Zucchini Bread

     One of the things that I'm struggling with the most in an apartment is I don't have a yard. With no yard there is less space and no garden. Luckily, I know a ton of people who do have gardens and one of them came to visit for the weekend! As summer winds down the sheer volume of zucchini and other squashes ramps up and I was happy to take some off of her hands. I was so excited for the zucchini I barely remembered to figure out what I was even going to make with it all. When she showed up to my house she brought 2 grocery bags full of not only zucchini but also rhubarb and cucumbers! Side note, if you know any good recipes for garden cucumbers please let me know, I have no idea what to do with them all! 

    At first I didn't have time to do anything with everything so I shoved it in my fridge until I did. Pretty soon Tuesday rolled around and I didn't work so I had all day to figure out what I wanted to do with it all. To make it easier, every Tuesday is Bible study day so I had an excuse to bake something sweet. I eventually decided that chocolate zucchini bread was a necessity. 

    Growing up, my mom would make zucchini bread on a semi-regular basis but when she threw some cocoa powder in there it was extra special! Every once in a while she would even add chocolate chips. Sadly, I didn't have any and I didn't want to make a trip to Walmart, but the bread still ended up delicious!

    I started by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F because my oven takes forever to heat up, then I started to mix my wet ingredients and brown sugar in my stand mixer. I also don't have a microwave so a little life hack I've learned is if you need a greased pan (like you do in this recipe) you melt your butter in your bread pan while the oven is preheating. Just make sure you keep your eye on it so that it does not burn. 

    While that was mixing in my stand mixer I mixed all of my dry ingredients in a separate bowl. I then turned down the speed on my stand mixer and mixed the wet and dry until they were just barely combined, you do not want to over mix your batter. I then took a tool (that I do not know the name of) that I usually use for lemon zest and grated down an entire medium-sized zucchini. It ended up making 1 1/2 cups of grated zucchini.

    

    Next, I took the bowl off the stand mixer and folded the zucchini into the batter, again, being really careful to not over mix. The batter ended up super thick but I didn't question it so I double checked that my bread pan was well greased and I poured the mixture in. I then baked it for about 55 minutes and let it cool on a cooling rack. The recipe then calls for it to cool for 15 minutes before cutting into but I had to rush out of the house and so I took it still in the pan and cut it once I got to my in-law's house about 45 minutes after it came out of the oven and it was still warm. 

 

   The bread ended up being a huge hit and I should've made 2 loaves with how fast it was gone. We just ate it with butter on top but I know its good with peanut butter, some jams, or even plain! Before I left that night someone actually asked me if I could bring another loaf next week but I told them I have something rhubarb planned instead but we'll see. Who knows, maybe I end up still having zucchini by next week! However, with how much stuff I make and have planned I seriously doubt I have any left unless someone brings me more.