ice

There comes a time every Summer when I just dread turning on the oven.

It’s already so hot outside and the AC is struggling to keep up; why would add any more heat to its load?

Granita is the perfect thing to make when you want to avoid using your oven but still want something sweet. It’s super refreshing (especially this watermelon cucumber granita) and super easy to make!

How to Make It

Start by chopping up a bunch of watermelon and cucumber. For something like this, you can leave the skin on the cucumber if you’d like. It will just get filtered out later.

Add all the fruit and veg to a blender or food processor. The juice of a lime (or lemon), and just enough water to get the blender to do its job. If your watermelon is juicy enough, you may not need any!

Pour the blended mixture through a sieve to strain out all the pulp.

You should be left with a beautiful red juice that is seriously delicious.

Honestly, you can stop right here and pour this over a couple ice cubes for a refreshing Summer beverage.

But let’s continue turning this into watermelon cucumber granita, shall we?

Pour the juice into a shallow dish and then place it in the fridge. Every 2 hours or so (or every time you remember), take the dish out and scrape a fork over the surface. For the first few hours, it may seem like you aren’t doing much. Once it starts to set up you will start making really fine ice crystals.

It doesn’t take too long to completely freeze leaving you with a beautiful (did I mention healthy?) dessert!

I like to eat this watermelon cucumber granita all on its own. However, it would also be delicious alongside some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream if you need something a bit richer.

It will definitely help you beat the Summer heat!

Supplies and Recipe

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I know it feels like Summer is almost over because the kids are going back to school and all, but we still have a whole month left! Come on guys, don’t give up on Summer yet.

Actually, I am ready for Summer to be over, who am I kidding….

I digress. One of my favorite things I made all Summer was this Rose sangria. It was scrum-didily-umptious! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I couldn’t polish off a whole batch myself, so I had a ton left over. The great thing about sangria is that it keeps pretty well. For the sangria that was left, I strained out the fruit and put it back in a clean wine bottle (this is where twist tops come in handy). I could have just had a glass of sangria every night for the rest of the week, but I decided to do something a bit more fun with it.

Make granita!

I used to make granitas all the time back in the day. Not only are they easy, but they can be pretty healthy. Take whatever liquid you like, freeze it, fork it, BOOM you have yourself some granita.

And that is exactly what I did with the leftover sangria. I poured it in a shallow dish, then placed it in the freezer. Every couple hours, I scraped a fork over the surface to create tiny little sangria ice crystals. I repeated that step a couple times until the whole thing was frozen. By the end, what I had was akin to a wine shaved-ice. Yum, right?

This sangria granita made such a great little dessert at night. It was almost like having a glass of wine after dinner, but better!

So don’t give up on Summer just yet. Try making this sangria granita while it’s still hot outside. I promise, it’s probably the next best way to enjoy wine on these hot Summer days after an actual glass of fresh sangria, of course.

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Watermelon Cucumber Granita

How to Make It

Supplies and Recipe

Sangria Granita