There is a restaurant along 30A (a beautiful scenic highway that runs right along the Gulf) that hosts trivia every Friday night. Tables compete against each other, so it gets really crazy. Each person at the winning table is entered to win a trip to Vegas to be given away at the end of the summer. I’ll let you know if I win.

Jessica, Laura and Damon were on our team.

Jessica is one of my best friends…she was in our wedding. Isn’t she gorgeous??

Before the competition really heated up, Jessica, the Duke and I split some fried pickles.

These bad boys were perfectly seasoned, but pretty greasy. I could only handle a few, since they main course was a good ‘n healthy PIZZA!

The Duke got pepperoni on his half, while Jess and I split the veggie side (which only consisted of green peppers, olives and mushrooms).

After three rounds of trivia, we were the top team. We sent Jess and the Duke up to go head-to-head with another team. There were a few tense moments with some serious questions (i.e. Who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird?)

We won!! Way to go, Jess and Duke!

After the competition, we headed back to Laura and Damon’s for games. We played a few rounds of Scattergories before breaking to make S’mores. Laura has a nice gas range, so we roasted marshmallows right there on the cook top. Genius!

It was such a fun night! It’s time to hit the books hard today. Only three more weeks of my LAST classes for teacher certification. Woohoo! Lots to do between now and then, though. Have a great weekend.

The Duchess

I know it’s early Spring, but I decided to throw together a pizza that pays homage to some of the great flavors of summertime. I used fresh summer squash, sweet onions and pulled pork. It was really easy to prepare (granted, I had leftover BBQ pork on hand) and definitely hit the spot! Even with the wholesome ingredients, this pie is pretty rich.

You don’t even need to cook the squash before assembling the pizza…just pile ‘em on. You could put the onions on raw, too, but I despise raw onions, so I sauteed mine first.

You could certainly use chicken or even tofu in place of the pork and it would taste great. I’m not gonna lie, though. Pulled pork is oh, so good.

This pie is the perfect balance of sweet and savory. I think you’re going to totally dig it. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Talk soon!The Duchess

This past week I was doing the nanny thing. These two little guys are really picky eaters, so their dad has asked me to attempt to get them to try new foods. I thought of doing a pepperoni pizza muffin. All kids love pizza, right? And don’t most kids like muffins?

I found this whole wheat all-purpose baking mix and I was stoked!

It’s the same concept as Bisquick, but much better for you because of the whole grains. I prepped it for muffins, and stirred in Italian seasoning, turkey pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Here they are ready to go into the oven.

The whole house smelled like hot and bubbly pizza while these little cuties were baking.

My super picky guys did not want to eat these, but I tasted them and thought they were awesome! Some kids don’t like pepperoni, so you could easily omit that and add more cheese. Either way, I thought these were delicious, especially dipped in marinara sauce.

My favorite pizza topping is sausage, and I know these muffins would also be delicious with crumbled Italian sausage.

You should definitely try to find this whole wheat all-purpose baking mix. The mix, along with the skim milk and turkey pepperoni make these muffins a fairly healthy snack. I had two of the muffins with a big green salad for dinner last night and was totally satisfied.

Well, I’m off to hang with the boys and start our Spring Break right. Have a great Friday!! The Duchess

After indulging in a Belgian waffle feast, we went to church and then just lounged the rest of the day. We laid pretty low and watched the Olympics most of the day. Since we had such a heavy breakfast, and pizza was on the menu for dinner, we did manage to go on a quick 2-mile jog. The weather was gorgeous yesterday (about 50 degrees and sunny!), so it made for a great run.

I used the trusty bread machine to make whole wheat pizza dough. I know that making pizza dough isn’t rocket science, but I love just throwing all of my ingredients into the machine and letting it works its magic.

After two hours in the bread machine, the dough still needs a few minutes of “resting.” While we waited patiently on the little dough ball, the Duke and I sipped on some red wine…it’s a holiday, after all! Please forgive the embarrassingly dirty wine glasses! I didn’t notice all of the finger prints and water spots. Gross.

I promise we don’t live in filth. Really. I promise.

After the dough rested a bit, we topped it with all of our favorites: sauteed onions, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, turkey pepperoni and LOADS of mozzarella cheese.

I also love olives and mushrooms on my pizza, but the Duke doesn’t, so I went with out. Love is all about compromise, right people??

The whole wheat pizza dough was incredibly hearty and tasty. Not only is it better for you than white crust, but I think it also tastes better. It’s a win-win!

I had a big and delicious slice with a green salad on the side. I love a cold and crisp salad alongside my pizza. It always hits the spot! I could have easily had another slice, but I wanted to save room for this bad boy:

I wanted to create a sweet and sinful dessert for Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t want to bake an entire cake for the two of us. I figured making an individual dessert would be cute and wouldn’t leave any leftovers (I certainly don’t need extra sweets lying around).

