The 4th of July is easily one of my favorite holidays of the year. Nothing beats family, friends and food in the summer heat (and here in FL, most of the activities revolved around or in the water). Here’s a brief recap of our weekend:

We starting things off on Thursday night by having dinner with our friends Natalie and Kevin at their house.

They made an impressive spread of grilled beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes and roasted asparagus for us.

Check out this awesome clock Natalie and Kevin have in their kitchen. Their last name is Schmidt, so they made this clock on the wall!! I’m obsessed.

Friday night we had a bunch of folks over for a shrimp boil, but I didn’t really take many pictures. I need to get better at documenting events at our house. I guess I get overwhelmed with all of the cooking and entertaining.

Saturday we loaded up the dogs and headed over to the Duke’s Grandpa’s house (on the bayou) for a backyard BBQ.

Can you believe how much Pearl has grown in one week?

The Duke was feeling quite patriotic.

We spent Independence Day on the beach, running in and out of the pavilion, trying to dodge the rain. Let’s just say we got soaked! After coming home to dry off and freshen up, we headed down to Destin Harbor to catch the fireworks from my father-in-law’s big charter boat.

The boat was rocking pretty bad in the harbor…we nearly fell over!

In true family get-together fashion, there was tons of food. I made a fabulous corn pudding and roasted veggies. I loaded up my plate with a bit of everything…including fried chicken.

The fireworks display was amazing…it started pouring just in time for the grande finale, though.

Looks like someone is worn out from the weekend’s festivities:

Hope you all have a great Monday! See you soon. The Duchess

We visited Betty Owen’s twins’ school for their 8th grade awards ceremony.

Shout out to Ben…he wanted to be on the blog!

And sweet Sarah, too.

Uncle Bill cooked Indian food…a family favorite!

Mom and I were able to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, along with our friend Margaret (it was Margaret’s first time in NYC).

No trip to Manhattan is complete without lots of great food. We found an awesome (and inexpensive) Thai restaurant in SoHo, then of course ended the day with sweets.

And finally, I towed a Crumbs cupcake (caramel apple…to die for) all the way home to Florida for the Duke to enjoy. Am I the best wife or what?

These pictures took forever to upload! I hope you enjoy. And if you’re the praying kind, please send up a few for my aunt. She needs a miracle to recover…doctors don’t know what’s going on, but are saying her brain is basically “asleep.”

Enjoy your week, and thanks for stopping by.
The Duchess

Since I had extra time on my hands this weekend, I made quite a few recipes for the blog. Figured I’d get ahead while I could, ya know? I’d been craving Chicken Parmesan for who knows how long, but I wanted to do a different spin on it. I ended up ditching the fattening bread crumbs and oil, and turned the whole dish inside out!

The result? A deliciously simple and light dish!

Start by butterflying your chicken breast and lightly browning on both sides…

Then spread each breast with a couple tablespoons of marinara sauce.

Add a slice of mozzarella

Lots of fresh basil…

Fold the breast over, secure with a toothpick and stick in the oven.

After baking for 25 minutes at 375, you’ve got a beautifully cooked chicken breast filled with familiar Chicken Parmesan flavors. YUM!

Ok, so that entire recipe called for FOUR ingredients…I think you can handle it.

I served myself half a chicken roll up and it made for the perfect dinner portion. And the best part is I now have leftovers for lunch today.

Have a great Tuesday. See you soon with a mouth-watering tuna salad…much different than what you’re used to!
The Duchess

Since this has been a crazy week from hell, dinner has been really simple (AKA cereal most nights). I had a spark of energy the other night, though, and decided to use up some chicken and other ingredients from the fridge. You know the Duke and I love Mexican food, so I threw together a Chicken Fajita Hoagie.

Talk about simple. This dinner came together in about 20 minutes. I’m talking start to finish here, folks. I did have a cooked chicken breast on hand, which simplified the situation. The crusty bread was a delicious departure from a tortilla for the fajita flavors.

