Strawberry Lime Yogurt Popsicles

An ordinary week that I am choosing to write about because the ordinary weeks are the weeks that hold the extraordinary weeks in place. Monday: closed, family day. Took the kids and Fuego to a park in Scottsdale where Diego threw a ball and Fuego retrieved it and Sofia read a cookbook on a bench and I sat in the sun and did not think about A1C numbers or kidney stages or the word "dialysis." For one hour. For one hour I sat in the sun and watched my children and my dog and I did not think about anything except the fact that the sun was warm and the children were healthy and the dog was fast and the park was quiet and the world was exactly as large as this bench and this moment.

Tuesday through Saturday: the restaurant. The rhythm. 182, 191, 188, 204, 241 customers. The birria sold out at 1:22 PM on Saturday. Patricia was first in line, as always. Gerald was at the counter on Thursday, as always. Roberto was at the counter on Thursday too — he comes three times a week now instead of the daily visits he made in the early months. The visits have decreased not because his interest has decreased but because his energy has decreased. The sixty-seven-year-old body that stood at counters and grills all day is asking for a pace that his spirit is slowly, grudgingly accepting. He comes Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. He sits. He reads. He nods at customers. He is still the founder. He is just a founder who sits more.

Sofia's travel soccer team won the spring championship. The final game was in Phoenix — a 3-1 victory, with Sofia scoring two goals and assisting on the third. She held up the trophy and her face — the face that is usually composed, analytical, the face that nods rather than smiles — broke into a grin so wide and so pure that Jessica and I both cried in the stands. The girl who measures everything, who spreadsheets everything, who analyzes everything, was for one moment just a girl holding a trophy and grinning. That moment is worth more than any brisket score.

Diego's spring Little League ended. His final stats: .274 batting average (I calculated it, I could not help myself, the man who refuses to calculate it calculated it). He fielded cleanly in eight of twelve games. He did one cartwheel that landed perfectly and one that landed in the dirt. He gave every teammate a high-five after every game, win or lose. His coach Dave told me: "Marcus, Diego is the heart of this team. Not the best player. The heart." The heart. Roberto would say that is the only position that matters.

Monday was a family day, and family days in Scottsdale in the spring mean heat by noon and kids who need something cold by two o’clock. These strawberry lime yogurt popsicles are what we make the night before days like that — simple enough that Sofia has been making them mostly on her own since she was nine, bright enough to feel like a celebration, and just tart enough to taste like something you chose on purpose. After a week where the ordinary moments turned out to be the ones that mattered most — the bench in the sun, Diego’s high-fives, Roberto sitting and reading — this is the recipe that belongs to all of it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Freeze Time: 4–6 hours | Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes | Servings: 8 popsicles

Ingredients

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (full-fat or 2%)
3 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 large lime)
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of fine sea salt

Instructions

Blend the base. Add the strawberries, Greek yogurt, honey, lime juice, lime zest, vanilla extract, and salt to a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 45 seconds. Taste and adjust sweetness or lime as needed.
Pour into molds. Divide the mixture evenly among 8 popsicle molds, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top for expansion. Tap the molds gently on the counter to release any air bubbles.
Insert sticks and freeze. Insert popsicle sticks and place the molds in the freezer. Freeze for at least 4 to 6 hours, or overnight, until completely solid.
Unmold. To release, run warm water over the outside of the molds for 10 to 15 seconds. Gently pull the sticks to slide the popsicles free. Serve immediately or wrap individually in parchment and store in a zip-top bag in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition (per serving)

Strawberry Lime Yogurt Popsicles — The Treat That Belongs to the Ordinary Days