Here is another recipe that adds merit to the old saying, " Necessity is the mother of invention!"  
     I had purchased a produce box from my local produce guys.  There was a small package of quinoa inside.  I had never cooked quinoa except in packaged rice and quinoa mixes and the jury was out on how I liked it.  I know that it is a super food, very good for you.  So, I decided to see what I could do with it.  
      Of course, I searched the web to find out how to cook the quinoa in the best possible way.  I found the answer on Cookie and Kate! I was so pleased with the results when I followed their advice!  Before that, I had no idea that:  #1 Quinoa has to be rinsed or it will be bitter. #2  Quinoa should pop open into little tiny spirals! Look at my bamboo stirrer! 

     The results were spectacular, so if you want to try quinoa the way it is supposed to be cooked, go to their site! 

    To go with the quinoa, I decided to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I had.  I've read recently that chicken thighs are more healthy than the breasts!  I don't know if that is true, but I do like the serving size of the thigh and my husband like dark meat best.  
      I didn't want to do an oven baked chicken because of the summer heat, so I decided to try something on top of the stove.  I was so pleased that it came together so quickly!  I used the Crog Salt that I made and told you about on this post.  If you haven't made our own yet, I listed the ingredients separately in the recipe.  I also added thyme.  The tomato-chicken bullion is widely available in grocery stores.  My friend Neomi turned me on to it and now I use it in recipes frequently.    Here are a few tips to easily make this recipe: 

• Use 2 skillets to fit in all of the chicken, plus it makes it easier to get the sauce done in the end.  
• Be sure to cook your chicken without turning it for 5 to 6 minutes on a side.  When it is crisply cooked, it will release from the skillet easier.  I used cast iron for this recipe. 
• Simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes before add the chicken back into it.  Then add the chicken and let simmer a couple of minutes more. 

     It is as easy as that!  Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken and quinoa to serve!  My husband loved it and so did I!  I could hardly wait to tell you about it.  Here is the recipe, enjoy! 

​**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. ​  But, all opinions expressed are my own.

Hey Alicia here.

We originally posted this recipe last year in May, but I live in a different state and didn't get to try the cake the first time around. So, I made it recently with a giant zucchini my friend gave me from her garden and it was seriously THE BEST CAKE I'VE EVER HAD. It was fluffy, moist, soft, chocolatey, deliciousness. It was light and airy. I wanted to make this cake again before it was even  all gone. I especially love that this cake doesn't  need frosting. The brown sugar chocolate chip topping was PERFECT! 

I decided we need to share this recipe again because now Is the time of year when people start finding huge zucchini in their yards that are perfect for baking. Try this, you will NOT regret it. Seriously, I'm considering not eating zucchini any other way from now on.

To really make your cake fluffy make sure you cream the butter and sugar really well, until they are light and fluffy and almost increase in volume. Doing this helps to trap air into the batter. Then I repeated this process when I added the egg in (beating it for a little longer to fluff up the wet ingredients). It made it amazing. Go and make this cake and  be amazed at the results. You won't regret it!

​Original Post Below:

    My DIL's mom, Anita gave me a giant zucchini.  Yes, we know that the smaller ones are the ones you are supposed to pick to cook up for a delicious dinner veggie.  But, if you have ever grown zucchini, they somehow have a way of hiding until finally one day there is a giant one laying there taunting you to do something with it.  Anita found this particular one before it had a chance to become extraordinarily huge, but it was big enough for me to make 2 recipes out of it!  Today I will share with you the first thing I made with it.  It is The Best Chocolate Zucchini Cake Ever! 

