Refreshing Cucumber Watermelon Salad

This morning I found a recipe to use up some of the watermelon that my family doesn't seem to want to eat.  Why I'm not quite sure, but I bought the watermelon this past weekend and it's sat in my fridge, with only me eating it.  Now I'm sure we can all agree that this can get a bit drab after awhile, regardless of the fact that I love watermelon.  My only issue with this is that it's fully seeded, now this isn't as big of an issue when you slice it up and a whole bunch of people are eating it during say a BBQ and you can have a seed spitting contest but this was not one of those times.  I'm getting off track, so I made a salad similar to this last year and I cannot find where I had this recipe at, so I had to seek out a new one and this one is pretty similar.

It's a very easy recipe, i found it on Pinterest here and then the original link is from The Healthy Foodie.  I have taken the liberty of adding and removing a few ingredients from the original recipe on her site, but I think the beauty of cooking is making things more "your own".  I'm very happy with the outcome and will gladly be noshing on this throughout my day today.

Refreshing Cucumber Watermelon Salad:

1 Cucumber (seeded or not, your choice) sliced into quarters

3 Cups of Watermelon, diced (save yourself some time and get the seedless watermelon, unlike me)

3 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil

2 Tbsp chopped fresh Mint

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper (I used course ground)

1/4 tsp salt (I prefer Kosher)

3 Tbsp White Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 of a Lime squeezed

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

In a large bowl add everything but the Cucumber and Watermelon, mix and let sit until you've chopped up your Cucumber and Watermelon, once you do, add them to the dressing and mix well.  You can serve it immediately or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to dig in!  I love it, and you could even add some cooked diced pancetta or bacon to the salad too, for a little extra crunch.  Enjoy! 

Booties!

I have a few friends that are now expecting, this is wonderful news!  I would like to make them a gift, a keepsake, if you will.  Now, in general my overall opinion on baby booties are more geared towards cuteness and not really "usable" gifts.  I mean, I never used booties on my son when he was a baby, he wore little socks and they were oh-so-adorable!  Booties never stayed on his feet.  So the question is, why would I give my friends booties for their new bundle of joy?  Well traditionally, I wouldn't but in this case, I might have to because I found a few really cute patterns on ravelry.com and I just had to try them.  Number one, for the simple fact that I have yet to accomplish a good looking 3-dimentional, functional piece of clothing.  Functional is the key word here.  Number two is because, simply put they are freaking ADORABLE! I have high hopes that they will in fact stay on a tiny baby's foot or feet I guess.

Here is a picture of my first attempt at these ADORABLE booties.

They really are cute, I think the button completes them.  Now to make a few more and maybe adjust the pattern a bit to see what else I can come up with to make them that much more adorable.