Now that summer is winding down, let's talk watermelon...I know we should have done this months ago, but Winco still has watermelon for around $ .30/lb I can't remember exactly! Anyway, in my mission to keep my kids from pigging out on chips and pretzels all summer, I tried to keep lots of fresh fruit and veggies on hand. We love watermelon, but there is nothing more frustrating than lugging a 16 lb watermelon home and cutting into it only to find that it's yucky! So, I did my homework at the beginning of summer and here's what I found. These are my top 3 tips for choosing a good watermelon:

1. Find one that is uniform in shape that means there were not starts and stops in the growing season

2. Look for a nice yellow mark. This is where the watermelon rested on the ground. If the mark is nice and   creamy yellow or orangish that means it was nice and ripe when it was picked. If the mark is whitish or non-existent that means it was picked too soon. (For some reason this one turned a little greenish yellow while it was sitting on my counter for 2 days)

3. Pick up a couple of good looking melons that are approximately the same size and weigh them the heavier the better, that means it's nice a juicy, not dried out.

This is how I have picked my watermelons all summer and we haven't had a bad one yet!

Now how to cut that melon also a huge frustration until I found some help online. So here's how you cut a watermelon.

First cut the ends off

 Then stand the melon up on one end and start cutting the rind off from top to bottom

 Next start slicing and cubing

Watermelon is 95% water so it's a great snack especially on those hot summer days and an easy way to help stay hydrated!