The Social Poets: Libya War: Funny Late Nite Jokes Roundup

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The Social Poets: Libya War: Funny Late Nite Jokes Roundup: "Check out what the comedians lampoon about The Peace President, Obama, going into Libya. Boy, I tell ya, a guy tries to help out some desperate people in a foreign country from getting slaughtered and all he gets is flak from the Republicans and comedians.

Of course, like so many sticky political situations, it's all about The Ego. The mostly male media ratchets up The Ego Meter by declaring Prez Obama is a wimp if he doesn't succeed at deposing Gadafi now that he's declared, 'Gadafi must go!' So, suddenly out come The Big Guns: the CIA operatives magicly appear in Libya 'advising' the rebel forces. Read that as, 'These guys are so clueless the only way to keep them alive is knock some sense into them and show them how to win.'"

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Readers Recipes: Apple Upside-Down Caramel Cake, Louises Birthday Cake

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Readers Recipes: Apple Upside-Down Caramel Cake, Louises Birthday Cake: " Upside-down cake is one of the first cakes I learned to make when I was a child. They were so easy and even smelled good as you assembled them into the iron skillet which was our pan of choice.

This apple caramel cake is unusual in that it employs canned sweet potatoes too. We love our sweet potatoes in Louisiana and eat them all year long, finding new ways to use them. This is the first I've seen used in an upside-down cake. Everyone knows that brown sugar and sweet potatoes are a natural and perfect taste combination!

The second recipe for an unusual birthday cake uses a spice cake mix and pumpkin pie filling. That makes for a dense moist cake topped by cream cheese icing - low fat cream cheese and low fat whipped topping, of course. :) To gild the lily the special cake is topped off with white chocolate bark."

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Grilling Steaks: Tips, Cooking Times, Great Sauces

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Dennys Food and Recipes: Grilling Steaks: Tips, Cooking Times, Great Sauces: "Want to learn the best tips for grilling that perfect steak? Warm weather - and a hearty pollen season - have arrived here in south Louisiana and our thoughts are already turning to grilling season. If you want to perfect your technique, learn how to make a perfect French classic sauce in the blender or brush up on your steak cooking knowledge, then read on. Oh, and no drooling allowed. :)"

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Dennys: News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food: Post Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 24 March 2011

Dennys: News Politics Comedy Science Arts & Food: Post Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 24 March 2011: "Check out news, politics, great food, funny political humor, sassy opinion, astronomy and science, great quotes, awesome photography, poetry and spiritual thoughts.

Sometimes, I think if I didn't do posts roundup on all these crazy blogs I would never realize just how much I've been writing or on what subjects as the writing moves so quickly. The news is running at a rapid rate these days with all the revolutions in the Middle East and destructive world weather.

Fortunately, we have the comedians and the chefs to perk up our spirits and tantalize our taste buds so we don't get overwhelmed with too much negativity in the news and our politics."

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Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Here's a super simple side dish that we had with dinner last night, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.

Ingredients (recipe by Rachael Ray from foodnetwork.com)
2 pounds small fingerling potatoes
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling, 1 to 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper
Directions
Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Spread potatoes out on a cookie sheet. Scatter garlic over potatoes. Coat lightly with extra-virgin olive oil and season potatoes with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes. 

Ready for the oven

   

The Results...

We all loved these potatoes!  How could we not love these warm, soft, roasted potatoes with just the right amount of salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil to enhance their natural flavor.  And it only took 20 minutes to roast them!  Quick, easy and delicious!

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Comfort Food From Louisiana: Chef Emeril Lagasse Bakers Dozen: 5 Shrimp and 8 More Recipes

Comfort Food From Louisiana: Chef Emeril Lagasse Bakers Dozen: 5 Shrimp and 8 More Recipes - I own a number of his cookbooks and enjoy every one of them. He really understands when people are pressed for time to produce a good meal but don't want to skimp on freshness or full flavor. Emeril always hits the right note, especially with his famous Emeril's Essence, with his recipe provided here too.

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Florentines Cookies & Panna Cotta

florentine cookies and coquelicot panna cotta



The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

A true cookies and cream combination! Silky panna cotta, served alongside a chewy oatmeal sandwich cookie filled with rich chocolate..