    When Anita handed me the zucchini, she said, "Here! Make some zucchini bread!"  I had every intention of doing that and taking her a loaf.  But then one afternoon a couple of days later, I looked in the fridge and realized that I needed to use that zucchini and the idea of a chocolate zucchini cake came into my head.  I had heard about them before but never made one.  I as so glad that I did because this cake came out so moist and delicious, much better than any zucchini bread I had ever made!  This particular recipe was adapted from an old church recipe compilation.  It doesn't need frosting because it has a brown sugar, chocolate chip topping that is perfect!  
     Now, here is my secret "oops" moment that caused this cake to be so moist, I believe.  I used my food processor to grate the zucchini.  I accidentally left the chopping blade down in the bottom of the food processor!  What I ended up with was coarsely chopped, slightly pureed zucchini.  It was almost like a very thick applesauce, only zucchini.  Well, I couldn't waste it, so I went ahead and made the cake anyway! It was an amazing success.  I took it to our church choir practice to share it.  It was a hit!  

​3winksdesign's Moist Chocolate Zucchini Cake

   Even if you don't have a giant zucchini, you can use regular sized ones for this recipe.  Later, I will give you the recipe for what I did with the rest of the zucchini! 
   Have you ever made a silly mistake that ended up making your recipe more delicious?  Let me know in the comments! 

     If you don't have any zucchini at all for this recipe, here is one that Lindsey made for Memorial Day last year! 

Find that pie and many others, not included in the blog, in our Pie Book, available on Etsy! 

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      It is very much summer here in Phoenix and I have 2 grandchildren staying with me for most of it.  We went shopping for foods that they will eat when they got here and one of the things my granddaughter went crazy about was when she saw the Magical Mermaid ice cream, which we of course purchased.  Later, at home, we realized that we had Fruity Pebbles with Marshmallows and Rice Krispys and we decided that we had to make Magical Mermaid Rice Krispy Treats to go with the ice cream.  Let me tell you, the Magical Mermaid treats tasted much better than the ice cream, in my opinion.  My granddaughter was in mermaid heaven!  Not only that, she loved making them with me.  Bonus points for Grandma! 
     I think the mixture of the 2 cereals give these treats a more magical look because the color looks more scattered, plus there were the little bits of cereal marshmallows that were a surprise treasure every so often. Plus, I feel like the fruit flavor from the Pebbles doesn't overpower as much as a recipe with only Fruity Pebbles would.  If you want to take the mermaid theme over the top, you can sprinkle on little pearl sprinkles before the treats cool. 
     If you aren't able to see your grandchildren yet, like I am able to at this point, these Magical Marshmallow Treats are the perfect surprise to drop off at their door.  They might soften in the heat, but will last pretty well and not spoil. 
      If you have a mermaid lover in your family, make them Magical Mermaid Treats.  They will love you for it. 

Magical Mermaid Rice Krispy Treats

​This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!

   During this period of the covid-19 pandemic, I have begun ordering and purchasing produce from a local distributor.  They have great prices and nice produce and I was even able to get yeast from them!  One day recently, I ordered a bag of cilantro.  It didn't sound like very much according to the weight of the bag.  But, cilantro is very light apparently and the bag of cilantro that I got was HUGE! Knowing how quickly cilantro will wilt and get slimy, I tried to see if my daughters or son needed any.  They all refused it,  saying they had just purchased some!  I started using it in salsa and every recipe possible, but I barely made a dent in that giant bag. 
    Fast Forward to my grandsons outdoor, socially safe birthday, where I sat having a conversation with Anita and her DL Julia, each 6 feet away from me,  and I tell them about my cilantro dilemma!  Julia, an excellent cook and baker, suggested that I could put the cilantro in olive oil and freeze it in ice cube trays!  Then, when I don't have fresh cilantro in the house, I can just pop a cube of the frozen stuff in my recipe and it will still taste fresh! So, after I got home, I started looking things up about freezing herbs online.  Isn't it amazing how many different methods you can find on there? I looked things over, and this is what I did: 

    I had one spare ice cube try to use to freeze my cilantro!  In a food processor or blender, put 5 cups of fresh cilantro, stems and all and 3/4 cups of vegetable oil.  If your blender won't hold that much, you will have to chop it in batches. PULSE the blender or food processor until the cilantro is chopped up and covered with the oil.  I didn't want it to be a smooth cilantro puree, but to have leaves and bits of stem still showing.  Then, I put about a tablespoon of the oily cilantro into each slot of the ice cube tray.  I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer.  The beauty of this method is that when it is completely frozen, you can pop out the cubes and store them in the freezer in a plastic bag and then reuse the ice cube tray for something else! 

