Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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Moxy Thoughts

Spring is officially in full bloom!  This weekend we got our first crop out of our garden.  This year, we planted some tried and true zucchini, a couple of different types of peppers, including cayenne, bell and jalepenos, strawberries, tomatoes and tomatillos.  And, we took a risk this year and also put in 2 different types of melons.  Luckily, we have a ton of space, but so far, just a few weeks in and we are already wondering where the melon is going to sprawl out towards.  I’ll post some pictures as it grows, it’s already so big!

Now to the zucchini.  We started growing our garden the first summer that we moved to California and the incredible thing was up until that point I couldn’t even keep a simple basil plant alive (we used to live in Chicago where it was always either too cold or too hot and too much or too little water).   But, here in California there has been so much we have learned.  First, our soil at our ranch is wonderful for growing things.  We planted and things grew.  It was that simple!  The original garden had a bunch of vegetables that didn’t work together because I was very excited about the thought of fresh veggies, none of those worked, but the zucchini still grew!  That was when I first started creating a bunch of zucchini recipes as there was so much of it coming out.  The second garden year, we started to figure out we could gr0w delicious pepperoncini and also some tomatillos and that was so fun because those flavors together are tremendous!

This year, I feel like we’re pros!  Derek has really upped the game for us and put in some professional grade watering systems and straightened out our rows – we’re really growing now!  This year, I’m hoping the garden can help us in our test kitchen and so this recipe is one of our first we’re trying out this year.  I’m looking to stick with minimal sugar, only use whole wheat flour and maximum veggies.  The boys and I cooked this one last night and according to this morning’s breakfast dishes, we’ll call it a success!  Only crumbs left on the boys’ plates.  The key to making this flavorful and also healthy is to add high quality dark chocolate chips and a fresh shredded apple in place of other oils and fats.  The reason for the apple is that the amount of zucchini I threw in this bread made it necessary to avoid as many other wet ingredients as possible.

Give it a try and let me know if you’re munchkins are as excited about this healthy food as mine were!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 green apple shredded
  • 3 cups shredded fresh zucchini
  • 2/3 cups bittersweet chocolate chips or morsels

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325.
  • Grease with real butter a large loaf pan.
  • Mix first 4 ingredients together in large bowl and set aside.
  • Whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla and then add shredded apples and shredded zucchini.
  • Combine the dry and wet ingredients together well and the add the chocolate morsels.
  •  Spoon into loaf pan and put into oven for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry from the loaf.
  • Full loaf should yield approximately 10-15 slices depending on width.

Nutrition facts per serving (15 servings per loaf)*

Calories 139, Total fat 3.3, Cholesterol 34 g., Sodium 260 g., Potassium 164g., Carbohydrates 23, Sugar 9g. Dietary Fiber 1.25g., Protein 3.7g

High in selenium and Vitamin B6

*www.caloriecount.com

The Moxy Mamma

Hi I’m Anna. I’m a mom, wife, full time executive, part time amateur cook and love to be creative whenever I can.

In 2014, my husband received news that he had Type II Diabetes.I’m on a mission to eat great food and create delicious recipes that are packed with flavor instead of added sugar.

Do Good, Eat Great and Put some Moxy on your plate! (more about Anna)