October 16, 2005
Chocolate zucchini bread
Once again this year I pretty much lost my squash and cucumbers to the dreaded Diabrotica undecimpuctata howardi and and Acalymma vittatum: cucumber beetles, spotten and striped. At this point I'm guessing the bugs are overwintering in my yard, so switching pots and using new soil, not to mention the pyrethrins, ain't gonna help. Next year I'm going to move the whole garden to my parents' yard.
But back to this year...yesterday afternoon I decided to clear out the jungle of unproductive vines that had pretty much taken over my backyard, especially following that 24 feet of rain or whatever it was we got last week. The dog was starting to be afraid to go out at night. As I hacked away at the growth, I found one single zucchini vine that the beetles missed, and on it, two zucchini. One was normal-sized, and we had that with dinner. The other should have been picked some time ago, and it was bigger than my forearm:
Since the centers on overgrown squash tend to be kinda seedy and stringy, I figured I'd chop this up and just use the good part. I've also been craving chocolate (stay out of my way next week), so when I found this recipe for chocolate chip zucchini bread (scroll down, it's the second recipe of four) I knew I had a solution.
It looked a little healthier than most chocolate zucchini breads, what with the apple sauce, and I threw in a cup of chopped walnut too. I also went slightly light on the sugar, a good move. The bread came out nice and chocolatey and sufficiently moist.
One for today, one for tomorrow.
Posted by Nic at October 16, 2005 01:19 PM | TrackBackI've had that bread before. I can't quit pin it down, but I can make a good guess... ex-girlfriend, 2 steps back.
It was very good, in the "odd combo" sort of way.
Posted by: Bobby at October 16, 2005 02:56 PM