I am officially back in New Jersey. School starts next week, and my summer is coming to a far to fast close. After spending the last couple months indulging in the luxury of hanging out with my family and not planning lessons, coming back here was a bit of a shock. That shock was not improved by the fact that my AC unit had leaked, causing my floor to buckle into a mountain range.

But, alas, life goes on. I spend today unpacking my stuff and cleaning as vigorously as I could without being able to clean floors yet, and still managed to find time to bake some zucchini bread!

I had initially planned to make all sorts of cool baking substitutions to make this recipe healthy. I was going to replace eggs with chia seeds (which apparently A&P doesn’t stock) and half the oil with applesauce (which goes moldy and smells like vinegar if you leave it in the fridge too long). But, when those didn’t work out, I embraced the unhealthiness of this vegetable-based bread and added chocolate chips.

So, the first thing you have to do is beat the eggs. To use half an egg, just whisk an egg for a bit in a bowl and pour in about half of that mixture.

Then, beat in the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and grated zucchini. In case you aren’t sure how many zucchini to buy to get 1 cup grated, it’s one medium zucchini. Not three. I don’t know why I thought that a zucchini and a carrot would yield a similar amount of grated vegetable, but that’s what I was basing my purchasing on. So I need to find zucchini recipes for the rest of the week.

Then, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and allspice. Beat until just combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. I just used one full 6 oz package, but add more or less, or substitute for nuts, as you see fit.

Pour the batter into a 9×5 inch loaf pan sprayed with Pam. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool completely.

With the sheer amount of oil and sugar that goes into this, it’s hard to convince yourself that it’s at all healthy, despite zucchini being in the title. Nevertheless, I advice you to embrace it and take solace in the fact that you are actually at least getting a serving of vegetables.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1 cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Beat eggs in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and zucchini and beat until combined.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and allspice and beat until just combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into sprayed 9×5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.