The Healing Waters: Summer Slow Cooker: Warm Chicken Pita or Lettuce Wrap

The Healing Waters: Summer Slow Cooker: Warm Chicken Pita or Lettuce Wrap: From Denny:  The beauty of slow food is you can forget about it for awhile after it gets going on the stove.  Then you are free to run a few short errands close to the house, go grocery shopping or clean around the house.

Since I'm no fan of long hours of house cleaning like it's a Saturday marathon I clean in short spurts for 10 to 15 minutes several times a day or week, depending upon how long a project takes.

I've even educated my husband how you can load the dishwasher in the amount of time it takes for commercial TV breaks to scream at you around the corner.  Fortunately, this year Congress passed a law forcing the advertisers to turn down the volume.

Chocolate Heart Nook Sleeve

Eat heart healthy, eat CHOCOLATE!

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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philospher: Curty Talks About Temptation

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philospher: Curty Talks About Temptation: From Denny:  Cat Philosophers are a special talking breed.  They are quick to share their wisdom gathered down through the ages - of nine lives.  Check out Curty's teaching about the life long struggle with temptation:





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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Friendship

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Friendship: From Denny:  Cat Philosophers are keen on reminding us about the importance of quality friendships and developing loyalty among our friends: toward us and each other.  Curty also expounds upon the true origins of our best and most loyal friends.




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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Inner Peace

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Inner Peace: From Denny:  Some of us are just blessed at home with a free philosopher to guide our way in Life!  Cat Philosopher, Curty Cartier, is just the man on the job to help souls as they journey through Life.  Check out his wisdom about the subject of attaining Inner Peace:






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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Teaches About Love

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Teaches About Love: From Denny:  Who better to teach us about Love than our pets?  They say so much without using words.  Instead they use the language of the heart.  Check out what Cat Philosopher Curty Cartier has to say on the subject of Love today:





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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Seizing Opportunity

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Talks About Seizing Opportunity: From Denny:  Cat Philosophers are very wise.  They understand the vision of living in the present and seizing the day.  You see, success comes to he who waits patiently for the situation to turn to his advantage while his goal is in sight.

Take note that Curty also believes in secondary fall back positions:  When the food you want escapes, enjoy the food available.




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Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Teaches Success and Happiness

Curty photo by denny lyon

Dennys Funny Quotes: Cat Philosopher: Curty Teaches Success and Happiness: From Denny:  Sometimes, a Cat Philosophy has to remind humans of the difference between success and happiness.  Curty's insightful wisdom never ceases to amaze us.  Take time and ponder the wonder of it all.




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Easy Summer Dessert: Grilled Pound Cake, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Pineapple

From Denny:  This is too easy.  You can grill this entire dessert indoors on a grill pan.  All you do is grill the fresh pineapple until it caramelizes nicely and gets those all important status grill marks.

Brush both sides of the prepared pound cake with butter.  We use clarified butter at our house because it helps your heart by skimming off the artery clogging milk solids and the resulting clear golden oil can also can be used at a higher heat.

Grill the buttered pound cake.  Top with vanilla ice cream and top with your favorite yummy chocolate sauce.  Summer is so easy with winning easy recipes like this classic!

Easy Dessert: Banana Nut Pound Cake Pudding

Photo by Family Features

From Denny:  Yet another tasty version of a bread pudding, only this time a prepared and toasted pound cake is used in place of the bread.

This recipe uses candied pecans.  If you can't find them, try roasting your raw pecans in a baking dish at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes - with a little butter like a tablespoon for one-half cup of pecans -  until lightly browned.

After roasting, lightly salt the pecans and add a tablespoon of brown sugar while still hot.  It will melt into the pecans so toss well to coat.  That will get the toasted and sweet taste of commercially prepared candied pecans.  You can make your own roasted candied pecans which are far fresher - and minus all those additive ingredients that seem to alter the full flavor of the nuts.

The beauty of the heavenly mixture of cream and eggs creating a custard for anything immersed in it is a winning combination since baking began.  It's the foundation of many good breakfast casseroles or sweet pudding desserts.

You only require two bananas for this recipe so it is a good choice for what to do with those last remaining bananas sitting on your kitchen counter.  And those broken eggs sitting in the fridge?  This is another way to dispose of those cracked eggs safely - in a baked dish.  I never use cracked eggs for fried or scrambled eggs as those versions of eggs are usually not thoroughly cooked.  Place them in a baked dish like this one and enjoy!

Fast and Easy Dessert: Pound Cake S'mores

Photo from Family Features

From Denny:  Want something fast and easy to serve for a family dessert or unexpected guests that drop by for a visit?  This is a simple one from Sara Lee.  It involves a prepared pound cake of your choice.

FYI, pound cake, even one made from scratch, freezes well so it's easy to have on hand for a last minute dessert.  When I make a pound cake I slice it when cooled and then freeze the slices separately so I'm ready to go for whatever portions are needed.

For the lovely melted gooeyness of the S'mores genre, add some miniature chocolate chips of your choice.  We like the dark 60 percent Ghiradelli chips at our house because it has less sugar and a far superior chocolate taste.

Then add some miniature marshmallows.  I'm not a marshmallow gourmet so you are on your own for a great brand on this one. :)

This recipe calls for chopped peanuts but you can substitute walnuts, pecans, almonds or macadamias to enjoy just as much.  Since we live in Louisiana we prefer the local fresh pecans found at the farmers' markets.  I'm of the opinion that for great taste pecans - or walnuts - and chocolate pair better than peanuts and chocolate.  And you don't have to be concerned about who might have peanut allergies so everyone can enjoy this easy dessert!