Sparkle Kitchen: Watermelon Slushies
In this week’s story, "Dancing on a Bridge" from the Junkyard Tales: All Together Now collection, it’s a very hot day at the junkyard and all of the animals are out of sorts. No one seems to be able to get along! When the Rowlands, a family of raccoons, make their nightly visit they can smell the conflict in the air, but, luckily, Roger Rowland comes up with an idea to help everyone cool off.
After long, hot day of play, my four-year-old recently had a really hard time leaving the park. While it was still too early for our bath-and-bedtime routine, when we finally got home I carried him up to the bathtub anyway. It was amazing how much everyone’s tempers improved after his quick soak in some cool water.
And then, to keep the cooling effect going, we had these watermelon slushies.
With only three ingredients (and one of those is optional, even!), these watermelon slushies are an easy to make, naturally sweet cure for the heat induced grumpies. You can make them with either a regular blender or a stick blender, and the recipe is easily adjustable if you have more or less watermelon. (For the grown-ups reading, you can also feel free to add a shot of rum to make a delicious watermelon daiquiri!)
Make up a batch, find a shady spot to drink them, and see how much better the day is once everyone has cooled off!
Watermelon Slushies
(makes about 7 cups)
Ingredients
6 cups seedless watermelon cubes (about the amount you’ll get from one small seedless watermelon)
2 cups ice
1 tablespoon simple syrup, sugar, or honey (optional)
Directions
Put the watermelon cubes into a large bowl or the pitcher of a blender. Puree—in the blender or with a stick blender—until the cubes are completely liquified.
If you started with 6 cups of cubes, you should now have about 4 cups of puree. However much puree you have, add half as much ice (so, if you have 4 cups of puree, add 2 cups of ice) and continue to blend until the mixture resembles slush.
Sample a spoonful. If it’s sweet enough, you’re good to go, but feel free to add simple syrup, sugar, or honey as needed. Serve in tall glasses with straws and spoons.
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About the Author
Meryl Carver-Allmond
The Sparkle Kitchen Series is created by Meryl Carver-Allmond.
Meryl lives in a hundred-year-old house near the prairie with her sweet husband, two preschoolers, one puppy, one gecko, and about ten chickens. While she's been writing since she could pick up a pen, in recent years she's discovered the joy of photography, too. She feels lucky to be able to combine those skills, along with a third passion — showing people that cooking for themselves can be healthy and fun — in her Sparkle Kitchen posts.
