granita

we went down to vicksburg, ms for the fourth to see some sweet friends, watch fireworks over the river and remember what it feels like to drive on hills. while we were there, our host, James, took us to The Tomato Place, a delicious little hole in the wall sandwich shop and produce stand. LOVED it. while we were there i decided we HAD to have a smith county watermelon, because every self respecting girl in four states knows that THE BEST watermelons come from there. Somehow we ended up with the biggest darn watermelon in the history of the world (maybe my eyes were bigger than my stomach) and after hacking into it, eating as much as we could for dessert, and then breakfast, and then dessert again, and THEN making watermelon margaritas and STILL having two bowls of leftovers, we had to do something. On top of that, I’ve been buying up locally grown tomatoes like they’re going out of style, and boone had reached maximum capacity for BLTs, and I couldn’t just let the beauties rot.
enter the tomato-watermelon sorbet. since it’s been SO HOT down here, a little refreshing frozen dessert seemed just like the thing we needed…and since i’ve been WAY off my weight watchers commitment, i needed to stay as low-cal as possible. I found this recipe in Southern Living and Cooks Corner Cafe and thought i’d give it a try.

Tomato-Watermelon Sorbet.

Serving Size: 8-12
Weight watchers points: 1

What you need:
3 ripe tomatoes (homegrown or locally grown is best) enough to make 1.5 cups of juice
1/4 to 1/2 ripe watermelon cut into pieces and de-seeded (enough for 6 cups)
1 lemon for 2 tablespoons of juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup stevia (or white sugar)
an ice cream maker and blender

What to do:
first, a note. this is a SUPER fresh tasting, fresh smelling treat. My version ended up having a really strong tomato taste at the beginning, then finishing with a light, sweet watermelon flavor. when I make this again, I plan to cut the tomato juice down my half since it was a little too much for me. Just a thought.

ok, to the recipe. after you’ve cut up the watermelon (we got home and did this within 15 minutes… i was too greedy to take photos of the whole melon… sigh) dust it with the 1/4 tsp of salt and the stevia. let it sit for 30 minutes. the watermelon will reduce a bit and get really juicy.

cut the tomatoes into quarters (i recommend cutting the skin off, as well.) and juice them using a wire mesh strainer over a measuring cup.with 2.5 tomatoes (although we had too many i just couldn’t spare them) i got almost 1.5 cups of juice. like I said, this may have been a little too much for my taste, but the original recipe called for 3 cups of tomato juice and 6 cups of watermelon, so maybe not.

Pour the lemon and tomato juices into a blender with the watermelon and puree until smooth. Freeze in an ice cream maker and serve! Southern Living says you can even sprinkle a little salt on it…but i’d eat it just like this on a hot, hot, hot july day.

Lemonade Sorbet
Weight Watchers Points: 1 per serving
Serves 6-8

Mississippi gets boiling in the summertime and already by memorial day was 97 degrees. We’re making a move at the end of June to a new little town and the thought of loading boxes in the heat makes me want to wilt… but the heat also means it’s time break out my ice cream maker and enjoy the fruits of my labor. the long weekend gave me a chance to make a southern summertime staple in my favorite form…frozen.

What You Need
4-6 lemons (for 1 cup on lemon juice)
1 1/3 cups of water
7 tsp of stevia
3 tsp sugar

What to Do
In a small pot on medium or high heat, make a simple syrup by boiling the water and adding in the sugar and stevia until both have completely dissolved and the liquid is slightly thickened. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool.

Grate the lemon zest and squeeze the lemons (if you don’t have a juice strainer, make sure to strain the lemon juice for seeds).
Mix in the lemon juice and zest. Chill in the refrigerator until cool. (also, make sure that your ice cream maker bowl is frozen..it takes mine 24 hours to set, so plan ahead, peeps).

Once the lemonade mixture has totally chilled, freeze it in your ice cream maker according to your maker’s instructions (mine took about 35 minutes to totally freeze mine) then transfer it into a container and let it harden in the freezer.

we had some monday as a memorial day treat because it was outside it was H-O-T and this was delicious…cold, sweet and tart at the same time. the flavor is pretty intense, so your serving size should be on the conservative side, but from having little tastes all week i can tell it’ll be perfect for a summer time treat.

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