Natural Imperfections

With my husband working in Africa, my mom and I, along with the lil man decided to take a road trip back to my roots in Washington state. It had been three years since I had been back and I was ready to beat this heat and hit the road. Since my mom is getting older and the lil man is ansey, we decided it would be best to stop halfway and stay the night.

So we pulled off into this little farming community and right next to our motel was a produce stand. When picking out our watermelons, I asked the girl, "How do I know a good melon?" She replied, "There's three things to look for: 

#1. When you knock on it, you want to hear a good solid 'THUD.' (...okay...?)

#2. When you look at the where the stem was, it should be brown when ripe.

#3. When you see these markings (below) it means a bee smelled the sweet fruit. As the bee realized it could NOT get to the sweet nectar, it tried to sting it!"  

HA! Who knew????  A fun tidbit learned this summer! 

She said a lot of times, people overlook these markings as something BAD, imperfect or wrong with the melons. Quite the contrary!

Boy, am I glad I asked how to pick one out because this melon was definitely a winner! Not only was it bright RED inside, SUPER SWEET but it was literally smiling at me when I cut it open. 

Almost as if it had a personality and laughing at the bee who couldn't get what it wanted. 

LUCKY ME! 

So with all of this watermelon, I made Watermelon Popsicles from Pinterest. 

Truly one of my favorites but as you can see below, the boys agree! 

Here's the recipe! 

Watermelon Frosty
serves 2

2 1/4 cups frozen watermelon cubes
1/2+ cup water
2 Tbsp real maple syrup
1 large lemon, squeezed (lime juice also works very well! use 2 limes)
1 fresh banana

Blending Tip! The best way to blend up this frosty is in a Vitamix - it really frosts up that thick frozen watermelon!

You can drink after blending for a refreshing cooler or fill up containers & freeze for popsicles later! 

Happy Melon picking!