I mixed 1/2 cup light sour cream with the juice of 1 lime, 1 tbsp. green salsa, a pinch of garlic salt and a handful of chopped cilantro for quick dipping sauce. The sauce was delicious! The Duke and I dipped a few too many tortilla chips in it.

Alright friends. Tomorrow is officially moving day. It’s strange that tonight is the last time I’ll be sleeping in this house. The Duke and I adore this house, but we’re excited to see what the future holds.

Have a great weekend! The Duchess

When it comes to classic dishes like chicken, tuna and egg salads, I don’t like mine to be soaking in mayo. I’m really not fond of the white fatty sandwich spread, so I like to find alternatives when making chicken salad. I used a tiny bit of mayo and some lite sour cream, and it turned out great!

The toasted almond slivers really complement the bold flavor of the curry powder. I just love the added crunch, too. Since I made this salad for a shower I served it in cute little phyllo cups, but you could serve it over lettuce or as a sandwich on toasted bread.

This salad was a huge hit at the shower! It’s so incredibly easy (and packed with flavor) that you could make it any night of the week, and munch on it all week long. It’s perfect for a day on the boat or a fun Spring picnic.

The Duke and I are off to a Ashley’s wedding tonight. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s supposed to rain on her big day, but isn’t that supposed to be good luck?? Have a great weekend

The Duchess

The shower was at 2 in the afternoon, so we didn’t need a full meal. Instead, I made a bunch of cute finger foods, starting with cucumber sandwiches.

Nothing fancy here, but Ashley (the bride) was adamant about these classic finger sandwiches. I also made pimento cheese sandwiches, using my Granny Flash’s recipe, which calls for crumbled bacon. YUM!

The secret to really good pimento cheese is EXTRA sharp cheddar and lots of cracked black pepper. To brighten up the color palate, I made an awesome and super easy grape tomato and feta salad.

I made this salad for a different shower back in August. It’s light, fresh and quite the crowd pleaser. To keep things fun, I filled some tiny phyllo cups with curried chicken salad (another request of the bride).

These flavorful cups turned out really cute! And since curry is such a strong flavor, this was the perfect amount. Lastly, I made a beautiful fruit salsa, loosely based on this recipe from Our Best Bites.

We all took our plates outside and dined in the garden. The weather was just perfect!

I worked up quite the appetite while prepping for the shower, so I pretty much filled my plate.

I was busy refilling mimosas while everyone ate, so I didn’t even eat the whole plate. On the bright side, check out our precious place settings, which doubled as favors.

I just loved them!

I snapped a quick picture of Ashley (on the left) with her sister, and my dear friend, Elizabeth.

Aren’t they beautiful? They’ve got Greek blood in them, and you know how gorgeous people from the Mediterranean are.

After lunch, we munched on some white chocolate and lemon cookies while Ashley opened gifts.

I also made frozen banana pops from Picky Palate, but failed to take a picture. The ladies loved them, though. I mean, how can you not like bananas, peanut butter and CHOCOLATE???

Ashley was showered with plenty of wonderful kitchen gadgets.

I gave her that picnic basket with a “C” on it. How cute is that??

Cooking for the shower was tons of fun and I can’t wait to do it again. I guess that means the rest of my friends need to find men and get engaged quick! The Duchess

Anyhoo, I thought I’d share this super simple and delicious weeknight meal with you. I’ve been on a huge zucchini kick lately. I seriously can’t get enough. I decided to stuff one of the green veggies with a creamy Mexican stuffing of chicken, black beans, Rotel, and, of course, CHEESE!!!

I was really impressed with this dish. And, when you’ve got cooked chicken on hand, it all comes together really quick. You start by scooping out the flesh of the zucchini.

You could chop up the zucchini flesh and add it to the stuffing, but I didn’t. You could also add the leftover zucchini meat to a batch of scrumptious zucchini bread.

I had to stop myself from eating the stuffing before these little boats went into the oven. I mean, how can you not like sour cream, chicken and cumin??

