Last week I wanted a fast, yet flavorful meal, and thus the Mediterranean Shrimp and Feta Tostada was born.

This dinner comes together in about 20 minutes…start to finish! I made a simple marinade for the shrimp using olive oil, red wine vinegar and other spices common in Mediterranean food. Be careful not to leave the shrimp in the marinade more than about 5 minutes. Otherwise, the acid in the vinegar will begin to “cook” the shrimp.

I was really happy with how this dish turned out. Don’t you love when a last-minute brain child is a rock star??

I keep forgetting to give an update of my aunt. Believe it or not, she is doing a million times better and is expected to make a full recovery! This is nothing short of a miracle, since she was basically out of it for two weeks. She has no recollection that I was up there in her hospital room, but that is ok. Her long-term memory is in tact.

Have a great week! P.S. Less than a month til my BIRTHDAY The Duchess

I was supposed to be blogging about a Tuscan Tuna Salad today, but I created these scrumptious little gems yesterday and just had to share.

Spinach Sliders with Marinated Veggies. Oh Yeah. Seriously. This little sandwich packs a serious punch. I passed the marinated veggie counter at the grocery store the other day and just had to scoop up some of the mushrooms, olives and feta cheese. Note-these are all foods that the Duke wouldn’t touch with a 50-foot pole. That’s perfect…more for me!

Easy peasy, right?? Sometimes the smallest and easiest things in life can be the best. And don’t you ever forget that.

Make this for your next Ladies’ Lunch and you’ll thank me profusely. Have a great weekend, friends! The Duke and I are off to see Le Grand Cirque tomorrow night with my parents. It’s like a knock off Cirque du Soleil. Should be fun.

Tata!The Duchess

I created this bright and cheery salad last summer when I was asked to cook for my friend Heather’s bridal shower. I love grape tomatoes, and knew they would pair really well with sharp feta cheese and lots of fresh parsley. This salad livens any plate up and would also be great atop some crunchy whole wheat pita chips.

Please excuse my crappy photos. I snapped these really quickly at the shower last weekend, and wasn’t exactly trying to get a perfect picture. You get the point, though.

Don’t you just love the colors? The vibrant red, creamy white and crisp green go so well together. This is a salad that you will enjoy all Spring and Summer long.

I like to make this salad on Sundays and keep it in the fridge all week. It’s a great mid-afternoon snack, or alongside a sandwich at lunch time.

Have a great Monday! I’m planning on sharing the pictures from the wedding soon. The cake was gorgeous and the food was delicious. And, of course, the bride was stunning!
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

We kicked off the celebration last night with a nice evening in. We’re both pretty wiped on Friday nights, so we usually stay home and cook. I stopped by the fish market and bought some beautiful shrimp and delicious dips. My favorite market in town has a huge selection of prepared foods (oven-ready twice baked potatoes, stuffed shrimp, etc.), so I bought the Duke’s favorite…smoked tuna dip. This stuff is so good! If you’ve never had smoked tuna, you don’t know what you’re missing.

We wet our palates with the tuna dip and a sundried tomato and feta dip (let’s face it, this was more for me than the Duke) with crackers and a glass of vino. Great way to start the evening!

I’d say I’m looking a little tired after a long week of work! Oh, well. It felt so nice to relax on the couch with my main man.

For dinner I cooked the shrimp in a spicy tomato and olive sauce and served it over couscous.

It was really delicious! The Duke and I both downed a pretty large portion. We both love shrimp, and living on the Gulf of Mexico, we’ve always got fresh shrimp at our disposal.

After a big meal and a few glasses of wine, I prepared overnight cinnamon rolls using frozen bread dough. This is really the way to go. It’s so easy. Assemble everything before bed, then throw them in the fridge to rise over night. When I let the dog out at 6 this morning, I pulled them out and left them on the counter until we got up at 8. They were perfectly risen and ready for the oven by that point!

Before breakfast, the Duke opened his gifts.

I got him French Press for coffee and a jumbo muffin tin (he just asked if we had one the other night ). He loves to make muffins, and a regular old muffin tin is just not enough to feed this man!

Now, down to business…

These cinnamon rolls were fantastic! I sprayed the bottom of my pan with cooking spray, then sprinkled some cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans on the bottom, making a deliciously chewy crust for the rolls.

Is that a beautiful site or what??? As if that wasn’t enough, I made a quick glaze with powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon and caramel ice cream topping. This really put things over the edge.

I felt kinda guilty for eating one, since I gave up sweets for Lent. I’ve been doing really well with the fast, but I figured this was breakfast, not dessert, and it’s the Duke’s birthday, after all! It was nice to have a little something sweet to hold me over until Easter.

I told the Duke (who enjoys taunting me with cookies, candy and other sweet goodness) that on Easter Sunday I’m having these cinnamon rolls for breakfast, cookie cake (with icing, of course) for lunch and a big bowl of ice cream for dinner!

I gotta run. We’re spending the Duke’s birthday doing some major house cleaning. Is that fun, or what? We’re putting the house on the market in the next couple of weeks, so this puppy needs to be shining like a diamond. Anyone interested in a 4 bedroom 3 bath house with a pool in northwest Florida??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DUKE!!!!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

I’ve been trying to whip my booty into shape lately. Incase you were wondering, testing recipes for this blog is not good for my diet. Something about pumpkin cookie puffs and smores cookies just packs on the pounds. Well, I decided to pull a fast one on you and make something healthy! I really love chickpeas, so I thought I’d mess around making a “salsa” of sorts with them. If you’ve never had chickpeas, they’re wonderful. Very creamy and filling. This is the bean they make hummus with. Since they’re found in a lot of Mediterranean cooking, I threw in feta, cucumbers and oregano to keep with that theme. This salsa is very fresh and satisfying, and the perfect addition to your next get-together.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday! The Gators have a big game against LSU tonight, so wish us luck. Go Gators!The Duchess

Onto the food. My mom gave me a beautiful two-pound pork tenderloin a few weeks ago, so I’ve been stewing over what to do with it. Wasn’t that nice of her? Pork as a present. That’s just how we roll in the Dirty South. Anyhoo, I knew I wanted to stuff it, so that’s just what I did. Sauteed some onions with rosemary, threw in some dried cranberries and feta cheese, and the rest was history. I know stuffing a tenderloin sounds scary and time-consuming, but it’s really not. Think of it as a science project. You get to butterfly the pork, stuff it with cheesy goodness, and tie it back up again. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to performing brain surgery. Sorry that I just compared cooking to surgery. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I’ll go now. But seriously, this pork’s the stuff!

Pre-Cooked Pork…I just love that pink color!

Fresh out of the oven, patiently waiting to be cut. What a nice little loin.

This pork loin will be wonderful for your holiday entertaining. You could easily double the recipe and stuff two loins for a larger crowd. Thanks for visiting, and have a wonderful day! The Duchess

As I mentioned on Monday, I had the pleasure of cooking for my friend Heather’s bridal shower last weekend. It was a whole mess of ladies having a whole mess of fun! I made a killer Mediterranean dip (very similar to tzatziki) and sinfully good baked brie bites. I adore serving baked brie at small, intimate dinner parties, but it’s not the easiest dish to share with a group. My toasty little brie bites are the perfect solution! Both of these appetizers are easy as pie and are serious crowd-pleasers. The ladies could not believe how simple everything was! Come on, I’ll show you.

The Duchess