It’s melon season! The past few farm shares have included at least 2,, if not 4, watermelons and cantaloupes… Can you imagine. eating 4 watermelons a week? That’s a tall order, even for someone like me who could probably eat a whole watermelon in one sitting, it’s just doing it 4 times a week might be a problem. It’s a whole lot of melon and not enough stomach, you know what I mean?
So what do I do with so much melon? Well first off, whenever anyone comes over I try to get them to eat as much of it as they can, which helps a great deal. Secondly, I cut it up and freeze some. But here is the thing, I love eating chunks of frozen cantaloupe, but frozen watermelon, never been my favorite so I usually just pass on sticking in the freezer, until now.
There is something magical that happens when you stick the frozen watermelon and cantaloupe together into a blender and making it into a slushy. It’s like eating a ray of sunshine or maybe even a rainbow, just really satisfying and juicy, and sweet but not overly sweet, and just really freaking good. Especially with all the stupid hot and humid weather we have had lately, these slushies have really been hitting the spot. Even the mr who says he dislikes watermelon was all into these melon slushies. (he likes things that he says he doesn’t like all the time. I am pretty sure he is taste confused) Like he was really into them. Usually I have to prompt him to tell me how something tastes, but not the slushy, he told me right away how good it was. I was like, I know dude, I just drank 2 of them myself. And I could have drank 2 more but I was trying to not get tot far ahead of myself. Moderation is key, plus I didn’t;t have any more of the melons frozen. Time to restock the freezer.
Go make yourself a slushy, it’s juicy deliciousness will make you happy.
The stuff. Watermelon and cantaloupe. There should be a lime in there too but it must have rolled away….
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Chop some of each of the melon up, remove the rinds, and place on a big baking sheet and stick into the freezer until frozen. You can do as little as 2 cups of each or as much as a whole melon, it’s up to you. (I suggest freezing extra)
Frozen melon. And now you can slushy.
Equal parts watermelon and cantaloupe go into blender, along with the juice of half (or more to taste) a lime and you are probably going to need to add about 1/2 a cup of water, to help the blender blend it all together. And that’s it. You blend until it’s all slushy.
Pour into cups, garnish with a lime and/or little chunks of melon and you are good as golden.
From now on, or until summer is over and I run out of melon, I will be keeping the freezer stocked, especially because I know that the next few weeks are suppose to be stupid hot again.
Waterloupe slushies. Summertime goodness.
-C
- about 2 cups of a watermelon
- about 2 cups of a cantaloupe
- 1 lime
- 1/2- 1 cup water
Note. The amounts above are for two 2 cup slushies. You can, and should, freeze a crap load more melon for future slushies. Also, no one would fault you for maybe adding a little nip of some clear alcohol to this slushy situation to make it more of an adult drink……
Cut up a watermelon and a cantalopjue. Eat some and reserve at least 2 cups of each. Remove the rinds from the melons and cut into cubes. Place melon on a baking sheet and stick into the freezer until frozen.
Once frozen, place equal parts frozen watermelon and cantaloupe into the blender with the juice of a lime. Turn blender on. Slowly add in water until the blender can handle blending the frozen fruit. Blend until smooth. Pour into cups, garnish if you want with more melon and lime, then get to drinking.
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That right bitches .. grape soda!!!!
uh-hum. Sorry. you are not bitches.
But this grape soda is my bitch. It is SO GOOD! And that is coming from me, who is not a soda drinker. (Spoiler alert.. all it is is cooked down grapes and seltzer. (and a bit of lemon juice) But thats is) So why soda? I guess it’s because I can’t make wine since I don’t have the knowledge and or the vineyard to make wine. But cooking down some grapes.. I can totally do that.
Every once in a while I make something that I think is so freaking ingenious and fanatic that I am shocked that everyone and there mom doesn’t do it. This is one of those recipes. I mean, the mr was more at then thrilled when I handed him a glass, covered in condensation, with a cutie pink straw. He took a long drink and gave a sweet little refreshing sigh. It was great and cute and make me happy cause I think it made his day. And I know that there are a thousand and one other people out there that have been doing this for years and that there are probably a couple hundred recipes as well, but I still consider myself a genius for making this. Great minds my friends.
