My brother Matthew, age 6, with giant zucchini

We try to keep up. Lazily spread out from a gnarly stock, the zucchinis live a life of luxury, in sundappled shade, air moistened by the damp shelter of their leaves, beautifully dark green and speckled, and GROWING. We’re out there every two days, harvest bins and totes, carrying armloads of 7” or 8” long zucchinis up to our fridge.

But sometimes, we slip up. A zucchini goes unnoticed. Maybe it should have been harvested on Tuesday, but we missed it, and again on Thursday it got overlooked… by Sunday when we peer through the leaves we’ll find a sea-creature! A leviathan! Bigger than my forearm, bigger than a rolling pin or a jumbo bottle of wine, these turbo-zukes aren’t exactly sellable, but they do make good props for caveman re-enactments.

And, thank God, they’re good for zucchini bread – which is easy to make parve, and therefore a completely versatile and awesome snack to have around, frequently, this time of year.

There’s something quite profound about eating what you have available. I did this as much as I could living in Brooklyn and shopping mainly at the farmer’s market – what I ate for dinner depended on what the farmers were growing. But always, there were supermarkets and other ways to supplement. Here, with the exception of butter, flour, oil and salt, we’re mostly eating what we grow. So the thought of having huge amounts of zucchini on hand just means, well, we have to think of more things to cook with the zucchini. You don’t really have the luxury of saying, “I’m sick of that.”

Besides, I don’t think I could get sick of zucchini bread – so it’s all good for now. Here’s my Mom’s recipe for chocolate zucchini bread – don’t forget to lick the spoon!

Isn’t She Loafly? Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaf
from Crazy Plates, by Janet and Greta Podleski

Combine these items:
2- 1/2 C flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1- 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each cinnamon and baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Whisk together:
3 eggs ( or 3/4 C. fat free egg substitute)
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/3 C vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla

add:
2 C packed, grated zucchini

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones; add 1/2 C mini chocolate chips

Spread batter evenly into 2 - 8″ x 4″ loaf pans oiled or sprayed with non-stick spray

Bake 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to racks.