icy treat #2: freezies

It was soooo hot today, this was pretty much liquid after the photo was taken.

For as long as I can remember, I've been addicted to slurpies. The petrol station near my home would see my every day in summer (and every third day in winter) when I was growing up. And I'm now McDonald's biggest fan since they brought in their Frozen Cokes - don't even have to get out of the air conditioned car! But my absolute favourite frozen drink is the one I do myself. Could not be easier. If you hate it when your soft drink goes flat towards the end of the bottle, throw it in the freezer. Once frozen, take the bottle out and smash it hard on the ground - it's a very violent game this one - to loosen it up a little and then shake, shake, shake the bottle until it's all mushy. Then squeeze it into a glass (you might need to do some more banging and shaking here - a rather good workout!) and eat with a spoon. Yum. The good thing is, the fizz of the soft drink (even the flatish stuff) means it doesn't freeze as hard as ice and so breaks up nicely to make yummy slurpies. And you know it's not half water, like the shop ones are! My fave is the Deep Spring Orange and Mango Mineral Water. Mmm. Or plain Coke. There are three things I will never, ever buy cheapie homebrand versions of: toilet paper, tissues and cola. It needs to be Coke - or nothing!!

And for the bubbies...

Sassy Teether Feeder, $7.95, Baby Nest. You can also get something similar from Big W.

Can't forget the babies. Miss L is starting to teeth and is chomping down on anything and everything. The ice ring teethers are good, but this is even better: I pop an ice cube (or two) into this mesh feeder, smash it up with a heavy spoon and let her at it. She gets to suck and bite on the ice and actually get a result, something the teethers don't do. But boy you should see the tantrums when the ice runs out! These are also great for messy fruits like mango and banana. Oh and a tip on ice. I've found out (by accident - we have no cold water tap in the kitchen at the moment. It's literally falling apart, hence the need to get on with the reno!) that by freezing warm water, it breaks up itself into nice little bits when you crack it out of the ice tray. Good for little kids who like to eat ice as a snack (or is that just my children who do that?)

ice treat #1: rocket ice blocks

I tried to get Z zooming it around, but he's not a very pilot. Oh wait - astronaut, right?

Apologies to those of you rugged up in your woollies watching snow fall outside, but over here, we've been sweltering in close to 40C heat. And nearly have to eat the entire contents of one's fridge and freezer when all the air conditioners in the area overload the power and cause a blackout. So to celebrate this typical Aussie summer, I thought I'd share some yummy icy treats we've been making in our house. It seems my love of frozen things has rubbed off on my son. He's obsessed with ice blocks, ice, frozen peas... So much so that the first thing I hear in the morning after "Hi Mum, I see Daddy and L?" is "Ice block? Please?" When I say no, he asks for ice. And damn our upside-down fridge, because I quite often find him sitting on the floor attempting to break up the ice cubes himself (cause they're too big for his mouth!). Anyway, Santa heard about this ice block obsession and stuffed his sack with these cool rocketship moulds from Chalet, $14. And here is what we fill them with...

Tingly tangly rockets
1 large orange, juiced (I do it by hand)
1 melon, chopped
1/4 fresh pineapple, chopped
Throw it all in a blender and whip up until smooth. You might need a dash of water to thin it out a tiny bit. Then pour into the moulds and freeze

Berry nice rockets
Half a punnet of strawberries
1/2 frozen raspberries
A nice large scoop of vanilla ice cream
Whip up in the blender, add some milk to thin if you wish then pour into moulds. This is a really yummy smoothie too, just add more milk.

These make six rocket ships. And one word on these Chalet moulds: the sticks that come with it catch all the drips, which is good in theory but in reality, it just means messy spillage when little kids zoom their ice blocks around. Also makes it impossible to eat the bottom of the ice block cause the stick is wider than the rocket. Annoying. So I just stick in some normal paddle pop sticks - the mixture is so thick, they stand up halfway despite them being shorter than the mould. And yes I know all this because I eat more of them than Z!