Lori Devoti's Blog, page 7
February 23, 2017
Recipe: Crockpot Vegetarian Curry…
Generic curry pic. Don’t worry if yours doesn’t look exactly like this.
I’m a big fan of the Crockpot. I rediscovered it last year. It is the perfect cooking companion for a writer on deadline. I’ve found you can sear a chicken breast, throw it in the Crockpot, top it off with a few other things and Volia! dinner delish. :)
CrockPot Curry
Yogurt Sauce
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (doesn’t have to be Greek, but I like it)
Dry cilantro (I like a lot, probably 2 tablespoons, use your judgement)
1 1/2 tsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, chopped
Dash salt
Dash black pepper
Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and put in the fridge for later.
Curry
2 tsp oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups peeled and cubed eggplant
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 med red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup sliced baby carrots
1 can chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups fresh baby spinach, without stems
(Couscous or rice to serve over)
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I’m not sure how you would change this for the new Instant Pots. I don’t have one… but I’d like to… (from Amazon)
Heat oil in a fry pan over med heat. Cook onions until translucent. Add garlic and stir until soft. Stir in curry, turmeric, cinnamon and cayenne. Cook about a minute longer.
Spray your Crockpot (inside) with Pam. Add onion/garlic mixture and everything else except spinach, sauce and rice/couscous. Cover and cook on low 5 to 6 hours.
Stir spinach in 5 to 10 minutes before time to serve–you just want it to wilt a little. Cover it back up until ready to eat. Then serve over couscous/rice and top with the yogurt sauce.
It is yummy. I also like it as a side with Amy’s Burritos (which I adore) and salsa.
February 17, 2017
Recipe: Baked Buffalo Wings
We love Buffalo Hot Wings and they are so easy to make yourself. :) I actually made these for dinner last night.
Wings
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon salt (optional, if you use salted butter in sauce)
2.5 LBs chicken wings, thawed
Buffalo Sauce
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup hot sauce (We like Frank’s and feel free to go with more hot sauce depending on your fire tolerance)
Pat the wings dry with paper towels and set aside.
Mix flour, pepper and salt in a gallon size plastic bag. Add the wings and shake to coat.
Throw the bag in the refrigerator for an hour or so and go read your favorite paranormal romance or urban fantasy novel. Oh, turn on the oven before you go… to 425 degrees, so preheated and ready.
Come back…. and line a large baking sheet with nonstick foil or parchment paper.
Dip wings in Buffalo Sauce and place on baking sheet or put the wings on the tray and spoon the sauce on them.
Bake for 30 minutes. Turn over and bake another 15 minutes more.
Serve!!
February 13, 2017
The Midgard Serpent, Jörmungand
I
f you’ve read Unbound, you know who Jormun is. What you may not know is that he is my twist on the famous Midgard Serpent, also known as Jörmungand (and a bunch of other names) from Norse mythology.
Jörmungand is one of Loki’s three children with the giantess Angrboda. His brother, Fenrir appears in Guardian’s Keep. His sister, Hel presides over the region of the dead (also called Hel).[image error]
According to The Prose Edda[image error] by Snorri Sturluson, Odin threw Jörmungand into the ocean that encircles Midgard (land of humans). The Midgard serpent, sometimes referred to as a dragon, grew so big that it was able to completely circle the world and grasp its own tail, creating one of many ouroboros from world mythologies. (I use the Midgard Serpent ouroboros on the 
title page of all of my Nine World stories/books.)
