Summer Fruit Juices: Making lemonade out of lemons

I have this crazy refrigerator. It loves to randomly freeze things. I'll put some fruit in the fridge and every once in a while, it comes out frozen. Consequently it sort of ruins the fruit, because frozen fruit that is in the fridge is not appetizing. It is mush gross and slightly discolored. And my kids won't eat it.

But I also hate waste. I hate wasting food especially. When the fruit still tastes good but just has a funky look to it, I just get frustrated when my kids refuse to eat it. My solution is this - FRUIT JUICE! Watermelon and strawberry and honeydew and mango - you name it - a slightly funky looking but tasty fruit looks beautiful as a fruit juice. It's a great tasting yet economical way to use up fruits that you have in your fridge that are slightly not so cute. Daughter #2 LOVES watermelon juice and today I had a half frozen watermelon. I just chopped up the frozen portion of the watermelon, stuck it in a bowl and blitzed it with a hand blender.

This method also works for not so tasty melons. Although it is melon season, I got a not so great honeydew this week. The kids didn't want to eat it and so I decided to blitz it. Since it wasn't so sweet, I just added a tablespoon of honey and blitzed it with my handblender - voila- a refreshing, silky, slightly sweet juice - and again, went down very easily with lunch.

So this summer, when you find yourself with a handful of berries that are "not cute" or some bits of melon that haven't been eaten - don't throw them away - turn them into a fruit juice that everyone enjoys. If you make a fruit mosaic and have some leftovers after it's all been eaten, blitz those fruits for a juice. Feel free to stick the fruit juice in a popsicle mold and have a really delicious summer treat.

Summer Fresh Fruit Juice
Serves 4

2 cups your choice of fruit - watermelon, mango, kiwi, strawberry, honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple, peach
1-2 tablespoon of honey, if your fruit is not that sweet
Ice (optional - if you like your juice a bit more watered down - my kids prefer no ice but super cold fruit that has been blitzed.)
Mint (optional)

Put fruit in a blender and puree or alternatively, put fruit in a bowl and blitz with a hand blender. Add ice if desired. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Serve in a pretty cup.

Printable recipe

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