Ah, the Weekend

What a busy week!  I don't know about you, but I am pooped.  All week I could not get to bed at a decent hour, many events to go to throughout the week, and chores...always so many chores.  At any given time, if you come to my home, you will most certainly see dishes in the sink.  I can't keep up with those pesky things. Our new dishwasher works great, but it is definitely smaller than the old one.  And the set up is different.  It just doesn't hold as much as our broken one.  If you are ever in the market for a new dishwasher, bring some of  your plates to make sure they fit properly and really look at the set up.  Live and learn.  At least I have a working one, because the manual one (my hands) aren't very reliable.

We love college football, so Saturdays we have the TV on all day.  We are busy throughout the day, but that box stays on so we can catch those lovely college games.  By the evening, we enjoy sitting as a family and watching the late games.  Good times.

I'm off to read the paper with my coffee (one of my favorite Saturday morning rituals), run some kids around, then tackle those dishes.  Oh, of course there is always laundry, vacuuming, toilet bowl scrubbing, the list is endless.  But I WILL get through some of it, and the others...isn't that what kids are for?

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I still have one very large zucchini from my garden that I need to do something with.  Below is a great zucchini bread recipe that was passed on to me and I have to pass on to you.  It has chocolate - nuff said.  Actually, it is soooo good!  I have a dark chocolate fan at home (doesn't like sweet things much) who absolutely loved this bread.  You can also download it from allrecipes.com.

I also got the tip that you can grate your zucchini and freeze it.  I'll do that with the leftover zucchini after I make two batches of this bread.  Freeze in 2 cup batches (most recipes want 2 cups). 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
What you need:
2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate     
3 eggs
2 C white sugar
1 C vegetable oil
2 C grated zucchini
1 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips
What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.  In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate squares until melted.  Stir occasionally until chocolate is smooth.
2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, zucchini, vanilla and chocolate; beat well.  Stir in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean.

Enjoy!