There are some foods that just scream summer, and popsicles are at the top of that list. Cool, fruity, sticky, and sweet, they convey the innocence of childhood on one hand, and all of the sexiness of hot summer nights on the other, depending on whose hands are holding which varieties.

While you could buy a boring old box at the store, making your own is so much more fun. From booze-infused versions for adults to healthy ones that get your kids to eat extra fruit in a fun way, there are plenty of varieties to keep your whole family cool all summer long. Here are eight incredible homemade popsicle recipes to try.

Healthy cooking is all the rage. No butter, no sugar, no gluten -- whatever gluten is. Hey, I'm all for it. If I'm going to cook, I make sure I cook healthy. But it hasn't always been this way. In fact, it used to be de rigeur to use fattening staples like Crisco, Cool Whip, and Jell-O. My great-grandmother did it that way her whole life, and she lived until she was 90. I wouldn't describe her as a small woman, but she enjoyed her eating time!

So read on for 3 old-fashioned, NOT calorie-conscious recipes from my great-grandmother's cookbook. Just don't serve them every day!

Chocolate and peanut butter go together like, well, chocolate and peanut butter. These delicious peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate take almost no time at all to make and then they're ready to go. Everyone will love them. They're like little parties in your mouth. Trust.

Everybody loves pizza. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Lots of us order the delicious pies every week, but with this homemade pizza recipe, you can put down the phone and pick up the flour. It sounds harder than dialing up your favorite delivery place, but really, it's not. Plus, it's fun!

Throw on your favorite Italian music, put on an apron, and gett-ah ready-ah to make-ah da pizza pie-ah.

We all love oven-backed nacho. But if you're not a fan of scraping cheese crisps off your baking sheet, I have another alternative for you: Slow-cooker nachos! Yup, just add all the ingredients you want to go gooey -- bean, cheese, salsa -- into the slow cooker and let it work its melty magic. Then just pour it over your chips.

This recipe is for black beans, but you could pinto beans instead if you like those better. For that matter, if you have some already-browned ground meat (sans pink slime, of course) you could add that in, as well. With a salad on the side I would call this Friday Night Dinner. I would also call it delicious.

Any Hunger Games fans out there? I've read the book and I'm so stoked for the movie to come out! But I have to confess something a little embarrassing: Reading the book made me hungry. Seriously. For a book called The Hunger Games, there sure is a lot of good eating.

Anyway, while I'm waiting for the movie to come out, I've been dreaming up the ultimate Hunger Games dinner party menu: Mixed greens salad with blood orange dressing, lamb stew, wine, and chocolate cake. Let the games begin!

Any Hunger Games fans out there? I've read the book and I'm so stoked for the movie to come out! But I have to confess something a little embarrassing: Reading the book made me hungry. Seriously. For a book called The Hunger Games, there sure is a lot of good eating.

Anyway, while I'm waiting for the movie to come out, I've been dreaming up the ultimate Hunger Games dinner party menu: Mixed greens salad with blood orange dressing, lamb stew, wine, and chocolate cake. Let the games begin!

Being Jewish, one of my favorite holidays has always been Purim, which starts tonight at sundown (whoohoo!). Sometimes referred to as "the Jewish Mardi Gras" or "the Jewish Halloween," the holiday commemorates the deliverance of the Jews of ancient Persia from danger. There are costumes (as a kid, I'd dress up as the holiday story's heroine, Queen Esther), greggors (noisemakers), and feasts of delicious food, like ... Hamantaschen, a cookie made to look like the hat of Haman, the villain of the story.

If you've never had Hamantaschen, or even if you're a Purim pastry aficionado, I highly recommend you bake up a batch to enjoy STAT. With buttery dough (folded to look like a three-corner hat) and fruit filling (you can do prunes, raspberry, poppy seeds, etc.), they look cute, are actually really fun to eat, and above all, are delectable!