    Now, after using 5 cups of cilantro for that freezing project, you would think my problem would have been solved, right?  No way, I still had half of the cilantro left! Well, while I had been looking up ways of freezing my cilantro, I remembered noticing herbal salts.  Cue binging light bulb!  I began with the obvious, Cilantro-Lime Salt.  OH MY GOODNESS! THESE SALTS ARE SO EASY TO MAKE AND SO TASTY! I believe I have found this year's Christmas gifts!  The possibilities are endless!  I am going to give you 3 Cilantro Salt variations.  Under each initial photo I will give you ideas for their use and how I have tried them so far.  I think a set of 3 types of salts would make a great gift, or use other herbs to make salts, such as basil or thyme from your garden and give a variety of different salts in that way!  I used little Rubbermaid or Zip Lock containers to store them, or you could use shakers or canning jars.  I also designed labels that I am sharing with you to keep track of what is what and to give them a cute look. 

Cilantro-Lime Salt

Ingredients: 

• The zest of 8 limes.  Save the limes them selves for limeade or juice them and freeze the juice in cubes! I love using a microplane/zester for this job. 
• Enough chopped cilantro to measure 3/4 c.  I chopped mine with my Pampered Chef Hand Chopper because I didn't want it to puree in a blender or food processor. 
• 3/4 c. coarse Kosher salt.  You could also use sea salt.

In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly. Then spread them on a sheet pan that has sides. 

Place the pan, uncovered, into your oven set at its lowest heat setting.  Leave it there for an hour or two until the cilantro and zest are completely dry.  At this point you can start gathering the salt into the center of the pan, crumbling the big pieces of cilantro as you go. 

This recipe filled 2 Rubbermaid 4 ounce containers as pictured.  Then, I used Avery Address Labels #8160 to print little labels for my salts.  Click the button for the PDF to print your own! 

CROG Salt- A savory blend of Cilantro, Rosemary, Onion and Garlic

Ingredients:
3/4 c. loosely packed chopped cilantro
1 bunch finely chopped green onions, green part only
6 cloves finely chopped garlic
4 long sprigs of fresh rosemary, off the stem and chopped
1 c. coarse kosher salt
Blend all together in a bowl as before and spread on a sheet pan.  Because there are wetter ingredients in this recipe, it will take about 4 hours to dry well in the oven at the lowest setting.  When finished, crush up the larger chunks into the mix.  The tiny dry onion pieces will burst into powder!  I may have had a little too much fun with that.
I was able to get almost 3 containers of savory CROG from this recipe. 

Bacon-Cilantro Salt

Ingredients:
1 c. chopped cilantro, loosely packed
6 slices of crispy cooked bacon, crumbled.  Cut off any fatty, not crispy parts.  If possible, lower salt would be great.
3/4 c. coarse kosher salt. 
Like the other recipes, blend all of the ingredients together and spread them on a sheet pan.  Dry in your oven with it set on the lowest setting.  It took mine 3 to 4 hours to dry completely.  
Scrap everything together on the pan, crumbling even smaller as you do so. 
This recipe filled 2 containers. 

      The measurement of the ingredients is somewhat loose, and you can adjust them as you wish as you make yours.  After making these recipes, I was able to bring down the amount of cilantro that I had to a manageable level.  If you grow your own herbs or if you have access to a large amount of them like I do from a produce supplier, just think of the possibilities of making gifts this year!  It was quick and easy with a great result.  Now my mind is racing with other flavor combinations.  Also, which containers did you like better?  What other flavor combinations do you think would work well?  Let me know in the comments! 
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