watermelon

Watermelon and Strawberry Popsicles

Have I told y’all about my garden? It is doing pretty well if I do say so myself it is doing pretty well this year. Much better than last year at least. So far my biggest battle was an early heat spell. My garden didn’t care for the 100 degree temps, even the hot peppers. My pepper plants were always the first plants to wilt. I think the only thing that went unfazed by the high temps were my watermelon’s. Heck, my watermelons have pretty much taken over the front half of my garden. They are looking beautiful and we have about 10 watermelons growing at the moment and they are getting big!

 

With 10 watermelon’s coming I am left wondering, what we are going to do with all of that watermelon? There is always Watermelon Sorbet and Watermelon Margaritas, but i’ve wondered what else I could make. That is when I remembered a recipe I made last summer that my kiddos loved, Watermelon Strawberry Popsicles.

Watermelon and Strawberry PopsiclesI made them again with a watermelon I picked up at the store and they were still winners among my kids. Even my strawberry hating oldest son wanted more. Just don’t tell him they have strawberries in them…shhhh! He loves strawberry flavor but is adamantly against the sight of real strawberries, go figure!
Want another plus with these popsicles? You know exactly what is in them and you can pronounce everything! These have 4 super simple ingredients, watermelon, strawberries lemon juice and sugar. Yes, it is easy to buy real fruit juice pops at the grocery store but they have added ingredients you don’t need like, carob bean gum, guar gum, citric acid, artificial or natural colorings and flavorings and ascorbic acid. I really don’t get the added coloring because I know my pops turned out a beautiful color without any extra help. I guess that can go in the pile of things that make you go hmmm.

My melons need to get growing because I can’t wait to make these popsicles again with the melons from my garden! I can only imagine how much better they will taste. They will make this perfect summertime  treat even better.

How will you be eating watermelon this summer?

Watermelon and Strawberry Popsicles
 
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Ingredients
  • 2½ cups cubed seeded watermelon
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup fresh strawberries
Instructions
  1. Place the watermelon, lemon juice, sugar, and strawberries into a blender or food processor, and blend on High speed until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into ice pop molds, and insert sticks or handles. Freeze until firm, several hours or overnight.

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

 

Watermelon Margarita

Hello summer and all the beautiful things that you bring! Warm weather, longer days and all the beautiful in season produce. This year my garden is doing much better than last. Everything is growing and looks beautiful. Things are flowering, I have attracted bees and they are pollinating and I have the start of many beautiful looking veggies. I have green tomatoes, cucumbers and the starts of different peppers. I really can’t wait until everything is growing in full force.

Watermelon Margarita | Country Girl Gourmet

My daughter can’t wait either, she has her own corner of the garden where she planted cantaloupe and watermelon. She checks her melon patch daily looking for baby melons but so far she has nothing more than blossoms and bees.

Watermelon Margarita | Country Girl Gourmet

We still have a wait for those melons but thankfully some stores have started selling some early season watermelons. So I bought her one. We love watermelon around here and it is a summer must have. We love to eat it plain, adding it to a beautiful fruit salad, turning it into popsicles or sorbet. I recently discovered a new and grown up way to have watermelon that I love, Watermelon Margaritas!

I really don’t drink much but I can say I am a margarita girl. I’ve had more than my fair share of traditional margaritas and strawberry margaritas in my life and i’m down for trying other variations. So, when I saw Jewel from Just a Smidge A Rainbow Jewels Blog recipe on Allrecipes I knew I needed to try it. So I whipped up some simple syrup and pulled out my blender and it was Margarita time!

Watermelon Margarita | Country Girl Gourmet

Her watermelon margarita is the perfect summer time clinky drinky! You can make a virgin margarita for the kiddos or those who do not drink by subbing Sprite or 7Up for the tequila too. Making up a pitcher of these and just hanging out with friends is a perfect way to spend a summer day!

Watermelon Margarita
 
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Ingredients
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 3 strips orange zest
  • 2 cups cubed seeded watermelon
  • ¾ cup white tequila
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • salt or sugar for rimming glasses (optional)
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • 2 cups crushed ice, or as needed
Instructions
  1. Bring ½ cup sugar, water, and orange zest in a small saucepan to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove simple syrup from heat and allow to cool completely.
  2. Place watermelon in a blender or food processor. Pulse until pureed.
  3. Stir watermelon puree into a large pitcher with simple syrup, tequila, and lime juice.
  4. Place a small amount of salt or sugar into a saucer. Rub edge of margarita glasses with a lime wedge to moisten. Lightly dip the rim of the glass into the saucer to rim the glass; tap off excess salt or sugar. (if desired, I never rim my glasses)
  5. Fill rimmed glasses with crushed ice; pour margarita mixture into glasses and garnish with lime wedges to serve.

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Simple Watermelon Sorbet

Don’t tell my favorite produce stand but I have been buying watermelons from Walmart. At $2 a seedless watermelon I just could not buy them. My family has been eating them just about as fast as I can buy them too. Then again there are 6 of us. Food doesn’t last long around this house so I had to hide some watermelon from my family to make a special treat. My friend Stella from  Stella Reynoso.com shared on her Instagram a ice cream maker free way to make sorbet. Since I almost always forget to throw my Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker base in the freezer I was intrigued. I really, really like sorbet and I have wanted to make some for a long time. With those $2 watermelons the timing was perfect.

Sorbet is simple. It is typically made with fruit and is just fruit puree and/or juice, sugar and water.  The  sugar and water is made into a simple syrup and then added to fruit puree and frozen. It really doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Where this recipe is different is that most sorbet recipes tell you to place the fruit mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze. If you have a bit of time there is another way if you do not have an ice cream maker or if you just keep forgetting to put the base in the freezer and all you need is a Ziploc freezer bag. Yep, a Ziploc bag. All you need to do is pour  the fruit mixture into a large Ziploc plastic freezer bag and seal it up. While it is freezing move the contents around in the bag every 15 minutes  for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Simple Watermelon Sorbet without an Ice Cream Maker!

 

You want it to get frozen and slushy. Then all there is left to do is to transfer it into a plastic container and seal. Let it sit for a couple hours and then you have some delicious sorbet that rivals what you can buy in the store! I have made this recipe several times now and I have gone onto experimenting with different fruits. Strawberry worked beautifully in this recipe. Try it for yourself! You will be amazed at how easy and good this sorbet is!
Simple Watermelon Sorbet without an Ice Cream Maker!

Simple Watermelon Sorbet
 
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Ingredients
  • ½-1 cup white sugar (based on your fruit’s sweetness)
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 3 cups cubed seeded watermelon
Instructions
  1. Combine sugar, water, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and refrigerate until cooled, about 30 minutes.
  2. Blend watermelon in a blender or food processor until pureed. Stir pureed watermelon into sugar mixture.
  3. Pour mixture into a large resealable plastic freezer bag. Seal, and freeze for 45 minutes to an hour. Move the contents around in the bag every 15 minutes while freezing. OR.... Transfer watermelon mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.
  4. Transfer sorbet to a one- or two-quart lidded plastic container; cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, sorbet should ripen in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight

Recipe originally from Allrecipes.com