Rainy/cloudy days mean baking...right? An overabundance of zucchini can mean baking too! Today's project is/was chocolate zucchini bread, although in the photo it looks more like meatloaf...at my house, zucchini finds its way into many concoctions over the summer growing season: zucchini bars, zucchini bread (sometimes with chocolate chips, of course), cheesy zucchini casserole, zucchini parmesan, zucchini fritters, etc. Right now, there are about two dozen quart bags of shredded zucchini in my freezer, so we can enjoy it all winter long! My husband does not share in my excitement, as he is a non-vegetable eater, but my daughter will eat anything/everything I make - good girl! One added note about this recipe: don't use more zucchini than called for, and make sure you squeeze all the "juice" out of it before adding to the mix, or your bread will be goooooooooooey (trust me on this; not everything I cook/bake turns out right...), oh, and the recipe makes two 9x5 loafs (I "half" it sometimes).

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

1-2 TBL cocoa powder (to your liking)

3 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (I use safflower)

2 cups grated zucchini (I remove the BIG seeds but leave the peel intact)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (they won't sink to the bottom much if you toss them in flour first)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two 9x5 loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, grated zucchini, vanilla and chocolate; beat well.  Sift in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir to blend. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Do not overbake.

There's a great zucchini bar recipe I found at www.bettycrocker.com that I've made at least twice this summer, but I frost it with canned cream cheese frosting, because, what doesn't taste good with cream cheese frosting? Just wait until fall; I have dozens of recipes using canned pumpkin (and some involve cream cheese frosting!)