Summer Melon Ball Refresher
“So fun!” That’s what my friend Ashley says about anything she thinks is amusing or cute. “So fun” is exactly what I thought when I saw this recipe on pinterest. These creative drinks are fun for a summer party but I didn’t have a big party coming up soon (except for the 4th of July, but there is a fun red white and blue sangria for that), so I decided that Ashley coming to visit for the weekend was celebration enough.
The recipe on pinterest is non-alcoholic, which is just silly. Ashley and I enjoy some alcohol in our summer beverages, so I traded out the sparking grape juice with vodka. The trio of melons add a sweet but light and refreshing flavor to the drink, so much so that the sweetness from the lemonade and sprite are almost not needed. In fact, after a couple glasses, I mixed it half and half with LaCroix lemon flavored sparkling water.
Here’s what you need. Look how cute that personal watermelon is! So fun.
It’s actually not too hard to make the melon balls, a melon baller makes pretty easy work of it. Start by cutting the melons in half, remove the seeds, the just scoop out little balls of melon meat. I sat out on the patio and did this, throwing the ugly balls to Biscuit, my other friend’s dog I was babysitting.
I thought I was being a genius by having the forethought to put the melon balls in the freezer overnight, to turn them into little melon ball ice cubes. It would have been a genius idea, except that the balls were really juicy so they sort of froze together. No big deal, i just had to thaw them a little before putting them in the pitcher. If I’d had even more foresight, I would have froze them on a cookie sheet so they wouldn’t stick together.
When you’re ready to make the drink, add the melon balls, limes, and mint to a pitcher, then pour in the sprite and lemonade. I didn’t add the vodka into the pitcher, I prefer to know just how much vodka I’m consuming, so I added a couple shots to my glass then topped it off with the melon drink.
This is seriously refreshing on a hot day, with or without the vodka.
Summer Melon Ball Refresher
Ingredients
Method
- Use a melon baller to make balls out of the three melons
- Add melon balls, lime slices, and mint leaves to a large pitcher
- Pour in lemonade in until half the pitcher is full, fill the rest up with sprite
- Add 2 oz of vodka to a glass, fill up with melon ball drink
- Enjoy