Anyway, this grape soda is super refreshing, perfectly sweet, and a great way to end the summer and greet the fall. Great for kids and parties, I think this is definially going to be making an appearance at a few of the littles birthday parties and maybe a few grown up people parties.(maybe with a splash or two of booze..see you don’t need wine) over the next few weeks. Who needs wine when you got grape soda!
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The stuff. Grapes, a lemon, and seltzer water.
Oh wants that? Is that drink jar suppose to be an empty? Nope. I forgot to fill it with the seltzer before I took the pictures.( I think I get a break cause yesterday was stupid hot and I was feeling a little woozy) Let’s just pretend there is seltzer in there, ok. and also lets pretend there is water in this picute too, cause we need that as well.
![]()
Take your grapes, stems removed, and place in a pot with the lemon juice and water. Stick the pot on stove on medium heat and during to a boil. Then place a lid on it and turn heat down to low and simmer away, giving it a stir sand keeping you eye on it.
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Continue to cook until the grapes are pretty much all dissolved and the liquid has reduced about 1/2.
![]()
Let cool for a few minutes and strain the grapes through a fine mesh strainer, smooshing and scraping the grapes all around to extract as much liquid as you can.
The left over grape mush makes for a great little snack on some toast, in some yogurt, or with a spoon in your mouth.
![]()
Oh so pretty grape juice concentrate. Stick it in the fridge to cool completely.
![]()
After cooled, get it all ready for drinking. Add a few tablespoons of the concentrate to a cup, add in some seltzer, maybe a few ice cubes and …wa la!
![]()
Gape soda is the shits!
Happy Friday.. Enjoy the last weekend of summer!
-C
Makes about 5 drinks so feel free to double and or triple recipe if you are serving a lot of people
- 2 cups red grapes
- 2 cups water
- Juice of 1 lemon
- plain (or madiran orange, or any flavor really) seltzer water
Remove stems from grapes and place into a pot with water and the lemon juice. Briong to boil then cover and turn heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour or until the grapes are complete mush and the liquid has reduced to about 1/2.
Let cool enough hot handle and strain grape glop through a very fine mesh strainer, smooshing it around to extract as much liquid as you can. Refidgerate the juice, eat the left over mush.
Once cooled, pour about 3-4 tablespoon of the concentrate into a cup and add in about 1 cup of seltzer. Mix and enjoy.
Using a straw is optional, but either way, drink with your mouth.
Ugh. It has been so nasty gross out. A four day heat wave, and no, not just hot hot days, but those gross, hot hot with all the humidity in the world, kind of days. My body has rebelled and turned into a slug and my hair… well let’s not talk about my hair.
Yup, it’s been way to freaking hot to do anything, especially cook. And eating food is’t even especially appealing either (living off raw kale and, yes, lots of tomatoes at the moment) . What we all want is to drink something nice and cold and refreshing (and boozy). And what do I do when I want this, and have a lot of that? I turn that into this. That being tomatoes, and this, being a cold drink. Did that confuse you?
What I am trying to say is that I have a butt load of cherry tomatoes to eat but what I really want is a cold drink. So I took the tomatoes and make them into a lemonade. And it is amazing. It hits all the end of summer, super gross heatwave, I don’t want to move, spots that needed to be hit. And just in time for the weekend sow e get to add a little splash or two of something hard, cause we all know that after this past week, we all deserve it.
Think that combination sounds weird? Well don’t cause lemons and tomatoes are perfectly paired together. Tart and tangy, but still with a bit of sweetness from the tomatoes ( especially if using a sweeter variety like the sun-gold). It really is a great, refreshing drink, with or without the booze. A perfect match!
Tomato lemonade here we go!
![]()
The stuff. Tomatoes ( I used sun-gold cherry cause I have a buttload, but you can sure use whatever tomato you have to many of), lemons, water, and if your into it vodka.
Note. The mr. and I are not big on sweet drinks, so I didn’t add any sweetener, the tomatoes being sweet enough. But feel free to add a little sugar or honey to yours.
