Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus

Too Happy Octopus Shower Curtain

Check out this happy octopus, a sci-fy thinker!

Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus:  From Denny:  It's summer and time to hit the beach!  Maybe if you are lucky enough to live in a place like Florida where the beach is year round, maybe not.  You can always bring the beach and the denizens of the ocean indoors with this fun design. 

This octopus is a real scify thinker and a happy guy sure to make you smile.  The design is on all manner of products at Cafe Press/DennyLyonGifts, from handbags and totes to t-shirts and bedding, posters too.  Take a look and enjoy browsing my Denny Lyon Gifts site.  All my profits go to two charities I really love:  St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank here in Louisiana (where they feed almost half of the state!)

Thanks for stopping by for a look and please be sure to pass the word on to your friends and relatives to help fund these charities!  Thank you!

Denny Lyon Gifts: New Design: Too Happy Octopus:  for more fun posts giving a shout out to newest designs!

Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

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Visit Denny Lyon Gifts  @ CafePress.com  -  see what's new!  

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Cute Joke: Camel Questions

Image via Wikipedia

A mother and baby camel are talking one day when the baby camel asks, "Mom, why have I got these huge three toed feet?"

The mother replies, "Well son, when we trek across the desert your toes will help you to stay on top of the soft sand."
"Okay," says the son.

A few minutes later the son asks, "Mom, why have I got these great long eyelashes?"

"They are there to keep the sand out of your eyes on the trips through the desert."

"Thanks Mom," replies the son.

After a short while, the son returns and asks, "Mom, why have I got these great big humps on my back??"

His mother replies impatiently, "They are there to help us store water for our long treks across the desert."

"That's great Mom. So we have huge feet to stop us sinking, and long eyelashes to keep the sand from our eyes, and these humps to store water, but Mom..."

"Yes, son?"

"Do we really need all of these in the zoo?"

Joke: Smart Dog Goes Meat Shopping

Smart Dog

A dog walks into a butcher shop with a purse strapped around his neck. He walks up to the meat case and calmly sits there until it's his turn to be helped. A man, who was already in the butcher shop, finished his purchase and noticed the dog. The butcher leaned over the counter and asked the dog what it wanted today. The dog put its paw on the glass case in front of the ground beef, and the butcher said, "How many pounds?"
The dog barked twice, so the butcher made a package of two pounds ground beef.

He then said, "Anything else?"

The dog pointed to the pork chops, and the butcher said, "How many?"

The dog barked four times, and the butcher made up a package of four pork chops.

The dog then walked around behind the counter, so the butcher could get at the purse. The butcher took out the appropriate amount of money and tied two packages of meat around the dog's neck. The man, who had been watching all of this, decided to follow the dog. It walked for several blocks and then walked up to a house and began to scratch at the door to be let in. As the owner opened the door, the man said to the owner, "That's a really smart dog you have there."

The owner said, "He's not really all that smart. This is the second time this week he forgot his key."


Ground beef, Dogbert, Pork chop, Butcher, Home, Food, Cooking, Meat, Pork, smart dog, jokes, dog, dog joke, Dogbert

Recipe: Lighter Simple Summer Seafood Gumbo

Photo from 2theAdvocate.com

From Denny: Here's a couple of recipes I'm running over at my comfort food blog, Comfort Food From Louisiana, enjoy!

This summer version of beach vacation gumbo was featured in our local newspaper in this week's food section. The family dilemma was there were a lot of people to feed for each meal, fifteen to be exact. The cooks did not have a lot of time to cook and also wanted to take advantage of the fresh seafood as they were vacationing in Florida. It would have been a culinary sin not to enjoy the local freshest seafood! :)

So, they came up with some shortcuts for cooking gumbo using some convenience foods. They also thinned the roux (nothing like the traditional excessively thick New Orleans roux you will get in every tourist restaurant in New Orleans) to lighten the feel of it for the heat of the summer. Sometimes, when you have been at the beach all day the last thing you want to eat is food that is too heavy on spices, heat or texture.

The cooks saved time and heat in the kitchen by using a prepackaged powdered roux and gravy mix. As per their advice, "As with any thickening agent, always stir it with cool liquid before adding it to a skillet or gumbo pot to prevent clumps from forming."

They also saved time again by using pre-chopped bag of Creole seasoning mix of onions, bell peppers and celery. Make sure you check the date for optimum freshness of this kind of convenience food.

OK, this is where I'd draw the line and chop my own. Why? Because vegetables lose their energy quickly and start leaching water, breaking down within an hour or so of chopping them. So, yeah, I'd take the time here to chop my own; the flavor will be a lot more intense and wonderful if you do!

