Red Bean Adzuki Popsicle

In prior years I would make a lot of New Year resolutions with photography, health/fitness, work, instagram, foodblog etc.

This year, I’m keeping my New Year resolutions simple. I have ONE resolution: Go to bed by midnight.

I know it sounds like low hanging fruit, but it’s a really tough one for me.

I have always been a night owl, and mostly working from home this past year has definitely not helped my sleep habits. Plus the only quiet time is after everyone goes to bed so I tend to stay up to 2 am. While I used to get by on 5-6 hours of sleep, it’s been harder to skip sleep.

Maybe it’s just me getting older…. or maybe it’s the toddler/baby combo (the interrupted sleep doesn’t help)…

By giving myself a strict bedtime of midnight, my hope is that I get better at time management. I tend to do a lot of my photography/blogging/creative work after midnight since I hate being interrupted. Even when B started dating me during college, he was always baffled why I painted after midnight (and being the dutiful boyfriend, he would stay up with me and help clean my brushes so I would go to bed earlier….although he would never do that now lol)

In addition to celebrating the traditional New Year, we also celebrated Lunar New Year, the year of the rabbit. I think this year will be a great year for us!

I’m sharing the Red bean Adzuki Popsicle recipe adapted from Omnivore’s Cookbook. I bought my first cheap Ikea popsicle mold cheap in 2016 because I was a new intern who had no money. I waited 7 years before buying the mold I always wanted – the pretty aesthetic ones with the classic wooden popsicle stick. Look how beautiful they are!

I’ve always liked red bean ice cream and this popsicle recipe is quite creamy. The whole milk and the condensed milk keep it from being icy. I used premade red bean paste from the Asian grocery – my prior attempts with dried red beans led to incredibly hard beans that hurt my teeth despite soaking it forever.

Isabelle really likes these and keeps asking for “po-sicles” from the freezer. I’m glad she likes Asian desserts as much as I do!

Ingredients
3/4 cup sweet red beans paste
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup condensed milk

Directions
Combine the red beans, whole milk, coconut milk, and condensed milk in a blender. Transfer the mixture into Popsicle molds and insert the Popsicle sticks. Freeze 4-5 hours, until the popsicles have solidified. Enjoy!