I don’t touch on this in Unbound, but Jörmungand’s arch-enemy is Odin’s son, Thor. Their story begins when Thor pretends to be a normal youth and encounters a giant with whom he goes fishing. The giant tries to stop at his normal fishing spot, but Thor insists on going further, even though the giant warns of encountering the Midgard Serpent. After a bit, they stop and Thor baits his hook with a giant ox head. Immediately, the Midgard Serpent takes the bait, getting the hook stuck in the roof of its mouth. The serpent is so strong that it jerks Thor against the boat. Angry, the Norse god dug in until his feet went through the boat’s hull and into the bottom of the sea. The Midgard Serpent appears, angry as well and spewing poison. Afraid, the giant cuts Thor’s line, freeing the serpent, but before the serpent can disappear, Thor throws his hammer at it. Read the full story of the Thor and the Midgard Serpent here.
The two meet again later, during Norse myth’s version of the end of times, Ragnarok. (Although Ragnarok is more aptly described as the end of a cycle, much like an ouroboros… ending only to begin a new.)
In Unbound, I made Jormun a shape-shifter with designs of becoming a god of sorts of his own.
February 10, 2017
February 2, 2017
CONTEST!! What was your first love… paranormal romance love that is.
Do you remember the first paranormal romance novel you read? Not a novel with paranormal elements and some romance, but a true paranormal romance novel like those we know and love today?
Wikipeida‘s paranormal romance page lists Jayne Ann Krentz‘s Sweet Starfire as the first futuristic romance novel to be marketed by a mainstream romance publisher. The heroine in it, Cidra, has telepathic skills or should have. She is lacking the skills of her people and is on a mission to gain them for herself. To do so, she recruits hero Teague Severance, a “delivery man,” to take her to the “rough outback of the Stanza Nine system.”
I don’t specifically remember if I read Sweet Starfire, but I suspect I did. I certainly read a ton of other books by Krentz and by her pen name, Castle. I might have to try it again to see…
Keeper of the Heart by Johanna Lindsey
My favorite SciFi romance/early paranormal romance has to be Keeper of the Heart by Johanna Lindsey, and the other books in the Ly-san-ter series. It (and the other books in the series) is, in my opinion, the best example of an alpha male romance you will ever read. Also for the time, insanely sexy. It mashed up the best of what historical romance novels of the time had to offer (the heroes and setting) and put them in an exciting no-limits world. I still have my yellowed paperback.
Today, we probably wouldn’t classify Sweet Starfire or Keeper of the Heart as paranormals, but back in the 80’s futuristic romances were a new somewhat risky genre and definitely lead to the boom of paranormal stories that followed, including vampires and werewolves.
The next hot thing in the evolution to today’s paranormal romance was time travel. If you haven’t read it, you have to try a true classic in time travel romance, Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux. My friend, Eve Silver lists it as her first paranormal romance love and I have to agree with her. It’s one of my all time favorites too.
Author Lexi Post recommends another telepathy story as her favorite first in the to-become paranormal romance genre, Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale. It features a dark hero known as the “Devil Earl” and a mind-reading heiress, Roderica Delamore who has resigned herself to a life without romance. Unfortunately, for Roderica the “Devil Earl” eludes her magic, at least so far as reading his mind goes…
Embrace the Night by Amanda Ashley
And finally, a vampire… Michele Hauf, vampire lover extraordinaire, lists Amada Ashley‘s Embrace the Night as her first love. Embrace the Night came a good decade later from the other books I’ve listed here, but it is still a classic. “Cursed by the darkness, he searches through the ages for the redeeming light, the one who can save him.” You can’t get more classic for a vampire romance than that.
So what about you? What was your first paranormal romance love? And have you read any of the classics listed here?
If not, good news, they are all available as ebooks. Check them out!
Make sure to leave your personal loves in the comments! I’m going to pick one lucky commenter and gift her/him with a $10 gift card to Amazon. Contest ends February 28, 2017 at midnight.
Wild Hunt, Nine Worlds 3
Book 3 in Nine Worlds series
Order from: Amazon |Barnes & Noble |Smashwords | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo
Book 3 of the Nine Worlds (previously Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne Unbound series)
The legendary horn of the Wild Hunt has been silent for decades. No hounds called. No souls captured. Until today.
