summer food – Castle Foundations

BY TARA BURKE

Back when I was a kid my Mom always used to make avocado popsicles. Maybe it has been the really humid summer we’ve been having in NY, but I was craving one after not having them for years. So I made it my mission to recreate them while I was home for my whole family to enjoy. So let’s begin!

Ingredients

One Avocado (This makes four medium sized popsicles)

1/3 Cup Condensed Milk

3 tbsp. of granulated sugar

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Directions

1. Chop ripe avocado into cubes.

2. Place the sugar into enough water to cover it and let it dissolve.

3. Drop avocado cubes, dissolved sugar and condensed milk into a blender. Blend until creamy and smooth.

4. Pour mix into ice pop mold. Give the mold a shake to get rid of any air bubbles in the mix.

5. Freeze for about 5 hours or more.

That’s it! Now, this recipe will make super creamy avocado pops. The consistency will be very similar to double churned ice cream. If you are looking for something with more of a dessert feel this recipe may be your choice. However, if you would like them to be more refreshing and icy just add some regular milk or water into the mix until it’s at your desired consistency. For our first batch of ice pops we made the creamy version, so the next day we used leftover mix (from just the one avocado!) and added some milk, water and a little more condensed milk to make icier versions. Both were delish and were a step up on the healthy scale from all the ice cream cones I’ve been devouring this summer. If avocados and popsicles sound like a strange combination to you, just give it a try. It may become your new favorite summer treat!

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BY TARA BURKE

Cailin and I really like food, so more than half of our to-do list in the city consists of places to eat. One of the food markets on our list was Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. So on a sunny Saturday we headed out to Brooklyn with our roomie. Although there were several absolutely delicious food stands to try, we headed straight for the Lumpia Shack. Being half Filipino we have grown up eating lumpia and it is by far my favorite Filipino food. In turn, we just had to see how the Lumpia Shack’s lumpia stood against our Mom’s. We ordered the lumpia sampler which included three pieces of each of their lumpia varieties: original pork, peking duck and truffle adobo mushroom. Our Mom makes traditional lumpia with ground pork or beef so we were excited to try the more gourmet versions of a typical Filipino spring roll. They did not disappoint. They only thing lacking was more of them!

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We also ordered Halo Halo, a Filipino dessert that typically features shaved ice, evaporated milk, fruits, jelly and is topped with ube ice cream and leche flan. The Lumpia Shack put their own unique spin on their version of Halo Halo which featured purple sweet potato whipped cream, milk foam, fresh fruits, coconut jelly and popcorn! It too was delicious and was the perfect refreshment on such a hot summer day.