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Eating my way across Europe, part II

Café Norden's Caramel Latte

As you'd expect, when you visit so many great countries, you get exposed to a lot of really great food, and this trip was no exception. I found a fabulous and super sexy resto-café in Copenhagen, called Café Norden, that serves a killer mushroom pasta with grilled chicken, or, if you're only in the need of a hot drink to warm you up, sit back in one of their

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Chicken In Sour Cream

Even though I try to plan ahead for our dinners during the week, there's still some afternoons that I'm completely stumped on what we are going to eat that evening.  It was one of those afternoons and all I knew was that I had some chicken in the refrigerator that desperately needed to be cooked.  I had no time or energy left to run to the store with my 3 yr. old before the older kids would be home from school.

Thank you internet!  I searched and found Chicken In Sour Cream on allrecipes.com.  I had all the ingredients on hand and finally had a plan for dinner that night.   

Ingredients (recipe from allrecipes.com by Lucille Cole)

8 chicken thighs

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch paprika

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried dill weed
Directions

Brown chicken in oil over medium heat. Place in a 9 x 13 inch greased baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper and paprika to taste.

Combine mushroom soup, onion soup mix, sour cream, lemon juice, and dill weed. Pour over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for one hour, or until chicken is tender and sauce is brown.

Serves 4

Chicken was browned, seasoned and the sour cream mixture was poured on top.  Then, it was into the oven.  It took 1 hour and 20 minutes in my oven to cook the chicken.

The Results...
I already had all the ingredients for this recipe and it was simple to put together, but how would my family like it?  Luckily, everyone thought this chicken was yummy from my 3 yr. old to my thirty-something hubby.  Actually, this is a picture of the last piece of chicken left.  I hurried and took a picture before giving it to my 11 yr. old son to eat (his 2nd piece).  I also served stuffed mushrooms that I had made the day before and fresh peas with dinner.  Rice, potatoes, carrots, beans, a salad, almost any side dish would be delicious with this chicken.  If you're stumped on what to make for dinner, maybe this recipe can help you, too?  We've added it to our list of Family Favorites.

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The Healing Waters: Parenting Magazine: How To Unspoil Your Kids

The Healing Waters: Parenting Magazine: How To Unspoil Your Kids Need help with your No Manners Munchkin or Bedtime Beast? Parenting Magazine's Ana Connery and psychiatrist Gail Saltz are here to share tips to help your parenting formula be more successful.

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Citrus Cream Smoothie

It's Friday, but we're in no rush this morning to get ready for school.  There aren't any lunches to pack, shoes to find or messy hair to brush.  It's almost 9:30am and we're all still in our PJ's.  The kiddos have the day off (parent/teacher conferences).  Since there's no rush, I thought it would be nice to try a new smoothie recipe this morning.  I saw Giada De Laurentiis make this smoothie yesterday on her show.  I love oranges and bananas together and wanted to see how they would come together in this smoothie.

Ingredients (recipe from foodnetwork.com by Giada De Laurentiis)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups plain Greek yogurt
1 1/4 cups orange juice
2 medium bananas, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons grated orange zest (from 1 large orange)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup ice
Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes.

Pour the cooled syrup into a blender. Add the yogurt, orange juice, bananas, orange zest, vanilla extract, and ice. Blend until the mixture is smooth. Pour into glasses and serve. 

The most time consuming part is making the simple syrup and letting it cool.  This takes about 25 minutes.  In the future, I would make the simple syrup ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator to have it ready when needed.  This would save a lot of time in the morning.  Since I had a BIG bag of oranges, I made freshly squeezed orange juice to use in this recipe.  Of course it would also be faster if I had used already prepared OJ. 

The Results...
2 out of 3 kids at our house liked this smoothie.  My son didn't like it.  He prefers thicker, richer smoothies.  My kids usually aren't big breakfast eaters.  I liked that this smoothie has some protein and vitamins packed inside to get them going in the morning.  Overall, I liked this smoothie.  I thought it was very refreshing and had a nice creamy texture.  But, I thought the orange zest was a little overpowering.  Next time, I would significantly reduce the amount of zest and see if that helps.  Citrus Cream Smoothie was still a delicious start to our "day off."

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Dennys Art Sanctuary: 38 Creative March Desktop Wallpapers

Dennys Art Sanctuary: 38 Creative March Desktop Wallpapers: "What do we think of when we reflect upon the month of March? We think of Winter ending, Spring coming in on the cool winds, soaking Spring rains, the trees leafing out and green weeds. There is the fun celebration of St. Patrick's Day. And there is the old adage, 'March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.' These designers took these all as their inspirations."

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