Use low-sodium chicken broth as seafood has enough natural salt on its own.


Lighter Simple Summer Seafood Gumbo

From: Tracey Koch

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients:


4 Tablespoons canola oil

3 cups chopped Creole seasoning blend of onions, bell peppers and celery

1/2 cup instant roux and gravy mix (I use Zatarain’s or Tony Chachere’s)

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon gumbo filé, if desired

2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 pound fresh claw crabmeat or half claw and half lump

1 pound raw, shucked oysters (optional)

Cooked rice


Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, heat the oil and sauté the vegetables over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until translucent.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the roux and gravy mix with the chicken broth until all of the mix is dissolved.

3. Pour the broth into the stock pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Add filé, if desired.

4. Add shrimp, stir and cook for 5 minutes, then fold in crabmeat, stirring occasionally. Stir in optional oysters, at this point. When shrimp are uniformly pink, the seafood is cooked, and the gumbo is ready to serve.

5. Ladle over hot, cooked rice.

Kitchen Helpers: Kids can help out in several ways with this dish. They can measure the ingredients, whisk together the gravy mix, pick through the crabmeat for shells and even help peel the shrimp. Just make sure they wash their hands well before and after handling raw seafood.

From Denny: They suggested a simple Greek salad to round out the meal. Besides, all those raw veggies like tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers are cooling to your liver which, in turn, will cool down your body from a hot day in the beach sun. Win-win!

Summer Greek Salad

From: Tracey Koch

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 head butter lettuce or mixed greens

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 small cucumber, diced

1/2 cup kalamata olives

Greek dressing:

1 clove minced garlic

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried mint

Directions:

1. Toss lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives in a large salad bowl.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk together garlic, lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper, oregano and mint until all ingredients are uniformly incorporated.

3. Add dressing to salad according to taste and toss.

4. Serve immediately.

Kitchen helpers: Younger children can help measure the dressing ingredients and toss the salad, and older ones can make it by themselves.

Recipe: Easy Key Lime Pie with a Twist - White Chocolate!

See how tiny these key limes are? Intensely flavored and tart! Image by m kasahara via Flickr

From Denny: This is a recipe I am running over at my other food blog: Comfort Food From Louisiana. Chocolate is most definitely a comfort food in my mind! :) It's rare I come across a white chocolate recipe that appeals to me as I prefer the full court press when it comes to chocolate: dark! However, that said, white chocolate is wonderful with fruit, especially citrus!

From the Louisiana blog:

Key Lime Pies are basic and easy and constantly evolving as people try variations. This is one of those I've picked up over time, trying different recipes, and finally merged into just one recipe. I like easy but I also like without preservatives and usually make my own crust.

In the heat of this summer (which it seems you have heard me endlessly whining about - grin) and to be enjoyed after a good garlicky seafood dish is a citrus flavor to cut the oils, salt and heat.

We adore Key Lime Pie here in Louisiana! Louisianians often visit the Florida beaches and golf courses where we were introduced to such a sweet treat as to what they like to create with Key Limes! (We also love their soft shell crabs - yum!) Here is another twist on the classic recipe by using white chocolate.

Easy Key Lime Pie with a Twist

Yield: one (9-inch) pie

Ingredients:

1 cup whipping cream

1 (11-ounce) package white chocolate morsels

1 tablespoon Breakstone's sour cream (you can use another full fat brand)

1 teaspoon grated Key Lime rind (these things are tiny to grip; if you have a microplane it's easier to grate them)

1/3 cup fresh Key lime juice (these tiny little limes are awesome!)

1 (9-inch) pre-baked chocolate graham cracker crust (I prefer a chocolate crust as I find the plain just a little too bland but you can choose whatever you enjoy!)

Garnish: lime slices

Directions:

Over low heat in a medium saucepan you want to combine the white chocolate morsels and the whipping cream.

Cook 5 minutes or until white chocolate melts; stir constantly. Remove from heat and now add the sour cream, lime rind and juice; stir well. Note: The reason you remove it from the heat is that you don't want the sour cream to separate or the white chocolate to seize up on you.

Note: Variation - Before you pour this mixture into the crust you can add some zing with another variation: spread a thin layer of sour cream on the bottom of the crust. You could also spread a thin layer of melted semi-sweet chocolate here too! I've even placed finely chopped butter-roasted pecans here.