![]()
Start by dumping tomatoes into a pot with water. Stick on high heat and bring to boil, then turn heat to medium low,stick a lid on pot, and let tomatoes simmer for a little while.
![]()
About 30 ish minutes later, the tomatoes have reduced to about 1/3 of what you started with and have turned into a a chunky like syrup.
![]()
Strain the juice from the solids into a big pitcher.
![]()
Tomato juice! and it’s so pretty bright gold. Now let it cool far a little bit.
![]()
And while juice is cooling, juice your lemons
When the tomato juice is cooled off, add the lemon juice to the tomato.
![]()
Add water and stir
Taste, and if you think it need sweetener, by all means, add a drizzle or two of some honey or spoonful of sugar.
![]()
A couple of glasses of ice, and if you shall,, a shot of vodka (add the shot to the glass, not the pitcher)
![]()
Me being so fancy added a garnish/snack. Basil leaf and cherry tomato skewer looks so nice.
![]()
And sit back, put your feet up. and take it all in.
Weekend here we come!
-C
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes (can use 2 cups of any tomato)
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (4-5 lemons)
- 1 cup water plus 3 1/2 -4 cups water
- a few basil leaves and extra tomatoes for garnish (optional)
Note. I did not add any sweetener to my lemonade but you could totally add in a few tablespoons honey or sugar. Do what floats your boat.
Dump tomatoes into a pot with 1 cup of water. Bring to boil then cover and turn heat to a medium low heat. Cook tomatoes down for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes have reduced about 1/3 and is almost sauce like.
Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the tomato mixture into pitcher or jug that you can serve your drinks from. Use a wood spoon or spatula to scrap the tomato around strainer to really make sure you get all the juicy goodness. Let tomato juice cool.
While cooling, juice lemons until you get a cup of fresh lemon juice. Add lemon juice to cool tomato juice along with 3 1/2 cups water. Mix and taste. If you think it needs a little sweetener, add a little in. If you think it tastes to strong, add in more water.
Good stir, ice in cups, a 2-3oz shot of vodka per 8-12oz cup of lemonade (the ratio is up to you my friend)… and your sitting pretty. Feeling a little fancy, take a basil leaf and wrap around a cherry tomato. Stab it with a tooth pick and garnish your drink. It ames for anise snack too.
Sit back, sip and enjoy.
THE LOVELY CRAZY
May 20, 2019 by maximios • Blog
It’s melon season! The past few farm shares have included at least 2,, if not 4, watermelons and cantaloupes… Can you imagine. eating 4 watermelons a week? That’s a tall order, even for someone like me who could probably eat a whole watermelon in one sitting, it’s just doing it 4 times a week might be a problem. It’s a whole lot of melon and not enough stomach, you know what I mean?
So what do I do with so much melon? Well first off, whenever anyone comes over I try to get them to eat as much of it as they can, which helps a great deal. Secondly, I cut it up and freeze some. But here is the thing, I love eating chunks of frozen cantaloupe, but frozen watermelon, never been my favorite so I usually just pass on sticking in the freezer, until now.
There is something magical that happens when you stick the frozen watermelon and cantaloupe together into a blender and making it into a slushy. It’s like eating a ray of sunshine or maybe even a rainbow, just really satisfying and juicy, and sweet but not overly sweet, and just really freaking good. Especially with all the stupid hot and humid weather we have had lately, these slushies have really been hitting the spot. Even the mr who says he dislikes watermelon was all into these melon slushies. (he likes things that he says he doesn’t like all the time. I am pretty sure he is taste confused) Like he was really into them. Usually I have to prompt him to tell me how something tastes, but not the slushy, he told me right away how good it was. I was like, I know dude, I just drank 2 of them myself. And I could have drank 2 more but I was trying to not get tot far ahead of myself. Moderation is key, plus I didn’t;t have any more of the melons frozen. Time to restock the freezer.
Go make yourself a slushy, it’s juicy deliciousness will make you happy.
The stuff. Watermelon and cantaloupe. There should be a lime in there too but it must have rolled away….
