Thirsty Thursday: Watermelon Margaritas (Virgin or Non)

When my mom was pregnant with me, all she ever wanted were cherry shakes from our local Dari-Kup.  Lo and behold, I too have an addiction to cherry shakes.  So I feel relatively certain that our future baby is going to LOVE watermelon, because I have been eating it non-stop all summer.  No lie--I finished off a 5 cup container of it today over the course of about 4 hours.  I can't necessarily call this an irrational "craving", as watermelon has been my favorite fruit my entire life...but I'm definitely eating more of it this summer than usual.

Question:  Do you sprinkle salt or sugar on your watermelon?  My grandma always did salt, but the Hubs tells me he's only seen people sprinkle sugar.  That just seems silly--watermelon is usually plenty sweet, and the salt makes that sweetness really pop.

I guess I should be glad--there are FAR WORSE things I could be craving (and have...I made a batch of no-bake cookies two nights ago just to fend off a craving...and we won't even talk about how many Sonic Slushes or Kum & Go Coolee's I've had in the last few months).  After all, watermelon is 92% water and contains a goodly amount of Vitamins A, B6 & C, along with lycopene...and there's only about 200 calories in that 5-cup container I just downed.

Sadly, no matter how fast I seem to eat watermelon, since my Hubs is not a huge watermelon fan, that means if I buy a full size melon, I have to eat it all myself...before it goes bad.  That MAY not be an issue this year, but any other year we almost always end up having some that goes bad or we have to freeze it for smoothies.  
  
If you've got a watermelon addiction like me, or need to use up a bunch of melon before it starts to go south--here's an awesome option to help beat the summertime heat!  These watermelon margaritas are perfect for sipping on the porch while your husband grills...or while a tiny alien kicks the crap out of you from the inside. :)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 2-4 margaritas, depending on your glass size)

• 4 cups fresh (or frozen) watermelon
• Juice of 4 limes (or about 4 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp sugar (or Splenda/Stevia to taste--DON'T use the full 2 Tbsp if you replace the sugar, both are WAY sweeter than sugar & don't require as much)
• 4 cups ice (if you start with frozen watermelon, you can skip this)
• 1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste--I like a little more because it makes the flavors pop)
• salt & lime wedge for garnish (optional)
• BOOZY VERSION: Add 1-2 oz of good tequila to each boozy-rita

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a blender & pulse until smooth, then pour into glasses (or hey, mason jars) & garnish (if you do the salt on the rim thing, you'll have to do that in advance--just wet the rim with lime juice & then dip the glass in a shallow tray of salt---or hey, sugar if you'd rather. I won't judge.)  For the boozy ones, stir in the tequila post-blending (or if you're making a full batch of boozy-ritas, add it during the blending process).

Add a straw and ENJOY!