If you want to just proceed with the basic recipe and skip the variations, go ahead and pour the sour cream-lime mixture into crust. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. Garnish, if desired with more whipped cream, finely chopped butter-roasted pecans and lime slices for beautiful presentation! Dare I say it? Lip-smacking good! :)

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11 May 2009 Highlights: Articles and Recipes From Dennys Blogs

Thank you, everyone, for visiting! Have a good week!

From the quotations blog, Beautiful Illustrated Quotations, to start off your work week with food for your head, an interesting famous quote about a free society, go here.

From the photography blog, Visual Insights, from a wonderful French nature photographer Denis Collette, to make your heart feel good, a beautiful floral portrait for all the mothers out there, go here.

From the comfort food blog, Comfort Food From Louisiana, there is a minimum effort chocolate cake pudding recipe slow-cooked in a crock pot, go here.

From the science blog, The Soul Calendar, to keep you updated on the latest research, there is a write-up on the latest brain study about autism in young children, go here.

From the chocolate blog, Romancing The Chocolate, there is a yummy recipe for Marcarpone Chocolate Toffee Bars from one of our favorite Food Networks chefs we like to watch at our house, Giada, go here.

From the news, humor and poetry blog, The Social Poets, be sure to check out the Roundup of the Sunday Funnies from the late night shows that appears on Mondays, go here.

From the humor blog, Ouch Outrageous Obnoxious And Odd, get your work week started off right - laughing! - there is the always funny The Onion commenting about how Americans are handling the economy, go here.

Photo by aussiegall @ flickr

Check Out New Coffee Recipes and Amusing Poem!

From Denny: Posts have been delayed due to my jury duty service this week but I'm getting back up to speed.

Well, hike yourself on over to my blog called The Social Poets for the Libations Friday! 8 May 2009.

Why? New coffee recipes, new coffee site, original and amusing light-hearted poem by "moi" AND it's Friday! Does Life get any better? :)

Oh, and if you have never visited this blog before now, just scroll on down past the posting area to get an overview of all my blogs. There are the blog descriptions so you can get a feel for each blog's focus and personality. There are also headlines of the latest postings from each blog all contained on one page, a convenient fast-paced glance. Enjoy!

Photo by Sarah Sitkin @ flickr

4 Chocolate Articles and Recipes You Might Enjoy

Cover via Amazon

From Denny: Since I have to travel out of town on Mondays and get back late in the day (wishing I had the time to research and write another health article) ... thought I'd round up some chocolate articles as highlights this week from one of my other blogs, Romancing The Chocolate. Finally, scientists agree with all the women (and some awesome men) in the world that chocolate belongs as one of the major food groups! :) Enjoy!

Recipe: Chicken and Pistachio Mocha Mole Sauce

Recipe: Chocolate Espresso Bars

Recipe: Chocolate-Banana Croissant Panini

Recipe: Chocolate-Amaretti Heartbreakers

Slap That Cold Silly with Food as Medicine

Slap That Cold Silly with Food as Medicine: "Utilize spices in your food to give healing support to that cold or flu. Here’s an easy exotic and delicious soup recipe when you are feeling miserable. Soup recipe included."

By Denny Lyon @ HubPages

From Denny: This is a popular article. While it may be almost early summer and hot here in Louisiana it sure isn't in other parts of the country and world! After all it snowed in Colorado this month. On the news is the latest about a new outbreak of flu.

What is good about this article and soup recipe is that it gives real information about the properties of food and how they can benefit a situation with a cold, flu or allergy symptoms. Lentils and beans both act as astringents, pulling excess water out of the body. For that reason alone this is a good and practical read! :) We all know the miseries of a stuffy and runny nose.

Spices are another forgotten food in our modern culture and contain many healthful properties waiting to be rediscovered by us today!

Written by Denny Lyon @ HubPages
Photo of paprika peppers by meaduva @ flickr

The Bonzo Cake (delicious calorie monster)

You have got to check out The Bonzo Cake recipe I found from a well-known restaurant in Atlanta - unbelievable! It's a brownie base with chocolate mousse and cheesecake layers - 3 layers.

They took the 3 favorite desserts of their customers at Murphy's and combined it into this calorie monster. It's the kind of cake to make for a huge group, like a reunion as it would take just four people to eat one slice!

This is the kind of cake you would like to make just to test your baking prowess. Make sure you have the Fifth Army available to help you eat it. :) Beautiful cake - take a look!

I used to live in Atlanta for many years and it has some wonderful and innovative restaurants. If you visit eat your way across the city! You can diet later...

The Bonzo Cake recipe is parked on my Romancing The Chocolate blog, go here.