Change of Focus

No more whining about being a nurse, and back to bizarro, maybe someday back to some art.  But not today.  Today is a devoted to (ta dah)...

Watermelon Rind

There is so much more to it than just compost.

It can be used as a skin cleanser and comforter for sunburn, or just to cool it off. 

Or made into Pickled Watermelon Rind like your Auntie used to make and serve in a cut glass bowl at Thanksgiving:

You can force it into a pyramid shape while its growing and add some toy camels for a science project

Or make some very odd recipes like these:

Watermelon Rind Pie

4 Cups Of Mashed Watermelon Rind

1 1/2 Cups  Flour

1/2 Cup Of  Toasted Sesame Seeds

1/2 Cup Of  Sugar

1 Cup Of Honey

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

To begin this sweet and delicious watermelon rind pie recipe, you will first want to take out a sharp kitchen knife and cube your watermelon rind. Do make sure that you trim off all of the outer green skin. When you are done preparing the rind, mash it up into a paste like mixture. Next take out a cooking skillet and add in the all purpose flour. Heat the flour over medium heat until it's nice and golden, stirring throughout the process. Once you are done there, set the flour aside to cool off. Next preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, or 175 degrees Celsius. Moving right along, next take out a large mixing bowl, and add in the mashed watermelon rind, golden flour, honey, white sugar, kosher salt, and the ground cinnamon, then thoroughly mix these ingredients together until they form an even and consistent pie filling. Next take out a pie dish and sprinkle roughly half of your toasted sesame seeds across the bottom of the dish. You are now ready to add in the watermelon rind filling into the pan, leveling it off so that it is about one inch thick. Sprinkle your left over sesame seeds all over the top of the pie filling. Next slide the pie into the oven and let it bake for forty to fifty minutes, or until you can poke it with a toothpick and it will come out clean. Let the pie cool off for five minutes before serving. 

Watermelon Rind Soup

2 Cups Of Cubed Watermelon Rind

1/4 Cup Of Chopped Carrots

1/2 Cup Of Canned White Kidney Beans

1/2 Cup Of Chopped Broccoli

2 Large Fresh Chopped Tomatoes

1 Large Diced Vidalia Onions

2 Large Fresh Minced Garlic 

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin

1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1/4 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder

To begin this recipe you will first want to take out a sharp kitchen knife, and begin preparing your watermelon rind, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Once all of your fresh produce is ready, take out a saucepan. Next add in the cubed watermelon rind, and cook it over medium heat until it's tender enough to mash into a coarse mixture. You may have to add a little water to the saucepan if your rind is quite rigid. Do stir often during this process to prevent the rind from burning. Next take out another large soup pot, and add in the watermelon rind mixture, carrots, white kidney beans, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, garlic cloves, ground cumin seed, black pepper, chili powder, kosher salt, sugar, and turmeric powder. Add in enough water to cover the ingredients, and then bring the soup mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Once you have reached a rolling boil, back the heat off, and let the soup simmer until you have a desired thickness and consistency. Serve hot and garnish each bowl with a hearty slice of real butter. 

Red Hots Watermelon Rind Milkshake

1 Cup Of Fresh Skinless Cubed Watermelon Rind

1/4 Cup Of Red Hots Cinnamon Candy

2 Scoops Of Vanilla Ice Cream

1/2 Cup Of Cold Nonfat Milk

1 Cup Of Crushed Ice

 To start the creation process, take out your blender and plug it in. Add into the vessel the fresh skinless cubed watermelon rind, Ferrara Pan Red Hots cinnamon candy, Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream, cold nonfat milk, and crushed ice. Blend all of these yummy ingredients together until your milkshake has a desired thickness. Add more milk to it if you feel it is too thick. Serve the shake in a tall glass served with a long straw and a spoon. The recipe is very flexible, so feel free to replace the vanilla ice cream with any flavor that you feel is well suited to watermelon rind and red hots candy. 

Watermelon Rind Curry

3 Pounds Of Fresh Cubed Watermelon Rind

1 Cup Of Bottled Water

3 Tablespoons Of Canola Oil

1/2 Teaspoon Of Ajwain Seeds

1/2 Teaspoon Of  Cumin Seed

1/2 Teaspoon Of  Nigella Seeds

2 De Arbol Dried Red Chiles

4 Large Fresh Minced Garlic Cloves

1 Teaspoon Of  Kosher Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Of  Turmeric

2 Teaspoon Of Fresh Diced Cilantro

4 Cups Of Steamed Basmati Rice

To begin this delicious Indian style recipe, you will first want to take out a sharp kitchen knife, and begin cubing your watermelon rind. Do make sure to trim off all of the outer green skin from the rind. Once you are done there, set the rind aside. Next take out a saucepan, add in the garlic flavored Canola oil, and then heat these contents over medium high heat. Once the oil has heated, add in the Ajwain seeds, cumin seeds, nigella seeds, and dried red chilies. You will want to cook these ingredients for two to three minutes, or until the contents are fragrant and lightly toasted. Next add in the minced garlic, and stir it into the mixture until it's well distributed and golden brown. Next add in the cubed watermelon rind, kosher salt, and ground turmeric. Stir these ingredients until the watermelon rind is golden and most of the liquid has absorbed into the rind and seasonings, which should take roughly seven minutes. Moving along, next you will want to pour one cup of water into the saucepan, cover the pan with a lid, and then reduce your heat to medium low. Let the curry simmer while stirring occasionally until the rind is tender and juicy. At this point once again raise the heat to medium high, bring the contents to a boil, and continue stirring for several minutes. Your curry is now done, so serve it hot. Garnish this dish with finely chopped cilantro, served with a side of boiled basmati rice.

AHHH, but there's more!  (You knew there would be.)  Drum Roll.

Fancy Carvings  (link)

Watermelon Rind may be a natural form of Viagra


Soap designs, as well as an extensive craft motif we won't go into here but you can visit.

And watermelon paintings in all forms

From Wikipedia:                

Watermelon is also mildly diuretic.

Watermelons contain large amounts of beta carotene.

Watermelon with red flesh is a significant source of lycopene.

Ice Cream!

  Ice

  Molds

   Bombes

A Doggie Treat

not Molly, but a close facimile


And it has it's own Watermelonrind Website. There you will find lots more recipes






And finally, it can be carved into a helmet to protect one from the invaders...

  nice!