I’m on a full-on popsicle-making kick. If you think about it, popsicles are the perfect medium for flavor experimentation: all you need is a blender, molds, and a little inspiration. And they’re so forgiving; who doesn’t like frozen stuff on a stick? Popsicles are like pizza in that even if they’re bad, they’re still pretty good.

But more about that in a second. Tony and I braved the fest of all neighborhood fests yesterday: Wicker Park Fest. It was crowded and full of people I would prefer not to interact with on a regular basis, but what an opportunity to practice some off-the-mat yoga. Plus, I saw the gorgeous orchids pictures above, and saw Miniature Tigers put on a cute, boppy, happenin’ kinda set. And I had a Slurpee for the first time in years; it was every bit as tasty as I remembered.

Anyway, back to pops. I’m digging how simple it is to create tasty flavors while still being healthy. Or quasi-healthy. With this batch, I went with half and half.

I was in the mood for something creamy and chocolatey, quite the opposite of the crisp, botanical flavors in Daisy Fay. So I went with an oldie-but-goodie combo: banana and chocolate. I used fat-free greek yogurt greek-style yogurt as a base, then added ripe bananas and unsweetened cocoa powder.

After blending together, it was totally doin’ it for me: the ripeness of the bananas add just a touch of sweetness, and it was nice and chocolatey. But it still needed something. I was about to add some instant coffee, but then found a bottle of this:

Why add coffee when you can add coffee liqueur? I filled half of the molds with the mixture sin Sabroso, and then added a couple splashes of the booze, which also makes sweeter pops. Overall, a really nice, traditional combo with a boozy touch. Here’s the official recipe:

The Banana YoshiCocoa

2 ripe bananas

1 cup yogurt (I used fat-free greek-style)

3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

Optional: 1/2 cup of coffee liqueur (I used Sabroso, because it is.)

Blend blend blend. Freeze in molds. Fin.