Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl's Top 5 Watermelon Recipes

Do you even need watermelon recipes? Yes you do, because at the height of the season and it's fantastic to get watermelon into other parts of your meal, not just slices on the table at the end of the picnic. And guess what? Watermelon is good for you! Just like every other fruit and vegetable. But it's red because of that good phytonutrient lycopene, the same thing you find in tomatoes. Plus it's good for your cardiovascular health. So let's eat lots of watermelon because it's the height of the season and it's good! Here are the Top 5 Watermelon Recipes!

(credit: thekitchn.com)

Watermelon Slices with Chili, Salt and Lime
Recipe

Make watermelon an appetizer! Cut it into cubes, or wedges. Then, take two parts kosher salt, one part of any chili powder, blend. Get lime wedges. Squirt lime juice over watermelon, sprinkle on chili-salt: voila! So good.

(credit: Studio Gabe // Gabriel Li)

Watermelon Basil Salad
Website

This is the easiest thing to do, take lots of big leaves of basil, cut them into ribbons. Toss watermelon with olive oil, a little salt and pepper. If you have tomatoes, you can add tomatoes, up to about a one-to-one ratio. This is such a good first course! If you want a full fledged recipe, Marcus Samuelsson, famed chef of Aquavit, has a good one. But it's pretty intuitive. I just add tomatoes when I have them.

(credit: Quentin Bacon/Barefoot Contessa)

Watermelon Mojitos
Recipe

Watermelon turns into a liquid so, so easily—you can make it into a non-alcoholic drink or a fancy drink. Lime, mint, and watermelon make a fantastic mojito! Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa makes a beautiful one.

(credit: Hallie Burton/Food and Wine)

Tiny Watermelon Popsicles
Recipe

This is fun, and you can do it in advance for a picnic. Take a watermelon, get rid of the seeds, throw it into a blender. Add mint, and a little lemon zest, and puree. Add sugar if your watermelon isn't sweet. Now, pour this mixture into ice-cube trays, and freeze. Now you can do so much! Add them to a pitcher of iced-tea, a punch bowl of lemonade, a glass of ginger-ale. Add them to cava for the fastest fun drink ever. Throw one into your salsa. If you can get your act together to get these made, it's a very good thing.

(credit: Melanie Acevedo/Getty Images)

Watermelon and Feta Salad
Recipe

I saved the best for last! I absolutely love watermelon and feta together, and I eat this combination all the time during the summer. The salty feta, and the sweet watermelon go great on a salad of any kind really – with a a little oil and vinegar. Throw it on some toasty bread and call it bruschetta. Serve it on a bed of arugula to make it greener. Stuff it into a BLT. Any which way it's a true triumph of summer!