Thirteen To Try This Thirteenth Thursday Thirteen

Boy that headline is a tongue twister!

Even if you can't say it fast 13 times, here's

13 FUN Things You Can Do On My Blog

This is my 13th Thursday Thirteen!!
Visit other Thursday 13 participants.

1. Enter a great giveaway. Five WINNERS!!
2. Read the book review of this great giveaway;
   
3. Join the Need To Knead Bread Roundup;
4. Participate in the 100 For The Sweet Tooth Meme;
5. Check out all the great recipes from July's Ice Cream Roundup;
6. Take a look at the beautiful dessert related pictures and verses from Word-Filled Wednesday;
7. Don't miss a single of my THIRTEEN Thursday 13s;
8. Look at what I did to celebrate my 100th post;
9. Try Scrumptious Sunday recipes;
10. See who earned Joy Of Desserts Awards and why;
11. Slide over to some of the awards I received (more in my sidebar ;-);
12. Become one of my Blogger Followers;
13. Leave me a comment.

Happy Thursday All!!

Life Gives Lemons; I Make More Than Lemonade

Life gave me lemons and I'm making a whole lot more than just lemonade. Lemons are so versatile and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. I'm getting started by giving you a few facts -- well it's Thursday so -- I'm giving you 13 facts, but who's counting? The good folks at Thursday Thirteen have lots of reading material with hundreds of participants.

1. Meyer lemons were discovered in 1908 by Frank Meyer.
2. They are believed to be a mix between lemons and either oranges or mandarins.
3. If you gently roll a lemon on your counter, it will give you more juice.
4. Lemons are an excellent source of ascorbic acid which prevents scurvy.
5. Use lemon juice as a flavoring to reduce the need for salt.
   
6. Lemon trees can produce fruit year round.
7. A healthy, adult tree can produce 500-600 pounds of lemons each year.
8. Lemon groves were planted in California when the 49ers were willing to pay large sums of money for lemons to prevent scurvy while working in the gold mines.
9. The high levels of Vitamin C found in lemons and other citrus fruits have been shown to prevent cancers, especially colon, stomach, mouth and larynx by neutralizing free radicals.
10. Lemons are high in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, calcium, potassium, copper, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, iron and magnesium.
11. Lemons can help in losing weight and should be used minimally if attempting to gain weight.
12. According to research presented at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the inability to identify the smell of lemons is one of the predictors of Alzheimer's disease.
13. According to that research a "ten smell odor identification system" which includes the lemon has been found to be a better predictor of the disease than the brain and memory imaging tests used as the standard.

Now here's a fun video to help wish you a Happy Thursday!
Some of the cute faces she makes remind me of Shirley Temple.

Thursday's Thirteen Delectable Desserts

Watch out! It's a drooling zone!
These desserts all come from Flickr's public files.

Did you enjoy? Don't forget to leave me a comment!
Happy Thursday to all!
For more entries be sure to visit Thursday 13.

Sundaes On Thursday

This is my 8th Edition

More participants @
Thursday Thirteen

13 Luscious Ice Cream Sundaes

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for complete details.

Goat Milk Facts For Thursday Thirteen

This is my 12th Thursday 13!

"Goat cheese ice cream in France" by Lara Ferroni in Flickr public files

1. Goat's milk is the number one consumed milk in the world (70%);
2. Goat's milk is much less popular in the United States, but steadily gaining popularity;
   
3. It is used to make cream, cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, candy, soap and other body products;
   
4. Goat milk is whiter than whole cow milk;
5. It is believed that goats were the first domesticated animal;
6. There are cave paintings of goats;
7. Goat milk has the same amount of protein, vitamins C, and D as cow milk;
8. Goat milk is high in vitamins A, B, Riboflavin.
9. Goat milk is high in minerals, calcium, potassium, magnesium, thiamin, niacin, and phosphorus.
10. Goat's milk is naturally homegenized, which means the cream remains suspended in the milk, instead of rising to the top.
11. Like human milk, goat's milk does not have the alpha S1 casein protein.
12. Many people who are lactose intolerant can digest goat's milk, in part because of this missing protein.
13. Goat's milk can be used in dessert recipes calling for milk.
    
    Click for details
    on the
    Bread Round-Up
    

Pear Facts, Pear Recipe, Pear Photographs

This is my 15th Thursday Thirteen!
Visit more participants!

While you are here,
be sure to enter my
fun cookbook giveaway!!

Pears

There are more than 3,000 known varieties of pears in the world.

How in the world do you get a pear to fit in a bottle???!!! It's a French specialty from the Alsace region -- also done with apples. Think hard and see if you can come up with the solution. (Click here to see the answer!)

Pears are members of the rose family and related to apples.


The tiny Seckel pear (pictured above) was discovered near Philadelphia in the 19th century and is believed to be the only native pear in the United States.

Warm Caramelized Pears With Clove Zabaglione Recipe. Click on the picture to enlarge recipe.
Ninety-eight percent of the U.S. pear crop is grown in California, Oregon and Washington.

A medium-size pear will contain about 210 mg. of potassium.


A medium-size pear will provide 24% of the recommended daily fiber.

Happy Thursday To All!!

Dessert banana recipe for two; more bananarama

 Don't miss my cookbook giveaway.
Click the link.
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This baked banana dessert is a fast and easy recipe for two, and just as easy doubled or tripled should you have guests.
Enjoy!

Baked bananas
2 bananas
2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel (optional)

Cut each banana in half lengthwise; place cut side down in a greased baking dish. Spread butter over bananas. Bake, uncovered for about 10 minutes at 350 F.
Combine orange juice, brown sugar and orange peel.  Pour over bananas, and bake 10 minutes longer.  2 servings.

This dessert recipe and banana post is shared with Cooking for Two Tuesday, Tuesday Tastes, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, It's A Blog Party's Delicious Dishes Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Blooming Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, REDnesday, Wordless Wednesday, Thursday Thirteen, and Vintage Thingy Thursday.

Did you know banana flowers and leaves come in many colors and sizes, depending on the variety of the plant?

Hover over photos for credits.

Can you find the UNrefrigerated banana bin inside this 1955 Kelvinator?  Hint: It's on the left - FREEZER side.

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Click the link.

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