the famous test gardens

These popsicles are almost embarrassingly easy to make, but when you have a mobile toddler demanding constant attention and you didn't get your grocery store run in for the day, a dessert that almost makes itself is a lifesaver.

Since they're meant to be kid-friendly, I used as little sugar as possible: the strawberries are sweetened with honey, which give them a lovely lazy-hot-June vibe, and the bananas are mixed with yogurt and a touch of agave syrup.

The trickiest and most time-consuming part is making the layers. Just like with ice cream, if you chill the fruit mixtures first, they will freeze faster in the molds. Budget about 25-30 minutes for each layer to set enough before you pour the next layer. If you're short on time, you can reduce the number of layers. Also, having your fruit mixtures in a cup with a pouring spout will make it much easier to fill the molds in a controlled fashion.

These popsicles are full size - I think I'll pick up some mini-size molds next that are more toddler-portioned, but believe it or not Isabelle powered through a whole bar on her own. You can see the determination on her face. She's definitely developed a will of her own in the last few months!

P.S.You'll probably notice I haven't got a photo of her smiling with a popsicle, either at the festival or at home. I tried really hard, but when it's just you and a camera and a baby, it's tricky! I think she was still getting used to their chill: she would bite into it and screw up her face at the cold, but she'd keep at it because it was so tasty and she didn't want to give it up. Babies-hilarious!

Thanks for the summer kickstart, Sunset! Isabelle hit her nap time wall so we had to leave before we could see everything, including the famous test gardens, but hopefully I'll be back for a return visit and more inspiration!

my favorite summer flavors

Happy Summer! Here's a quick review of one of my latest cookbooks and a summer-ready recipe to get your weekend started:

Donna Hay has long been one of my big inspirations, from her trendsetting food photography to her accessible approach to cooking and design. Her cookbooks are dog-eared references in my home, so I was thrilled to get a copy of her latest one, Fresh and Light, which pretty much sums up the Donna Hay philosophy.

Although I've always found her recipes to emphasize fresh, clean, seasonal flavors, Donna Hay has decided to bring an even lighter touch to her repertoire. The cookbook emphasizes vegetables, alternative grains, and lighter forms of cooking. Donna Hay mentions in her foreword that she doesn't like the word "diet", and I like that this cookbook doesn't sacrifice any of her signature mouthwatering style or culinary creativity. Without reading the book description I don't think I would have noticed it was meant to be a "light cooking" book.

I'm also pleased that there's a substantial dessert section, with frozen yogurts and light breads and fruit tarts. I was particularly drawn to the gorgeous berry slice, which looked sleek and cool and perfect for a warm weekend.

This is essentially a slimmed down cheesecake made with cream cheese and ricotta. There's no crust, but because I like a little crunchy contrast to my cheesecake I threw in a simple graham cracker crust, since these days I always have a lot of graham crackers around the house for hungry toddlers!

I also added in some lemon verbena, one of my favorite summer flavors. Although I usually infuse the leaves into cream or milk, since there are no liquids in this recipes I ground up the leaves with the sugar to make a green-speckled, super fragrant lemon verbena sugar. You can use this sugar in other recipes as well, wherever you want a lovely floral hit of lemon.