Vita Mix – Drinking a Watermelon

Saturday was an eventful day for me. I went to Costco and Trader Joe’s first thing in the morning which meant I had to miss out on my early bike ride. This is unfortunate as early morning is the only time this summer that is CLOSE TO pleasant in terms of heat. After that the temperature and humidity just continue to escalate. Chicago has had heat warnings for the very young and the elderly in this recent siege of hot weather. That’s a little off-putting  for me as I am one of the elderly over 70.

The shopping was successful. Costco surprised me again with another wonderful whole grain available. Ever heard of Farro? If you have, you are one up on me. I hadn’t. I bought some, though, and will blog about it at a later date.

This is exactly how I felt

I didn’t get out on the bike till around noon. It was plenty hot. Even riding on the lakefront where there is a lake breeze the heat felt blistering. This is also the point where my Saturday started to turn sour. I got a flat tire … and it happened three miles from home. So now in the stultifying heat I had to walk the bike back. Regular readers may be asking about now – Was your dog on the bike? Yes, she was, and she remained in her carrier on the front handlebars for the entire three mile trek to the bike shop. Fortunately for me there was a mechanic on duty. He was busy but said I could have my bike back in an hour. The bike shop is a half mile from my apartment, so I started walking home. My hot and tired little dog, the Princess,  however, had other ideas. She took about ten steps, stopped, lay down on the hot pavement and looked up at me. The heat was too much for her.

So on top of my three mile tropical slog pushing the bike, I had the privilege of carrying the pup the half mile home. She weighs 13.5 lbs, but after around fifty feet of carrying her it felt like the decimal point dropped out. All I could think of on that final half mile was how good it was going to be to feel air conditioning on my skin. Also, my thirst was mountainous. I had a very clear image of wanting to and trying to drink a watermelon.

The good news is that with a Vita Mix machine you can drink a watermelon. After I got home, I cut up a quarter of a watermelon planning on making something like the Italian ice I wrote about previously. As the watermelon is already sweet, it would only take some ice in the Vita Mix container. I thought I would try only four ice cubes so as not want to dilute the taste too much.

My Vita Mix machine ready to make magic.

As it turned out this was a mistake with good and bad results. The bad result is that I did not have enough ice to cause it to freeze together after blending. The good result is that I had, in fact, happened upon – liquid watermelon. The Vita Mix machine made the most delicious watermelon drink I have ever tasted. I drank it down thrilled and hydrated to the core. I also decided that I would double the ice cubes to eight and make a watermelon ice the next time.

I cut up another quarter watermelon and added a cup of cubes. Sure enough, the Vita Mix machine did its magic and ground the cubes and watermelon into a wonderful sherbet-like substance – a party in my mouth.

This little experimentation with my new machine proved to be a wonderful pick-me-up after the day’s draining events.

For a rundown on the health values of a watermelon check out How healthy is Watermelon. For more on Watermelon you can read: Watermelon Cooler, More Good Reasons to eat Watermelon, Dr. Oz on Eating Watermelon, Watermelon.

I wrote this last summer and thought you might enjoy reading it if you missed it the first time.

Tony

Other Vita Mix recipe posts include:
How to Vita Mix a Low Cal Copy of the Jamba Juice Orange Dream Machine,
Vita Mix – Hot Chicken Soup
Vita Mix – Another Green Smoothie
A St. Patrick’s Day Green Smoothie – Vita-Mix
Vita-Mix – Cold Peach Summer Smoothie
Vita-Mix – Cold Green Soup
Vita-Mix – Green Smoothies
Vita-Mix – Watermelon Sorbet Recipe
Vita-Mix – Garden Fresh Cocktail