Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Creamy Watermelon Smoothie or Popsicles



We have a strange year with watermelons. 

We have had a harder time than usual picking a good one - and we have seemed to struggle to get through them. But above all, I hate wasting food.  So what that watermelon wasn't the best thing you ever ate ---  you aren't going to NOT eat it. 

That seems a little harsh now that I type it, but really food costs money and it always hurts to throw money away. 

So a few times this summer, I have frozen cubes of watermelon that weren't quite as delicious as we had hoped they would be, or that we weren't going to get to in time before they spoiled. 

**Keep in mind you can freeze almost any fruits and vegetables - they most likely won't be perfect for eating just "raw" but you can put them in smoothies, soups, pies, cookies, breads, oatmeal, **


This recipe includes watermelon and plain yogurt. 
I used 2 cups frozen watermelon cubes and 1/2 cup yogurt to start - then added more yogurt as needed to "smooth" it out - you can also add milk. 

If your watermelon wasn't sweet to begin with, you might want to add a bit of honey or use a vanilla flavored yogurt. 



I have to let the frozen watermelon cubes sit out about 5 minutes to begin to "melt" because I do not have one of those industrial blenders that could blend a car.  But once the hard freeze comes off the watermelon cubes - then blend up just fine. 

If you are having a hard time, put a little bit of milk or water in the bottom of your blender. 



Because the watermelon is frozen, you can go ahead and enjoy it right now - if you used a lot of watermelon is acts as a perfect Ice Cream, 

If you used more yogurt or your watermelon cubes contained more juice, then you are going to end up with a bit of a smoothie. 

Here it was a little bit like soft serve ice cream - Yummy! 



Because I ended up with more mixture that the kids wanted to eat, I poured the rest into popsicle molds to freeze for later. 

You can do this with any smoothie that you make - green ones, peach ones, chocolate ones. I highly recommend picking up Popsicle molds - they are fantastic.



A little behind the scenes beauty for you - I am the messiest cook in the entire world - I can't even fill Popsicle molds without it turning into a disaster.