Our dear friends from New York visited us this past week and one of our rituals is to hit up a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint due to the lack of good Mexican food in the Big Apple. I actually found a great taqueria near our house that we’ve been very happy with (plus they have a killer salsa bar), so last Friday night we placed a very large take-out order for six and pigged out in the comfort of our own home, with a very LARGE pitcher of frozen watermelon margaritas of course!

Frozen Watermelon Margaritas

Ingredients:

• 3 cups seedless watermelon, cut into smaller cubes
• Juice of 1.5 lime (don’t use the bottle stuff, it’s not the same!)
• ~4 or 5 oz of tequila
• 2 oz triple sec or cointreau
• 1.5 cup of crushed ice
• Optional: rimming salt or turbinado sugar
• Optional: Lime wheels for garnish

Directions:

• If you can, freeze the watermelon cubes for a minimum of 2 hours. It’ll make the margaritas icier.
• Place watermelon, lime juice, tequila, triple sec, and ice in blender. Blend until smooth. This should make 4 nice servings.
• If you are rimming the glasses with salt or sugar: Take the lime halves you juiced from earlier, rub the rims of the glasses. Place salt or sugar on a flat plate, invert the glasses and press into the salt or sugar.
• Pour margaritas into glass and garnish with lime wheels.

For the minors and the non-drinkers, make watermelon agua fresca!

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Ingredients:

• 4 cups seedless watermelon, cubed
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup crushed ice
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp of agave syrup (okay to substitute with granulated sugar)
• big handful of mint leaves
• Optional: Extra mint leaves or lime wheels for garnish

Directions:

• Add all ingredients to a blender, blend until smooth. Should yield 4 servings. Garnish with mint leaves or lime wheels.

Happy Friday!