Watermelon Tequila Cooler

You may have seen on the news that this past weekend, Northern V.A. and D.C. were in states of emergency.  Let me be honest… it stunk!  Friday night our power went off around 10pm and came back on Sunday at 3pm.  And as I’m writing this, a few of my co-workers still do not have power.  Not only was it 100 degrees all weekend with no power, but most of the gas stations ran out of gas, grocery stores were closed, stores that were open could not take credit cards, etc.  It was/is a mess.  Fortunately, our basement is redone and two guest bedrooms are down there, so we were able to sleep down there and stay cool.  My sister and brother-in-law never lost power, so we were also able to soak up some of their AC.  They adopted our cooler full of frozen meats and even made us delicious margaritas that inspired me to make these Watermelon Tequila Coolers.  These coolers are not only cold and refreshing, they are red and blue and perfect to celebrate the 4th!  Hopefully everyone’s power will be restored, this heat will break safely, and we’ll all be able to enjoy the 4th with these delicious drinks!

I also have to wish my very special, big sister a Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!!!! Love you! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 8 cups diced seedless watermelon (about 1 pound)
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, about 2 limes
• 1 3/4 cups blueberries
• 3/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, plus extra for garnish
• 1 1/4 cups tequila
• Ice

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a simmer with the sugar and stir over moderate heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute; let the sugar syrup cool.
2. In a blender, puree the watermelon until smooth. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and strain the watermelon juice, pressing gently on the solids to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the pulp.
3. In a large pitcher, combine the sugar syrup with the lime juice, blueberries and mint leaves. Using a wooden spoon, lightly muddle the blueberries and mint. Add the watermelon juice and tequila. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
4. Pour the cocktail into tall ice-filled glasses. Garnish with the mint sprigs and serve.

*Food and Wine

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