Honeydew Melon Lemonade

If it was possible for a drink to have multiple personality disorder, this would be it.

It's crazy the kind of tricks your tongue plays on you with all of its "taste spots". I never really believed that certain parts of your tongue picked up on different flavors. It always seemed like all the flavors melded into one once I stuck something into my mouth. It could very well be that I tend to eat like a savage animal, shoving food in my face as fast as I can, instead of savoring each and every bite I take. Yeah, that could be it. Maybe I'll have to work on that.

 

For whatever reason, the first time I have ever been able to taste multiple flavors on my tongue was when I made this Honeydew Melon Lemonade. It was a trip! 

Sipping this lemonade literally makes you feel like you are drinking two totally different drinks at once. The moment the drink touches your lips you think it's a regular freshly squeezed lemonade, but then the second you swallow, you get this intensely subtle burst of honeydew melon. It's delicious! Chilling this drink for a few hours with fresh raspberries and mint leaves gives it an added touch of flavor...plus the vibrant colors are fun. We're getting fancy up in here!

I got the idea for this drink because of my mad "waste not, want not" OCD skills. I had lemons in my fridge that were on the verge of being too old. I had just bought an expensive tub of raspberries that nobody was eating, as always. My mint leaves had been chilling out in the fridge just waiting for me to think of something to do with them. And we had a deliciously flavored honeydew melon in the fridge that was just a little too soft for my liking. Too soft, huh? How about I puree it and add it to some lemonade?! Brilliant! Best of all, I completely cleaned out my fridge. Bingo!

 

Honeydew Melon Lemonade

 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon honey

3 cups water

1 3/4 cups honeydew melon juice (about 3 cups cubed, before pureed)

1 cup fresh raspberries

7-8 mint leaves

 

Directions:

1. In a pitcher add lemon juice, sugar, honey and water. Set aside.

 

2. Cut honeydew melon into chunks. You'll need about 3-4 cups. Puree the chunks in a food processor until very smooth. In small batches, pour the pulp through a fine mesh strainer with a bowl underneath to catch the juice. Using the bottom of a spatula, push the pulp against the mesh to squeeze out all the juice. Once the juice has been squeezed out, discard the pulp and repeat with the next batch until all the honeydew melon juice has been strained. Once you have 1 3/4 cups honeydew melon juice, add it to the pitcher and stir.

 

3. Add raspberries and mint leaves. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours. Add ice before serving.

 

Serves 6-8

 



Lemon Berry Smoothie

I've been a breakfast person ever since I can remember. Usually I'm looking forward to breakfast by about 12:30 am when I am finally going to sleep for the night. Seriously, I dink around so long getting ready for bed that by the time I hit the sack, I'm hungry. Pure laziness overtakes the hunger and I just find myself laying there thinking about what I will eat for breakfast in the morning until I fall asleep. I guess it kinda has the same effect on me as counting sheep.

Needless to say, the first thing I do when I pop out of bed in the morning is grab a cold bowl of cereal and chow down. My baby girl Emry is right there with me. We have the same idea when we wake up: FOOD! Braelyn, on the other hand, gets so distracted by all the exciting things she can do in the day that breakfast is the last thing on her mind. She was up for two hours before she asked for something to eat today. Her tummy was feeling extra yucky today (we can't start her on gluten free until after her endoscopy on Thursday) so I asked her if she would like a smoothie. I never make smoothies. This girl was in heaven!

I felt a little sneaky making this because I slipped an entire cup of fresh spinach in the mix. Braelyn couldn't even tell. She grabbed a jacket, sat on the back porch and drank it like a milkshake. Hehehe!

 

Lemon Berry Smoothie

 

Ingredients:

1 cup packed fresh spinach leaves

1/2-3/4 cup skim milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup nonfat vanilla greek yogurt

1/2 small banana

1 cup blueberries

2 cups frozen strawberries (if you don't have frozen, reduce to 1 cup and add 1 cup of ice)

 

Directions:

1. Add ingredients into blender. I made the mistake of putting frozen strawberries on the bottom so it was hard to blend the whole thing. Make sure your frozen ingredients are at the top.

 

 

2. Blend ingredients until fully pureed. You may need to stir with a spoon and pulse mixture occasionally.

 

 

3. Serve immediately and garnish as desired.

 

Makes about 4 servings (8 oz. each)

 







Cinnamon Spiced Pumpkin Latte (no caffeine)

What do you do with leftover pumpkin??? I'll tell you! Make yourself a velvety smooth cinnamon spiced pumpkin latte and pretend that it is snowing outside with icicles hanging off your roof. Oh wait, we're in Arizona...never mind. But still, the thought of it sounds nice.

So I opened up a can of pumpkin to make this delicious Rustic Pumpkin Bread and then had the rest of the can left over. Morning came and I asked myself, what would taste amazing with this bread??? I looked over at my husband who was making his first cup of peppermint hot cocoa (about the only thing he can make) and thought, of course! Here is a cup of warm and richly soothing cinnamon Spiced Pumpkin Latte!

Cinnamon Spiced Pumpkin Latte (no caffeine)

 

Ingredients:

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon plus more for sprinkling

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon ginger

 

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients into small saucepan.

2. Bring to medium heat on stovetop. Mix until ingredients are incorporated and mixture is hot but not boiling, about 3-5 minutes.

3. Using a fine strainer over a bowl, pour liquid into strainer to sift out thicker pumpkin puree pieces. Repeat this step again.

4. Return to saucepan and reduce heat to low. Test temperature to make sure it is still warm enough.

5. Divide into two mugs and sprinkle with some extra cinnamon. Heck, you can even go all out and add some whipped cream, you crazy nut! Enjoy! 

 

This drink pairs divinely with a slice of Rustic Pumpkin Bread.