Watermelon Raspberry Lemon Refresher

What an amazing few days of great weather! We managed to finally put in our vegetable garden - tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, squash and peppers. It's not a very big garden but the kids love helping to plant everything and when (and if) all of the veggies grow they love picking them. There is simply no better way to get kids to try new veggies than growing them in your own backyard. They also realize the hard work it takes to grow them, and that things just don't magically appear in the grocery store! Best of all they learn that homegrown veggies usually taste 100x better than what we buy from chain stores.

With the heat of the weekend and all of the kids' hard work, we had to find a way to quench their thirst with a special drink and this watermelon refresher was perfect...especially since we served it in the the melon after taking out all of the juicy watermelon bits! A perfect end to a hard day and the perfect beginning to summer!

Ingredients

1 mini watermelon
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (or strawberries)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup ice cubes

Instructions

1. Cut off a tiny bit of the bottom of the mini watermelon. Just  enough so it sits evenly on a surface. Do nt cut into the fleshy part of the melon!
2. Cut an inch or 2 off the top of the watermelon.
3. Scoop out the inside flesh of the watermelon and set aside.
4. Add the scooped out watermelon, lemon juice, frozen or fresh fruit, yogurt and ice cubes to a blender or nutribullet.
5. Blend to desired consistency.
6. Pour back into the watermelon.
7. Add straw. Enjoy!

If you find it a bit tart you could add a tablespoon of honey.

Watermelon Salad

Vancouver had its first day of sunshine and spring-like weather this week and even though it's chilly today, I'm ready for a new season, new garden and new things to plant. The kids want to plant watermelons this year - though not sure we could pull it off with our short summers. I'm leaning more towards squash, tomatoes, beans, carrots and maybe a few beets. But since I had watermelon on the brain, we made this great salad. The saltiness of the olives goes really well with the sweet watermelon and creamy feta (we used Macedonian feta). I topped it with a store bought balsamic glaze - but you could make your own by reducing a bottle of balsamic vinegar.


Makes 4 side salads

Ingredients

1 mini-watermelon or 3 cups, cubed or scooped out with melon baller
1 cup yellow tomatoes (cherry tomato sized), halved
1/2 cup feta, crumbled or cut into cubes
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
handful of chopped basil
2-3 tbsp balsamic reduction

Instructions

Lightly combine all fruit, veggies and feta in serving bowl(s). Drizzle with balsamic reduction.
Serve immediately.