Zucchini is one of the easiest and most prolific vegetables to grow. When you plant a zucchini seed in nutrient-rich soil it will sprout and grow into a flowering bush. As long as the birds do not devour it, it will yield more zucchini than you, your family and your friends know what to do with! Were you to count all the seeds that one zucchini plant produces, you would find it yields over a hundredfold.
In Luke 8, Jesus tells the parable of the sower:
A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold. (Luke 8:5-8)
Jesus explains that the seed is the Word of God and as we read it, it is being sown into our hearts. Once there it will take root if we water it daily. Reading the Word once and then forgetting what you read is like the seed that fell on the rocks. And the seed grown up in doubt and unbelief is like the seed choked by the thorns. What kind of seed are you growing in your heart? What will happen to it? Will the enemy steal it? Will the weeds of the culture choke it out? We want our hearts to be like good soil. We want to be “those, who after hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).
My grandma, who went to be with Jesus when I was five years old, left us a delicious chocolate zucchini cake recipe to remember her by. As you bake it and enjoy it, think of the parable of the sower! Pray that you will hear the Word of God, hold it in your heart and that you will bear much fruit, fruit that will last! I hope you are blessed by your own or someone’s abundant zucchini harvest this summer.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
By: Jennifer Valdois
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
½ cup milk
1 cup chopped nuts, optional
Powdered sugar
Directions:
- Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a different mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar, add the eggs, and beat well. Stir in the dry ingredients and the milk. Add the nuts, if using.
- Bake in a well-oiled bundt pan or loaf pan at 350 degrees for one hour, or until done.
- Cool 15 minutes, then remove from pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Jennifer is a Colorado Springs native and each year,looks forward to summer time when she experiments with vegetable gardening and escapes to the Rocky Mountains for camping trips with her family.
She is trusting Jesus to redeem her life and crown her with love and compassion as He promises in Psalm 103:2-5.
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