A few weeks ago, I was at my parents house, and there was a magazine sitting on the table. I am almost positive it was a Better Homes & Gardens magazine, but I cannot say that with absolute certainty. For whatever reason, I began paging through this magazine. One recipe in particular stuck out to me: Watermelon Berry Limeade.
I took a picture of the original recipe and it sat on my phone for a while. Finally, two weeks ago at the farmers’ market, I bought a watermelon so I could make this recipe!
Last week was pretty hot, so I decided this drink would be nice to cool down after a rather warm day. After my husband came in from working outside, I started gathering ingredients and putting them in the food processor. I added 1 cup of chopped watermelon, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, and the juice of 2 limes.
To freeze strawberries, I wash them, cut them, and lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer first before I put them in a bag for storage. This prevents the berries from freezing into one big clump. Even though I freeze strawberries myself, you can buy them already frozen at the store to save time. They would work just the same!
I turned the food processor on low and let it blend until the mixture was smooth. It took a couple of minutes, but not too long. I pulsed it a few times as well, just for good measure.
I carefully poured half of the mixture into each margarita glass, and garnished with a slice of lime. This recipe made two perfect portions; one for me, and one for my husband.
It is a beautiful drink! And it tastes just as good as it looks. It is not very sweet, it has the naturally sweet taste of fruit, but nothing more. The strawberry and lime flavors are more prevalent than the watermelon. It was an enjoyable, cool treat after a hot day.
Of course, I had to experiment with this recipe a bit! A few nights later, I made these drinks again. This time, I used 1 ½ cups of watermelon and ½ cup frozen strawberries, since the strawberries overpowered the watermelon in the last batch. I still added the juice of two limes. It was less of a frozen drink, and more juice-like this time. The strawberry and lime flavors were still more prevalent than the watermelon.
The original recipe called for fresh strawberries instead of frozen. It also included ½ cup of coconut water. I do not have coconut water in the house, so I just skipped that ingredient. If you would like a drink with more of a juice texture, rather than slushy and frozen, I would recommend using the fresh strawberries and coconut water. Or, regular drinking water would probably be fine! You can pour this drink over ice to enjoy!
If you are looking for a more frozen, slushy drink, you can use frozen strawberries. Or, if you do not have any strawberries in the freezer, you can throw a few ice cubes into the food processor or blender to give it more of a thicker consistency.
I am very glad I stumbled across this recipe! It is great refreshing summer drink! (It just happens to contain a full serving of fruit as well!) And there are so many possibilities of adjustments to be made! Maybe instead of limes, you could squeeze lemon juice into the drink. Or add some kiwi into the mixture to accompany the strawberries. You could substitute raspberries instead of strawberries. The possibilities are endless! I encourage you to try the original drink, or get creative and make your own watermelon drink! I would love to hear about your unique combinations, so feel free to comment!
