Laughin with Mitch Hedberg

...the good do die too soon

Zucchini Cake

You know how it is when you are producing more zucchini's in the zucchini bed than you know what to do with. I had to figure out a creative way to use these beautiful vegetables without boring myself or my fellow diners.

This is a recipe that I found on internet one evening when I was looking for recipes that called for zucchini.

This cake is great because although it calls for THREE CUPS OF (grated) ZUCCHINI, the only hint of this in the final product are a few flecks of verigated green. I imagine he cake would also be great with walnuts or pecans or even raisins. I serve it without frosting but I imagine it would be yummy with carrot cake frosting or with a wedge of sharp cheese.

Combine the following into a large bowl (or pot)
3 cups of grated zucchini
3 cups sugar
1.5 cups canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs (chicken eggs)

Add to the above mixture
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of cloves

Now you have one big wet mixture right? Now add that wet mixture to the following dry mixture

4.5 cups of flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking soda
1.5 teaspoons of salt
.5 teaspoons of baking powder

Okay what you have now is what looks like lumpy cake batter. Good. Pour this batter into the appropriate number of baking pans/dishes.


I actually pour into one square pyrex backing dish and save the batter in the refrigerator to make a fresh cake on another day. These days of zucchini "high season" I am making several cakes a week! With this one recipe you can make probably 3 cakes.

Bake for about 50 minutes at 325 degrees Farenheit. I generally turn off the oven and let the cake continue to sit there for a good 10 minutes more. Of course you can do the good ol' toothpick test to find out if the cake is "done.""

I always get rave reviews for this cake. It is very moist and very delicious. :)

Breathing Exercises

Did you know this?
Shallow breathing causes one to tire out faster, adds stress, reduces the relaxation level, reduces the body oxygenation level and results in poor functioning of all body systems (digestive, respiratory, glandular, circulatory and nervous).

This comes from Project Armannd. Breathing evenly and regularly is something that I am working on. These exercises I found simple and effective. I hope you enjoy them, too.

• Lie on your back and put a book on your stomach. Relax and inhale deeply into your abdomen so that the book rises. Exhale - the book should fall. Do this for 3-4 minutes every morning and before going to sleep.
• Sit. Place the right hand on your abdomen and the left hand on your chest. Breathe deeply so that your right hand will rise and fall while your stomach should stay relatively still. Do this for 2 minutes. As you breathe in, count to 4, hold for 2, and release your breath in 4 counts.
• Alternate nose breathing. It’s purpose is to relieve stress and what you basically need to do is to breathe in one nostril and out the other. Then breathe in the second nostril and out the first. Breathe in the left nostril to the count of 6, while using your finger to hold the right nostril closed. Hold your breath for 3 counts. Release the right nostril and while your left nostril is closed, breathe out in the count of 6. Breathe back in the right nostril for 6 count. Hold for 3 counts. Release the left and breathe out to the count of 6 while the right nostril is closed. Repeat this a couple of times.
• Lie flat on floor or mattress, the head unsupported. Relax the muscles all over the body, then inhale deeply with the diaphragm only, raising the wall of the abdomen just below the ribs without elevating either the chest or the lower abdomen. Take about four seconds to inhale, then exhale in twice that length of time, contracting the abdomen below the ribs.
• Lie on your back on a bed or couch, knees raised. Relax thoroughly, exhale and hold the breath after exhalation. While doing so, push the abdomen out and draw it in as far as possible each way. Repeat these movements as long as you can hold the breath without straining, then breathe deeply and regularly for several minutes, then repeat the massage movements.
• With hands at sides or on hips, inhale and exhale slowly and deeply, bringing the entire respiratory apparatus into active play.

Laughin with George Carlin

...and he loves you. :)

Pancakes

...because sometimes I need to get my hands on this recipe PRONTO


* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 1/4 cups milk
* 1 egg
* 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Long Time No See!

It has been ages...well maybe a month! Let's see what is today's date? How many "daily posts" have I missed?

Today is July 12th...so that's 12 days of July and then let's see June 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30...or something like that. Wow! 27 days, 27 posts skipped.

To make that up I'd need to do 2 or three post-posts and 1 current-post everyday from ttoday to the end of this month, July.

Oh, yeah and then there are the study/execution goals that I laid out for myself a few weeks ago! Boy oh boy am I behind schedule!

So what to do?

Dedicate 2 90minute periods every day but Sunday. On Sunday work 8 90 minute periods. Yeah, that ought to get me back into the groove so that by the the time August rolls around I can either drop the daily sessions or drop the intense Sunday madness. lol

Okay, so now to find all of my Twitter tool pals and open them up onto tabs.

Melons

just_called2say

about 10 hours ago

@SofiaMiller I love canteloupe! Love all kinds of melons