Once upon a time there was a very hot day in Florida.  And, on that very hot day my air conditioner decided to stick it's tongue out at me and quit.  And it's 90.  And the a/c guy can't make it out until tomorrow.  Are you playing a violin for me yet?

But my friends would call me optimistic in the midst of adversity and sweltery heat.  I'm a glass is half-full kind of girl.  Literally!  I googled fresh frozen drinks and about 5 recipes for Watermelon Coolers came up.  I took my favorite bits out of each one and created my own.

Champagne is optional.

Here it goes ...

Simple ingredients.  A quarter of a watermelon, a cup of juice (I used cranberry),

a cup of sugar (that looks like a little more than a cup, no?), and some ice.  Easy!

Watermelon so refreshing.  Cool, sweet and full of juice!

Perfect for my hot summer day.  I bought a "seedless" watermelon ...

and as you can see ... it's not exactly seedless.  We'll deal with that later.

You can cut your melon into cubes.

I have a melon ball scooper that I used that makes em all fancy schmancy.

Really ... it's easy.  And you can pick up one in most local supermarkets.

Make sure to not waste a single drop of juice.  Just tilt it over into your bowl.

Ideally you'd freeze these overnight making nice little watermelon ice cubes ...

but I can't wait that long to cool off.  So I'm just going to add some ice.

Again, get every last drop of juice.

Add a few melon balls to a bamboo skewer for garnish.

Pop them into the freezer to make them ice cold.

If you have time, you can freeze them over night

and create a nice little swizzle stick to keep your drink cold.

I'm sweating ... or rather ... my forehead is getting all sparkly ...

so I'm just going to use these to make my cooler pretty.

This is the the thing that makes the coolers uber delish.  Without it, it's kind of bland.

Add 2 cups of water to pot and bring to a boil.  You're gonna add sugar to this later.

Add your melon to a blender.  We're gonna get rid of the pulp and stray seeds.

Now, isn't that niiiice.

Weeeeeeeee!

By now your water should be boiling.  Add sugar, stir, and remove from heat.

And since "seedless" watermelon still has a few seeds ...

strain your juice and then add it back to the blender.

If you're impatient like me, add some ice.

Pour in your sugar water.

Add the juice.

Blend again!

You're done!  You can drink these straight up.

Or, for an extra little kick, fill the glass half way with champagne and

then add the juice.  Sort of like a melon mimosa.

Oooooh yeaaaah!  AC guy can take his time now.  I'm chillin.

--Rachelle

###

Watermelon Coolers

Ingredients

2 cups chopped watermelon

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

1 cup juice

1 cup ice (optional if melon is not frozen)

Directions

1)  Chop or scoop watermelon and blend.

2)  Strain juice to remove stray seeds and add juice back to blender.

3)  Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add sugar.  Remove from heat, stir and set aside.

4)  Add one cup of ice, juice and sugar water to watermelon juice in blender.  Power it up and blend again.

5) Serve as is, or add champagne to taste.  Enjoy!