Who’s to say when a popsicle is a popsicle? Let me be clear: these watermelon popsicles are frozen slices of watermelon on sticks. (Or not on sticks—you can freeze slices or wedges and use the rind for a good grip.) I tried making watermelon popsicles in molds, and I genuinely prefer the texture and flavor of these straightforward pops.

These watermelon popsicles are refreshing, simple, fruity summertime treats. Here are a few more reasons to make these watermelon delights:

• They’re the easiest popsicles I’ve ever made, requiring only one ingredient and careful slicing.
• They’re a great way to preserve extra watermelon. Watermelons can be massive.
• They’re as healthy as popsicles can be.
• They’re less messy for little kids to eat than fresh watermelon (watermelon juice stains are surprisingly difficult to remove from clothing). Adults will enjoy them, too, perhaps even more with a squeeze of lime juice or a sprinkle of chili-lime seasoning.

Not to mention, how cute are the cookie-cutter shapes? The star shape would be so fun for Independence Day festivities or summer birthdays. I’m already planning to make these for Grace’s birthday party. You’ll find a photo tutorial and recipe below.

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If you enjoy watermelon, this is your new summer salad. This simple watermelon salad recipe features classic Mediterranean flavors like tangy crumbled feta and fresh mint. Roughly chopped pistachios, lightly pickled shallots and a drizzle of olive oil make it taste incredible.

The layering method might make this salad look fancy, but it’s easy to make and yields a stunning display. Grab your largest platter for this recipe so the ingredients can be evenly distributed and scooped without stirring. The composition of this salad helps avoid the watery watermelon, messy-looking feta situation that plagues many watermelon salads.

This watermelon salad was inspired by one we tasted in Tampa last summer. I loved the pistachios sprinkled on top. They offered the perfect crunch, and the green color contrasted beautifully with the bright red watermelon.

I’m still obsessed with the vinegar-soaked shallot that I used on this Watermelon Salad with Herbed Yogurt Sauce, and it worked just as well here. The shallots are lightly pickled, so they’re tangy but less pungent, and a drizzle of the leftover vinegar brightens up the whole salad.

Isn’t it lovely? This beautiful salad is sure to be a hit at your summer parties.

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This recipe’s title doesn’t do this beauty justice. Look at it! This watermelon salad recipe is a showstopper, if I can say so myself.

This salad starts with a base of cold, creamy herbed yogurt sauce. Then, we top it with cubed ripe watermelon, followed by crisp cucumber, lightly pickled shallot, and more fresh basil and mint.

Each element is so simple to prepare, and the end result is spectacular.

Watermelon is perfectly red and juicy this time of year, so please make this salad while you still can. It would be the perfect salad to bring to your weekend get-together.

This salad is best consumed within a couple hours of assembly. I bet your friends will be up for the challenge! Got your watermelon yet?

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Introducing the world’s most simple fruit salad recipe, with a tropical twist! It’s a refreshing salad starring ripe watermelon, pineapple and cantaloupe. (I know cantaloupe isn’t everyone’s favorite; feel free to substitute honeydew or your favorite tropical fruit.)

I encountered this fruit salad last December, when I kept my grandma Virginia company on her dream trip to Costa Rica. It was dreamy! Virginia is 86 years old and nothing slows her down. She flew over the jungle on zip lines with the zeal of Hermione Granger.

We found this fruit salad on an epic breakfast spread at Tabacon Thermal Resort. Fresh fruit is abundant in Costa Rica, but this fruit salad caught my attention because I loved how tiny they diced the fruit—even smaller than I managed for these photos. They served it in little shooters, which almost made it look like candy.

Usually, melon and pineapple are cut into fairly large chunks, right? Their salad taught me that if you cut them very small instead, you can appreciate the flavor of all three fruits in every bite.

Their fruit salad was refreshing, colorful, delightful and very simple—so simple that I hesitated to make it an official recipe here. But hey, it’s summertime and summer produce hardly needs any help. This salad would be perfect for your Fourth of July festivities!

