Today is officially the start of Fall, and I am so grateful!  Don’t get me wrong, I love the summer months, and all the fun activities it brings us, but my favorite season is Fall. 

The crisp, cooler weather! 

The leaves dancing across the street!

Opening the windows and snuggling under the covers! 

Football season (okay, I am not a football fan, but I can sit thru any game if I have an amazing book to read), which brings out the crockpot; resulting in some amazing chili and stews!

And finally zucchini…..lots and lots of zucchini! 

No, I do not grow zucchini….I do not have a green thumb, and kill any and all vegetables that I try to grow.  Seriously…..I have tried a couple of times!  Instead, I am beholden to my gracious friends who slave over their crops every summer.  These same friends spend countless hours in the hot sun nurturing their young crop, singing to them, watering them…..hoping that some of them will grow……. only to get sick and tired of the sheer volume and end up begging their friends to take some off their hands.  LOL! 

I am that enthusiastic friend waving her hands on the sidelines, saying “pick me pick me”, greadingly (is that even a word) taking it off their hands.  Wow, that kind of brings me back to my Klondike Elementary gym class days.  Being the last one chosen during the softball games.  Arms folded across my chest wanting the earth to just swallow me up whole.  I think my classmates knew that a ball being thrown at me scared the bejesus out of me.  At least I hope that is the case!  If not….I was just a loser no one wanted!  LOL!   

In this case, yes….I am still on the sidelines……but I am definitely the clear winner in this case…….and I have to take the zucchini, right?  They are running from the fields and kitchen,unable to process any more. I am doing them a HUGE favor!

I  should be a good friend and tell them not to plant so much!  Hmm….

I guess I need to work on my friendship skills, because I love getting the leftovers and I am NOT going to tell them to stop planting so many vegetables.  Instead, I will give Steve and Cheryl a very big shout out and say thank you for slaving over the huge garden this summer.  My freezer is stocked for the winter.  I have enough shredded zucchini to make upwards of 20 loaves of this yummy chocolate zucchini bread.  

I originally saw this Chocolate Zucchini bread on The Recipe Critic’s site, and knew that I wanted to try it out.  It is tweaked a bit, but is similar to one that I already have in my recipe file, which means now I need to do a taste test, as I can’t decide which one is my favorite.  I will have to post the other one soon, and let you all be the judge!

I hope your first day of Fall….Autumn….is perfect!

Until next time,

  Shaunna

Chocolate {Sugar Crusted} Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:                                       Printable Recipe      

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 (5.3 oz) container nonfat plain yogurt (I used Oikos)
• 3 ½ cups shredded zucchini
• ¾ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
• Dash orange zest (optional)

Topping:

• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp flour
• ¼ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 2- 8 inch loaf pans with vegetable or baking spray and set aside.  In small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients and set aside.
2. In large bowl, beat together both sugars, oil and eggs for 2 minutes or until combined and ‘fluffy’.  Add in vanilla and plain yogurt.
3. Fold in grated zucchini and orange zest.
4. In separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
5. Add the dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture; mixing on low until combined.  Stir in mini chocolate chips if desired.
6. Pour into prepared pans and sprinkle evenly with the topping.  Place both loaf pans on a large cookie sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before attempting to remove from loaf pan.

Note:  Recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic.

Need some other recipes utilizing zucchini?  Why not try these…..