When hellhound Venge Leidolf hears the horn’s peal, he’s compelled to follow its call. He finds himself in a ghost town bustling with angry hounds and alluring females that he can’t name. Whatever the females are, he and the other hounds find them hard to resist. Especially one.
The Valkyrie, Geysa, is determined to stop the Wild Hunt once and for all, even if it means serving as a waitress to the hellhounds she has hated since the day they and the Hunt took her mother from her. She and her family won’t rest until they have recaptured the horn, destroyed it, the Hunt, and if necessary, every last hound too.
When Valkyrie and alpha hellhound meet, old hates seem to fade… at least for a while. But the Hunt and the being
Behind The Scenes
Nine Worlds Glossary
Nine Worlds Characters
behind it is old and powerful. And his mission strong.
In the end, which will win: the Hunt or love between destined enemies?
Previous Editions:
Publisher: Silhouette Nocturne
Genre: Dark Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 2008
January 30, 2017
99 Cent Sale! Paranormal Romance, Mystery, Romantic Comedy…
I’m having a 99 cent sale right now on a number of my books.
Unbound, Book 1 Nine Worlds series
First, is Unbound, my recently re-released paranormal romance novel set in a modern world where Norse Mythology is real. Unbound is the first book in my Nine Worlds series (was Unbound series with Harlequin Nocturne.)
Love is All Need by Rae Davies
Also in the romance genre, is Love is All You Need. It was the second book I had published by a major publisher and still one of my favorites. It’s a small town romantic comedy set in my home region of the Missouri Ozarks. It really is near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons. (It’s had a few covers… so don’t let that throw you.)
Finally, book 2 in my Dusty Deals Mystery series, Cut Loose is on sale at Amazon only. The first book, Loose Screw, is FREE… so you can read the first two, for under 50 cents a piece. :)
If you missed any of these, I hope you will check them out.
January 16, 2017
Guardian’s Keep, Nine Worlds 2
Book 2 in the Nine Worlds Series
Order from: Amazon[image error]|Barnes & Noble |Smashwords | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo
Book 2 of the Nine Worlds (previously Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne Unbound series)
Kol Hildr has spent the last century protecting his portal from those who sought to steal it. A shapeshifter with the ability to change into wolf form, Kol is one of the most trusted guardians in the Nine Worlds. Neither his portal nor his heart have ever been breached. That is until he meets witch Kelly Shane.
Twin witch Kelly has a score to settle with the wolf shapeshifter and will do anything to close the gateway that he is bound to protect.
An alliance between the witch and guardian risks everything they both think they want, but neither can walk away. Not until Kol’s portal is lost and Kelly’s life is in question.
Will they give up everything to save the unlikely love they’ve found together? Or go back to what they’ve known, alone?
Romantic Times Top Pick
Behind The Scenes
Nine Worlds Glossary
Nine Worlds Characters
Publisher: Silhouette Nocturne
ISBN: 978-0373617791
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: January 2008
January 8, 2017
Bargain Books! 99 Cents or FREE Romance Novels!
Here are some 99 cent or FREE ebook romance novels for you. The links will take you to Amazon, but many should be the same price at other booksellers.
(All free or 99 cents at time of posting. Things change… check price before you buy.)
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January 4, 2017
FREEBIE Alert: Try the Nine Worlds Series now!
I’m excited to report that I got the rights back to ALL of the books/stories in my Unbound series from Harlequin/Silhouette Nocturne and am busy editing, redoing covers and getting them formatted for re-release. As part of this, I’ve renamed the series to Nine Worlds. If you’ve read the books, you will know that they are set in a modern world where Norse mythology is real. And Norse mythology revolves around the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil.
Best of all though, this gives me the opportunity to give you a story for FREE. Just click the link to go to Instafreebie and claim your copy. While you are there, I hope you will check the box to join my newsletter so I can let you know when other books in the series are available too. (Giveaway valid through January 2017.)