Yum, yum, yum. I think even your picky, non-veggie eating kids will enjoy this dish.

I hope you have a great week! I’ll see you real soon with a recap of a bridal shower I catered over the weekend. It was tons of fun.
The Duchess

Oh, boy, do I ever have a fabulous soup recipe for you today! I know most people think of soup in the fall and winter when there’s a nip in the air, but the Duke LOVES soup. He could eat it every day. That being said, I like to play around with soups every now and then. This is one of our all-time favorites. It’s a chunky white bean and chicken soup that I found in Cooking Light over a year ago.

You know how much I love Mexican flavors, so I was all over this recipe from the first time I saw it. It’s thick, its spicy, it’s satisfying, and it couldn’t be any easier! This is the perfect way to use up any leftover chicken that you may have on hand. The soup calls for a whopping SIX ingredients. I think you can handle it!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this soup. I’ve even taken it to friends with newborns or when friends move. Who doesn’t love a hot meal delivered to their front door? Bake up a few corn muffins for the side and you’ll be cooking with gas.

You can also use a bit less broth than the recipe calls for and fill tortillas with the chicken mixture for a delicious spin on burritos.

Have a great week! I’m subbing today, tomorrow and Wednesday in Pre-K. Wish me luck with the little rascals. The Duchess

Like yesterday, for instance. I pulled out the mini slow cooker, dumped two chicken breasts in with a cup of chicken broth and almost an entire packet of chili seasoning. I set the pot of poultry on low for 3.5 hours and out came perfectly cooked and moist chicken.

Now, these may not be the most beautiful breasts that ever were, but this method is perfect for cooking chicken for salads, casseroles and soups. And soup is exactly what I intended to use my chicken for.

Jenny at Picky Palate posted a copycat version of Chili’s new Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup the other day and I immediately started salivating. I new the spicy and lime-y broth that she spoke of would be right up my alley. My favorite restaurant in Destin is a little Mexican joint called LaPaz. They make a killer Tortilla Chicken Soup which is very similar to Jenny’s recipe. I knew I had to try it ASAP.

The original recipe made a boatload of soup, so I only used half of the chicken, garlic, broth and rice called for, but kept the original amount of onions, Rotel, green chilies, lime juice and seasonings. Holy Cow!! This soup was incredible, and thanks to my CrockPot chicken, it came together in about 15 minutes.

Most slow cooker chicken recipes say to cook breasts on low for 4-6 hours. I say that’s a load of rubbish. Without a bone or skin, the chicken can easily dry out. I cook mine with the broth and seasonings for 3-4 hours max. Especially if I know it’s going to get heated again, like this chicken did in the soup.

I seriously can’t get over how good this soup is or how much I love the baby CrockPot. If you’re a vegetarian, this soup would be great sans chicken. My best friend, Jessica, always orders LaPaz’s soup without chicken and she loves it. Shrimp would also be great!

I’ll leave you with a picture of my precious baby Ruby. I mean, could you ever get tired of seeing that sweet face??

This was taken after I got back from the gym last night, so excuse the rough appearance.

Tata!! The Duchess

Friday night I rummaged through the fridge for dinner and ended up throwing together something really great! Don’t you love it when that happens? Feeling totally uninspired, I grabbed this and that and created a masterpiece. OK, maybe that was an exaggeration, but this couscous and chicken toss was the perfect easy meal after a long week.

We ate this salad warm (the chicken and couscous were warm), but I had it cold for lunch the next day, and it may have been even better! With Spring right around the corner, this salad will make a great dish for an outdoor ladies’ (and/or gentlemen’s) lunch.

I can’t get over the ease of preparing this meal. Even though this is a fairly light and “girly” meal, the Duke also really enjoyed it. The buttered wheat roll that I served on the side probably didn’t hurt either.

Have a fantastic Monday and enjoy your week! The Duke’s birthday is Saturday, so I imagine I’ll be making some fun treats throughout the week. Ta ta for now! The Duchess