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You know when you’re ordering at a restaurant, and you’re only kind of hungry so you go for a salad, only to become ravenous as plates start landing on other tables? At which point you start hoping and praying that your salad will not be one of those artfully arranged, meager salads, but instead a plate overflowing with hearty ingredients?

That’s how I met this salad. I’m always drawn to the more unusual options on the menu, so I couldn’t resist the watermelon and arugula salad at Blvd Tavern here in Kansas City. Their version also includes pickled watermelon rind, which was awesome but would have doubled the prep time, so I went without here.

I was relieved when my salad arrived on a small-ish plate, but with an impressive amount of food piled on top. It turns out that ripe watermelon tossed with bitter arugula, balanced by creamy feta and Kalamata olives, is a real treat. Trust me. I have no doubt that this salad would be fantastic with big slices of heirloom tomato in lieu of the watermelon, too.

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What do you do when you have extra watermelon? Make watermelon juice, or better yet, watermelon mimosas! They are a fun twist on classic orange mimosas. These refreshing brunch (or any time) cocktails are supremely simple, but I couldn’t keep the idea to myself. We can’t let good watermelon go to waste.

Here’s the trick with watermelon mimosas: they’re only as good as your watermelon. I recently bought a mini watermelon that was pale pink and kind of sour on the inside, and that watermelon would have made lousy watermelon mimosas.

I used a pretty standard store-bought watermelon to make these, but I’m still day dreaming about the sugar baby watermelon I bought at a farmers’ market four years ago when I made that first batch of watermelon juice. Picking out all the seeds wasn’t my favorite activity, but it was worth it.

If mimosas aren’t your favorite, check out my spicy watermelon margaritas or my simple and healthy watermelon popsicles. I also tried out Alexa’s trick for cutting watermelon on July 4th, and it was a big hit with my family, so that’s another fun way to prepare watermelon. Cheers to summertime!

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When your day isn’t going your way, make margaritas! That’s what I say. When six o’clock rolled around yesterday, I satisfied my margarita craving with one of these thoroughly refreshing, sweet-and-spicy watermelon margaritas. They’re the latest in my collection of seasonal margaritas and I implore you to make them while the melons are still here.

These margaritas aren’t far off from last summer’s honeydew margaritas. Basically, you scoop the melon into your blender (I used my awesome new Vitamix blender, thanks Vitamix!). The blender will turn the melon into juice in no time flat. You may or may not want to strain the pulp out of the juice, depending on your watermelon and your personal preferences.

Naturally, the quality of your watermelon makes a huge difference in the flavor of your watermelon juice, so hunt down a good one at the farmers’ market if you can. I’ve found that the best watermelons for juice are any watermelons other than the standard grocery store variety, which is what I used here out of necessity. Boo.

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Funny thing. I’ve consumed two glasses of this sangria and I’m fumbling for the proper words to describe it. How about, “Best white sangria ever?” Bold statement, but I’m not kidding around. Yeah, I see your sangria bet and I’ll raise you twenty.

This sangria is a fun spin on classic red sangria. Watermelon is key. It infuses white wine with fresh summer flavor, and the little cubes float on top, just waiting to get scooped out and eaten like boozy fruit salad.

The raspberries don’t add a lot of flavor, but they’re like rubies on the ocean floor. You’ll find them once you polish off your glass.

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Yesterday evening, I made a pitcher of sweet, refreshing watermelon juice to keep me hydrated while I packed up my house.

It took me back to San Pedro Island, where I sipped watermelon juice under the shade of a palm tree earlier this month.

We walked down the beach to Estel’s, where we enjoyed a leisurely, traditional Belizean breakfast—scrambled eggs, refried black beans and fry jacks, complete with watermelon juice. It was a good start to a very good day.

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I fear I’ll run out of summer Fridays before I run out of refreshing summer cocktail ideas, so I’m posting two today. So many cocktails to try, so little down time. Hiccup.

Today’s drinks are for my friend Jes, who has a surplus of cucumbers. She’ll need one (or both) of these after a long day of teaching kids at her new job.

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