Paletas de Coco

Its hot and dry in a scary way here. No rain for weeks, none in the forecast. The garden is droopy, an apricot tree has withered away, the grass is brown. To beat the heat we've been swimming in the Kickapoo, reading under the fans, and eating and drinking cold things.
I recently bought a homemade popsicle maker- my mom had something similar when I was a kid, except it was much better made than this one. I remember diving into the great big chest freezer that was in the garage to fish out a frozen grape juice-cicle. I also remember apple cider-cicles.

Inspired by the paletas ("Latin American ice pops usually made from fresh fruit") that I've been enjoying from a shop in town (they have paleta punch-cards!), I decided to make my own. I mixed a can of light coconut milk with about an eighth of a cup of honey and a dash of vanilla extract, and added about half a cup of non-sweetened shredded coconut, and froze overnight. They were great! And a nice cool treat for this scorcher of a day- the thermometer on my car said 111 degrees today! I think that car thermometer is a little bit of an exaggerator, but still. 

As soon as this batch is done, I'm moving on to better and more beautiful fruits and herbs... blackberry basil pops! Watermelon mint-cicles! The possibilities are endless. I hope you're finding such pleasant ways to beat the heat!