Chop some of each of the melon up, remove the rinds, and place on a big baking sheet and stick into the freezer until frozen. You can do as little as 2 cups of each or as much as a whole melon, it’s up to you. (I suggest freezing extra)
Frozen melon. And now you can slushy.
Equal parts watermelon and cantaloupe go into blender, along with the juice of half (or more to taste) a lime and you are probably going to need to add about 1/2 a cup of water, to help the blender blend it all together. And that’s it. You blend until it’s all slushy.
Pour into cups, garnish with a lime and/or little chunks of melon and you are good as golden.
From now on, or until summer is over and I run out of melon, I will be keeping the freezer stocked, especially because I know that the next few weeks are suppose to be stupid hot again.
Waterloupe slushies. Summertime goodness.
-C
Note. The amounts above are for two 2 cup slushies. You can, and should, freeze a crap load more melon for future slushies. Also, no one would fault you for maybe adding a little nip of some clear alcohol to this slushy situation to make it more of an adult drink……
Cut up a watermelon and a cantalopjue. Eat some and reserve at least 2 cups of each. Remove the rinds from the melons and cut into cubes. Place melon on a baking sheet and stick into the freezer until frozen.
Once frozen, place equal parts frozen watermelon and cantaloupe into the blender with the juice of a lime. Turn blender on. Slowly add in water until the blender can handle blending the frozen fruit. Blend until smooth. Pour into cups, garnish if you want with more melon and lime, then get to drinking.
That right bitches .. grape soda!!!!
uh-hum. Sorry. you are not bitches.
But this grape soda is my bitch. It is SO GOOD! And that is coming from me, who is not a soda drinker. (Spoiler alert.. all it is is cooked down grapes and seltzer. (and a bit of lemon juice) But thats is) So why soda? I guess it’s because I can’t make wine since I don’t have the knowledge and or the vineyard to make wine. But cooking down some grapes.. I can totally do that.
Every once in a while I make something that I think is so freaking ingenious and fanatic that I am shocked that everyone and there mom doesn’t do it. This is one of those recipes. I mean, the mr was more at then thrilled when I handed him a glass, covered in condensation, with a cutie pink straw. He took a long drink and gave a sweet little refreshing sigh. It was great and cute and make me happy cause I think it made his day. And I know that there are a thousand and one other people out there that have been doing this for years and that there are probably a couple hundred recipes as well, but I still consider myself a genius for making this. Great minds my friends.
Anyway, this grape soda is super refreshing, perfectly sweet, and a great way to end the summer and greet the fall. Great for kids and parties, I think this is definially going to be making an appearance at a few of the littles birthday parties and maybe a few grown up people parties.(maybe with a splash or two of booze..see you don’t need wine) over the next few weeks. Who needs wine when you got grape soda!
The stuff. Grapes, a lemon, and seltzer water.
Oh wants that? Is that drink jar suppose to be an empty? Nope. I forgot to fill it with the seltzer before I took the pictures.( I think I get a break cause yesterday was stupid hot and I was feeling a little woozy) Let’s just pretend there is seltzer in there, ok. and also lets pretend there is water in this picute too, cause we need that as well.
Take your grapes, stems removed, and place in a pot with the lemon juice and water. Stick the pot on stove on medium heat and during to a boil. Then place a lid on it and turn heat down to low and simmer away, giving it a stir sand keeping you eye on it.
Continue to cook until the grapes are pretty much all dissolved and the liquid has reduced about 1/2.
Let cool for a few minutes and strain the grapes through a fine mesh strainer, smooshing and scraping the grapes all around to extract as much liquid as you can.
The left over grape mush makes for a great little snack on some toast, in some yogurt, or with a spoon in your mouth.
Oh so pretty grape juice concentrate. Stick it in the fridge to cool completely.
After cooled, get it all ready for drinking. Add a few tablespoons of the concentrate to a cup, add in some seltzer, maybe a few ice cubes and …wa la!
Gape soda is the shits!
Happy Friday.. Enjoy the last weekend of summer!
-C
Makes about 5 drinks so feel free to double and or triple recipe if you are serving a lot of people
Remove stems from grapes and place into a pot with water and the lemon juice. Briong to boil then cover and turn heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes to a 1/2 hour or until the grapes are complete mush and the liquid has reduced to about 1/2.
