Cantaloupe Sherbet: Meh.

The flavors of this cantaloupe sherbet were really tasty: creamy, fruity, a hint o' lime. However, the texture was off-putting- lots of little bits of cantaloupe took away from the smoothness you want from a sherbet... I give this recipe a resounding "Meh." Maybe if I'd run the cantaloupe puree through a seive or chinois before mixing it with the cream and freezing it, it wouldn't be as weird?

Summery Cantaloupe Sangria

For an outing to listen to jazz in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, I made this summery sangria I read about in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine... I can't seem to find the recipe online, but the gist of it was thus:

• lots of chopped up summer fruit (I used cantaloupe and a little peach)
• lots of mint and basil
• white wine
• orange liqueur
• sliced ginger

Let it soak together for a couple hours, pour over ice and enjoy!

Later in the evening, after we'd run out of wine, but the fruit was still in the pitcher, we poured some sparkling wine over it and that worked well, too.

Melon Skewers with Lemon Mint Dressing

Inspired by the cantaloupe that came in my CSA share last week, as well as this Giada Delaurentis recipe, I made these watermelon and cantaloupe skewers with a lemony/mint dressing.

I didn't follow Giada's instructions to the T by any means- I winged it. No amaretto, eyeballed the amounts, etc. Also, I fashioned it as a fingerfood rather than a salad since I didn't want to bother with forks.

Everybody ate them up. Definitely a pretty addition to any summer party.

Cantaloupe Salsa

I saw this post on cantaloupe salsa from Smitten Kitchen, and it's like she had some inside knowledge of what my CSA had in store for me the following week... cantaloupe, sweet Walla Walla onion, jalapeno.

Sweet, spicy and limey. Mmmm.