The contributors here at It’s Foodtastic! want to dedicate this week before Memorial Day weekend to thank all of our military for all of the sacrifices that they made for our country. Memorial day began in 1868 and was recognized by all other states in 1890 shortly after the civil war.
Being that the holiday is so close to the beginning of summer, cookouts are a huge tradition here in America. When I think of summer I think of hamburgers and hot dogs, fresh fruits and vegetables, camp fires and smores and of course going to the pool daily!
Shark Watermelon Fruit Basket
Watermelon Fruit Basket
We’ll start of our Memorial Day week long feast with the watermelon fruit basket my husband carved! When I told him that I wanted a fruit bowl, I had no idea I would be getting a watermelon shaped like a shark. I had no idea he was capable of carving out the mouth piece and teeth, and even cut out circles the size of grapes to make it look like eyeballs! He hollowed out the watermelon and made melon balls, to mix in with all of the other fruit. On the back, he made a small slit in the watermelon and pushed a piece of cantaloupe skin through to make it look like a fin! We surrounded the fruit bowl with blue jello and put in some swedish fish to make it look like the shark was jumping out of the water.
Everyone has different taste in fruits, so there may be a fruit or two that I put in my salad that you do not like. You can add practically any fruits to this salad with the exception of bananas, because they will turn into much shortly after you cut them. We used watermelon and cantaloupe balls, 4 kiwi, a pint of blueberries, a pint of strawberries, along with red and green seedless grapes.
While my husband was carving the watermelon, I was washing and preparing all off the fruit. I made a simple syrup that consists of a cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar, the zest of one lemon, lime, and orange, and about 1/8 tsp of ginger. After these simple syrup was cool, I forward it over all of the fruit and gave it a good stir. Its best to let the flavors marinate in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
I hope you enjoy this fruit salad as much as my kids and I do! This is a great way to get your children involved in meal preparation, so they make healthy decisions and is also a great bonding experience!
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From what I remember about your husband he is a very, very, capable man!!!
Yes he is! He’s good at anything he puts his mind too
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