Watermelon-lime ice pops

I'm back. Mostly. Tonight, as Jeremy grilled pork chops for dinner, Jack and I tried our hand at homemade ice pops.

My sisters and I enjoyed homemade ice pops as kids all of the time. Our mom mostly made them out of orange or apple juice - sometimes chocolate pudding. I, years before having kids, bought myself ice pop molds at the Chicago Architecture Foundation's store so I'd be ready. I knew one thing going into this project with Jack tonight: It was going to be sticky.

And yes it was. But the results are a light and refreshing summertime treat.

Watermelon-lime ice pops
Recipe from The Naptime Chef: Fitting Great Food into Family Life

Makes 8 (2-ounce) ice pops

4 cups seedless watermelon, cubed
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1. Puree fresh watermelon with a blender until completely liquefied and strain out the solids with a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the juice. You should have 2 cups.

2. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the sugar and 3/4 cup water to make a simple syrup. Cook until the sugar has completely dissolved, then immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the syrup to cook to room temperature. (The simple syrup can be made up to a week in advance.)

3. Add the lime juice and simple syrup to the watermelon juice and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into frozen pop molds and freeze for at least six hours.

A clever variation from the author is following the basic recipe and swapping in peaches, raspberries or strawberries for the watermelon and lemon juice for the lime juice. Yum!