Good morning and Happy Friday!

Before I tell you about the popsicles that will cool you off, I’m going to tell you about my belly-warming breakfast that was SO GOOD, but also made me sweat in the already-blazing heat of the day.

When I woke up this morning, I was in the mood for eggs, but also oatmeal (I can’t seem to shake that!), so I got a little creative and made something totally delicious!I made regular oatmeal with water in the microwave, then added a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and a teaspoon of parmesan cheese and mixed it all up so the cheese melted.  I added a fried egg on top with a spoonful of strawberry jelly and a handful of blueberries for that delicious salty and sweet taste.  Holy moly–this was good!  I know it may sound or look strange, but don’t knock it until you try it!  All of the flavors came together so perfectly…I even went back for seconds on the oatmeal and I rarely do that at breakfast.  That’s how good this was!Workout

I haven’t gotten to the gym yet, but I’ll be there soon enough.  I plan to do something similar to yesterday’s workout:

• 20 minute run
• 10 minutes of intervals on the treadmill (10 seconds 8.6, 10 seconds 8.8., 10 seconds 9.1, 10 seconds 9.4, 20 seconds 6.0–repeat ten times) <— those intervals are no joke.
• shoulder exercises
• ab exercises

Okay, now that I have sufficiently told you about ways you can heat yourself up, now let’s get to the part of this post where you can cool off!

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Sooooo remember when I said I was going to make more popsicles when the Blueberry-Peach-Ginger ones were eaten?  Well, they didn’t and I’m way too impatient AND it’s going to be 97 degrees today.  Can you say sweatastic?!  The thoughts of coconut and pineapple paired so perfectly together called to me, so I took the left over pops, dumped them in a freezer bag and I have grand plans to sneak them into smoothies.  I don’t want to see them go to waste!

Anyway, with a clean and ready popsicle mold, I got to work on my little creation and eight hours later, something beautiful was born…or…frozen. 😉

Tropical Coconut-Pineapple Pops

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana, broken into chunks
• 1 can of pineapple (or fresh)
• 1 can of coconut milk, or 1 can of coconut cream (that’s what I used)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions

1.  Throw errthang except for the coconut flakes into the food processor and process until it’s nice and soupy.

2.  Mix in coconut flakes. (DON’T skip this step–texture is everything!)

3.  Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

4.  Enjoy on a hot summer day, preferably while sitting in your climate controlled home, looking outside and thinking about how hot it is out there.  97 degrees today!

Not going to lie- when I first opened the can of coconut cream, I was a bit put off by how oily everything was and thought that these pops would be too greasy and heavy.  However, now that they’re frozen, they’re perfectly creamy, light and refreshing.  I may attempt to use coconut milk next time and see if it’s better.

Stay cool this weekend!  After work today, I’m going out to eat with a couple of my best friends.  Should be fun!