Let cool enough hot handle and strain grape glop through a very fine mesh strainer, smooshing it around to extract as much liquid as you can. Refidgerate the juice, eat the left over mush.
Once cooled, pour about 3-4 tablespoon of the concentrate into a cup and add in about 1 cup of seltzer. Mix and enjoy.
Using a straw is optional, but either way, drink with your mouth.
Ugh. It has been so nasty gross out. A four day heat wave, and no, not just hot hot days, but those gross, hot hot with all the humidity in the world, kind of days. My body has rebelled and turned into a slug and my hair… well let’s not talk about my hair.
Yup, it’s been way to freaking hot to do anything, especially cook. And eating food is’t even especially appealing either (living off raw kale and, yes, lots of tomatoes at the moment) . What we all want is to drink something nice and cold and refreshing (and boozy). And what do I do when I want this, and have a lot of that? I turn that into this. That being tomatoes, and this, being a cold drink. Did that confuse you?
What I am trying to say is that I have a butt load of cherry tomatoes to eat but what I really want is a cold drink. So I took the tomatoes and make them into a lemonade. And it is amazing. It hits all the end of summer, super gross heatwave, I don’t want to move, spots that needed to be hit. And just in time for the weekend sow e get to add a little splash or two of something hard, cause we all know that after this past week, we all deserve it.
Think that combination sounds weird? Well don’t cause lemons and tomatoes are perfectly paired together. Tart and tangy, but still with a bit of sweetness from the tomatoes ( especially if using a sweeter variety like the sun-gold). It really is a great, refreshing drink, with or without the booze. A perfect match!
Tomato lemonade here we go!
The stuff. Tomatoes ( I used sun-gold cherry cause I have a buttload, but you can sure use whatever tomato you have to many of), lemons, water, and if your into it vodka.
Note. The mr. and I are not big on sweet drinks, so I didn’t add any sweetener, the tomatoes being sweet enough. But feel free to add a little sugar or honey to yours.
Start by dumping tomatoes into a pot with water. Stick on high heat and bring to boil, then turn heat to medium low,stick a lid on pot, and let tomatoes simmer for a little while.
About 30 ish minutes later, the tomatoes have reduced to about 1/3 of what you started with and have turned into a a chunky like syrup.
Strain the juice from the solids into a big pitcher.
Tomato juice! and it’s so pretty bright gold. Now let it cool far a little bit.
And while juice is cooling, juice your lemons
When the tomato juice is cooled off, add the lemon juice to the tomato.
Add water and stir
Taste, and if you think it need sweetener, by all means, add a drizzle or two of some honey or spoonful of sugar.
A couple of glasses of ice, and if you shall,, a shot of vodka (add the shot to the glass, not the pitcher)
Me being so fancy added a garnish/snack. Basil leaf and cherry tomato skewer looks so nice.
And sit back, put your feet up. and take it all in.
Weekend here we come!
-C
Note. I did not add any sweetener to my lemonade but you could totally add in a few tablespoons honey or sugar. Do what floats your boat.
Dump tomatoes into a pot with 1 cup of water. Bring to boil then cover and turn heat to a medium low heat. Cook tomatoes down for about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes have reduced about 1/3 and is almost sauce like.
Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the tomato mixture into pitcher or jug that you can serve your drinks from. Use a wood spoon or spatula to scrap the tomato around strainer to really make sure you get all the juicy goodness. Let tomato juice cool.
While cooling, juice lemons until you get a cup of fresh lemon juice. Add lemon juice to cool tomato juice along with 3 1/2 cups water. Mix and taste. If you think it needs a little sweetener, add a little in. If you think it tastes to strong, add in more water.
Good stir, ice in cups, a 2-3oz shot of vodka per 8-12oz cup of lemonade (the ratio is up to you my friend)… and your sitting pretty. Feeling a little fancy, take a basil leaf and wrap around a cherry tomato. Stab it with a tooth pick and garnish your drink. It ames for anise snack too.
Sit back, sip and enjoy.