Laborless Watermelon Treats

 This is a blog post long overdue. A summer has once again come and gone super fast, and with the passing of Labor Day and the crispness of fall around the corner, I thought a post about sweet, cold, watermelon would be appropriate. This past week has been hot, the kind of stifling hot, that makes it hard to do anything. The latest box delivery was so heavy because of the watermelon. Labor Day being a day of no work I decided an easy watermelon salad for dessert would be cooling and satisfying treat.

The watermelon while not very large was so heavy with juice, that I could already  tell it was going to be good. Upon cutting into the melon, it made a satisfying popping sound. It was so sweet and perfectly ripe, not mealy at all and not even a lot of seeds. The salad I made is a combination of various recipes but mostly adapted from Super Natural Every Day: 
Taking one half of the melon I rubbed ginger all over it. Then I cut the melon into bite size pieces periodically rubbing the ginger on the smaller slices. Once the melon was cut up I added 4 pitted and sliced Medjool dates, a handful of roasted pistachio meats, some mint, and the juice of one lime. Together this makes the easiest dessert you can make and eat. There is nothing like eating a cold piece of melon on a hot day. The ginger and the lime add a nice tang to the sweetness of the watermelon. And the crunch of the pistachios, mixed with the date slivers gave a nice variety of textures. A salad that is refreshing and easy is always a great way to end a meal.

The other half of the melon was used to make a watermelon granita. This is even easier to make you just need to be patient because you need to allow time to allow it to freeze. Pureeing the melon with a little sugar and lime, we poured it into a 9x9 pan. While making space for the granita we decided to add a package of mango puree in as well. After a few hours, we scraped the shavings into a bowl. This was so good and much needed on a sweltering hot day. The mango puree didn't really add anything except a yellow orange tint. This is the best natural snow cone you can make, and tastes fresh at the same time. I think next time some basil or mint might be added in as well.

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What do you make when a bunch of girls are getting together to drink wine, and look at trashy magazines? Something involving chocolate. And what goes great with chocolate? Zucchini. To be more specific Chocolate Zucchini Ten Grain Muffins.These turned out to be a nice little late night snack that were simple and easy to throw together.
I had originally planned to make this recipe for Chocolate and Zucchini Cake, when I discovered I didn't have enough flour. Have you ever gone to make something and found that you are out of a staple item. This is what ended up happening to me and I ended up substituting  a cup of Bob's Red Mill Ten Grain Cereal for a cup of flour. Which is when the cake turned into muffins, which are easier to manage while riffling through a magazine.

When I bake with zucchini I always think I'm going to use a fair amount of it, until it's grated and 2 cups of grated zucchini only uses about 1 and 1/2. It is a little weird to be eating chocolate flavored muffins and find strands of zucchini mixed in, but they give a nice moist flavor.

This photo was taken with my phone. It looks like there are chocolate zucchini muffins invading the kitchen.

The inclusion of the grain cereal added a great texture as well. Who knew chocolate, grains, and zucchini would go so well together.

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Carrot cake has become a tried and true favorite but, what happens when you replace the carrot with zucchini? I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit Granted adding cream cheese frosting helps the flavor of anything but the cake itself was moist, nutty and with a few modification's turned out quite good. I added half a cup of orange marmalade and finishing a container of orange juice, which was maybe about 2/3rds of a cup. I also used 2/3rds vegetable oil instead of olive, in which the recipe calls for.  I made this for a dinner party and it was devoured pretty fast. I am thinking about next time foregoing the frosting and making an orange glaze or maybe an icing. So next summer when you are in the midst of a zucchini glut, try making zucchini cake, you will not be disappointed. 

This is what I came home with I forgot to take a picture of the whole cake