn’t really hard. Eating them wasn’t really hard. Which in my estimation makes them the perfect summer food. I mean, when it’s hot, who wants to have to work for their food?
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 popsicles | 5 minutes |
| Passive Time |
| 4 hours |
|
|
|
|
Peach-Ginger Chia protein popsicles are sexy popsicles. They are popsicles that will get you carded (even though they contain no alcohol). They are popsicles that make you feel like the sophisticated, cultured, grown-up that you are!
|
- 2 ripe, large yellow cling peaches seed removed
- 1/2 c. no-calorie sweetener (whatever kind you use)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 scoops BiPro USA Unflavored protein powder
- 1/4 c. water
- 2 tbsp. black chia seeds
- If you don't have a good blender, you should probably skin your peaches first. Only a really good blender (Ninja, Magic Bullet or, even better, a Vitamix) is going to grind down that skin to where it would be palatable.
- Combine peaches, sweetener, ginger, protein powder and water in a blender and blend until smooth. Then give it a taste. Pay specific attention to the strength of the ginger. Can you taste it? Is it too strong? If it's too strong, you can throw in another peach to accommodate or if you have it a few strawberries (which tend to smooth out the flavor of the ginger). If it isn't strong enough put a generous pinch more in there. Next, test the sweetness. Anything you intend to freeze should be slightly over-sweet in its liquid form. Freezing dulls sweetness, so if it's a bit too sweet in liquid form, it will be just right when frozen.
- Transfer to a bowl and then add chia seeds. Stir well and then place a lid on the bowl and refrigerate for two hours.
- Stir again before filling a popsicle mold with the mixture. Freeze 2 hours.
- To remove popsicle from mold, run the mold under lukewarm or room temperature water until the handle will twist, then remove popsicle.
