Watermelon Salads

No other produce screams summer quite like watermelon. It could be its refreshing sweetness or even the burst of color that adds a bit of brightness to your plate. It's hard to beat the simple pleasure of biting into a juicy slice of watermelon. 

Watermelon and Grape Salad with Feta and Basil

Two favorite summer flavors, watermelon and tomato, mix with red onions, basil, lime juice and feta cheese for a fruit salad that tastes like summer.
Makes: 6 cups (4 servings of 1½ cups each)
Ingredients:

• 6  heaping cups 1-inch watermelon chunks, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup diced grape tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups chopped green grapes, halved
• ½ cup red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 ½ TB. extra virgin olive oil
• 3 TB. fresh lime juice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup crumbled or cubed feta cheese
• Optional toasted diced almonds

Directions:

• Combine watermelon cubes, grapes, tomatoes, red onion and basil in a large bowl.
• Whisk olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Pour over watermelon mixture.  Toss lightly.
• Sprinkle feta cheese over salad and serve immediately. Refrigerate leftovers.
  
  
  

Watermelon-Heirloom Tomato Peach Salad
This summer salad features seasonal tomatoes, watermelon, and peaches to create a sensationally delicious side dish This salad is vibrant in color and explodes with juiciness. Since tomatoes and watermelon both release a lot of moisture yellow cherry tomatoes were used. They have less moisture than the larger variety. Adding in Colorado peaches to the salad mixture was a bit of piece de resistance  though that meant one less peach from my coveted stash.

Advance prep: Cut melon into cubes, sprinkle with a little sugar to draw out moisture and drain in a colander. Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with salt to draw out moisture and set out on paper towels for 10 minutes. Proceed with recipe directions.

Cook’s notes: Advance prep: Cut melon into cubes, sprinkle with a little sugar to draw out moisture and drain in a colander. Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with salt to draw out moisture and set out on paper towels for 10 minutes. Proceed with recipe directions.

Ingredients:

• 2 TB. extra-virgin olive oil or lemon olive oil
• 1 TB. chopped mixed herbs (parsley and basil) or 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1-1/2 TB. white balsamic vinegar or Lemongrass Mint Balsamic
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 TB. honey
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 cups red seedless watermelon, cubed
• 2 cups peaches, diced
• optional 1 cup blueberries
• 1/3 cup vertically sliced red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese torn into 1 inch pieces

Directions: 

• Whisk together olive oil, vinegar and juice. Add in salted tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, herbs and red onion; toss to coat. Chill in refrigerator 30 minutes. 
• Drain salad mixture in a colander, sprinkle with cheese; toss gently before serving.