07 July 2013



It's my favorite Monday of the month: reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club.  The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned the awesome blog, Food Babbles.  This is a blog I am familiar with.  It is written by Kate, a mom of three who loves to bake.  I knew Kate's blog already, not just from SRC, but also because Kate participates in the other monthly blog challenge that I love, the Improv Challenge.  So I was super excited to get a good excuse to really comb through her recipes and make something fun.  

Since most of the recipes on my blog are my family's dinner, I always look first at the "main dish" category on a blog's recipe index.  Kate has a few savory recipes on Food Babbles, like her Broccoli Cheese Muffins and her Fresh Tomato and Smoked Gouda Pie.  That pie looks so amazing, and I'm definitely going to try it soon, but I thought I might as well go for something sweet this time around since Kate's blog is filled with such delectable desserts.  I was leaning towards her "I Can't Believe It's Not Toffee" Bars or her Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Tart.  But then I stumbled upon her really fun summery beverages and I realized it had been a while since I did a drink recipe.  Her Rosemary-Infused Watermelon Lemonade looked so delicious and seemed so perfect for summer that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it.  In her post, Kate mentions that it would be really good with mint instead of the rosemary.  As I'm not a fan of rosemary, I decided to try it that way.  The results were incredible.

Mint-Infused Watermelon Lemonade

Ingredients:
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
6 leaves fresh mint
10 cups seedless watermelon, cubed
1 cup fresh lemon juice
8 oz. Sprite
Lemon slices, for garnish.

Directions:
Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil and add the mint leaves.  Remove from the heat, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.  Strain out the mint leaves and let syrup cool.

Put half of the watermelon, half the lemon juice, and half the mint syrup in a blender.  Puree until smooth.  Strain out the pulp and place the liquid in a pitcher.  Repeat this process with the remaining ingredients.

Chill the lemonade until ready to serve.  When ready to serve, stir in the Sprite and garnish with lemon slices.

Makes about 2 quarts.



 It's amazing what magic you can make with these three simple ingredients!  I chose to use all lemon juice instead of half lemon and half lime like Kate did. I'm sure it's great either way.  The other thing I changed was to use Sprite instead of seltzer water.  Since the Sprite adds sugar, I decreased the amount of sugar in the simple syrup.  It turned out perfectly.



I cannot even tell you how fantastic this drink is.  I don't very often make too much of an effort when it comes to drinks, but I definitely should because it was out of this world.  My husband and two kids couldn't get enough.  My daughters called it "that watermelon juice", and really, it kind of is!  You can't beat the beautiful pink color, either.

I may or may not have tried some of this with coconut rum in it, and it may or may not have been the tastiest drink I've ever had.



I am so glad that I was assigned Kate's blog this month and I'm so glad I found this fantastic recipe.  I will definitely be making it again before the summer's over.  Thanks for a great recipe, Kate!






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14 comments:

  1. This just screams 'SUMMER!' What a perfect pick for our SRC reveal this month.

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  2. I just bought watermelon and may have to give this a try. Kids will love it. Good SRC.

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  3. That does look delicious and so pretty! Great pick!

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  4. Lesa - this looks so bright and refreshing! I have lots of watermelon floating around these days, and this is definitely one way it will be getting used.

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  5. Oh how refreshing and so perfect too now that watermelon is coming on sale.

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  6. Jane Bonacci, The Heritage CooJuly 8, 2013 at 2:12 AM

    Lesa - I was so lucky to be assigned your blog this month and the mocha brownies were killer! Thank you for a wonderful recipe and I can't wait to make this lemonade - sounds fabulous!!

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  7. Well that looks absolutely thirst-quenching!

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  8. "May or may not have." LOL. We have a bunch of watermelon in the fridge and I think this would be a big hit!

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  9. Lovely! This looks so refreshing and delicious - a great SRC pick! :)

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  10. Mmmmm watermelon - love it - saving this recipe!

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  11. Kate | Food BabblesJuly 8, 2013 at 5:08 PM

    Aww, thanks so much for all your kind words! I'm so glad you enjoyed this watermelon lemonade. I love making it with mint too! This is one of my favorite summer drinks and I'm happy you enjoyed it as well.

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  12. Yes! I love this idea. I made some basil lemonade last summer and saw a lot of other recipes incorporating an herb-infused sugar syrup in the drink. The additional of watermelon makes this sound doubly delicious!

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  13. That looks so refreshing and tasty, love it with the mint.

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  14. Yum! This looks and sounds so good. I love the color. Great choice. I'm marking this to make sometime

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