I make cookie cups out of heath cookie dough. I pressed about 2 tablespoons of refrigerated dough per person into a large muffin tin. Even though the dough puffs up when it bakes, it still created a “cup” that beckoned for toppings. To complement the toffee cookie dough, I sprinkled some crushed Skor bar onto the cup, the topped it with a big scoop of chocolate ice cream, sugar-free caramel ice cream topping (always keeping it healthy, folks ) and some more crushed Skor bar!!!!

Oh, baby, these cookie cups were out of control! So rich, so sweet, so delicious. The Duke gobbled his right up and even ate the last few bites of mine. I’ll definitely keep this easy creation in my repertoire for the future. The best part is, no tempting leftovers around the house.

Well, another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. I know the Duke and I truly enjoyed our day and spent some well-needed quality time together. I hope you had a great day with your loved ones, also. Have a great day! See you soon. The Duchess

We spent the evening at my parents’ house and had a big ole Cajun feast lined up. My mom lived in New Orleans for a little while in her 20s, so she learned a lot about the unique and flavorful cooking of the Crescent City. We started some Zapps Voodoo Gumbo Potato chips.

Zapps are the best potato chips ever! They’re from Louisiana and come in awesome flavors. The Voodoo Gumbo chips are very spicy with lots of vinegar. Plus, the bag is decorated with crazy voodoo dolls. Gotta love it!

As if greasy potato chips weren’t enough, we also nibbled on my Muffaletta Pizza Squares. Have you ever had a muffaletta? It’s a huge deli sandwich that is a staple in New Orleans. The sandwich is made on a 10-inch muffaletta roll, then topped with spicy olive salad and layers upon layers of mortadella, ham, salami, mozzarella and provolone cheese. YUM. You definitely have to be a fan of olives to enjoy this sandwich. Thankfully, I love olives and I’ve always loved a good muffaletta.

I did an easy spin off of the classic sandwich for game time appetizer. I topped a store-bought refrigerated pizza crust with my own version of olive salad, salami, ham, provolone and mozzarella. Here’s the easy pie before going into the oven.

Mmmm…I just love that salami peeking out from behind the mountain of cheese. After a quick 18 minutes in the oven, the result was a bubbling hot tasty treat.

Don’t you just want to dig in?? The olive salad is my favorite part.

My dad played the role of bartender and was serving up a classic New Orleans sazerac for everyone to enjoy. It’s one of the oldest known cocktails and is made of rye whiskey, absinthe and bitters. I’m not the hugest whiskey fan, but I sipped on one all night, in honor of the Saints.

Along with the chips, pizza and booze, my mom grilled up some smoked pork and alligator sausage. Nothing says Cajun Coonass like alligator. It’s delicious! I promise.

To be honest, I wasn’t too full at this point. I really only nibbled on all of the aforementioned delicacies, in anticipation of the main event: Mom’s Crawfish Etouffee. Oh yum. It’s a wonderfully spicy and creamy dish with crawfish, onions and peppers, served over rice with lots of Tobasco and garlic bread.

I garnished my small bowl with a ton of chopped cilantro. I couldn’t even finish my minimal portion. I was getting pretty full, but knew I wanted to save some room for King Cake. I can’t tell you the last time I had it (always trying to watch the weight, ya know), but I figured the Saints don’t come to the Super Bowl everyday, so it was worth indulging!

If you’ve never had king cake, I feel sorry for you. It’s a traditional Mardi Gras pastry that tastes like an over-sized breakfast danish. It is iced and decorated with purple, green and gold sprinkles. My mom put it in a low oven for just a few minutes to really let it get ooey and gooey. Good Lord. I could have died. This stuff is good, folks.

Each King Cake is stuffed with a tiny plastic baby. The story goes that if you get the baby in your piece of cake, you’re supposed to bring the cake next year. Guess who got the baby??

Yours truly!! Guess I’ll be bringing the cake to next year’s festivities. Maybe that means the Saints will be back for a second Super Bowl??? Guess I better not press my luck.

I hope you all had a wonderful Super Bowl with great friends and lots of fantastic foods. I’ll be back this week (after lots of cardio) with some scrumptious Valentine’s goodies. I can’t believe it’s nearly February 14th! And with that, I’ll leave you with a good ole fashioned WHO DAT? WHO DAT? WHO DAT SAY THEY GONNA BEAT THEM SAINTS??? The Duchess

Well, here are some veggies for you. For My Girl, Paula! this week, we could pick any Paula recipe we wanted. I’ve been eyeing this pizza of hers for years now. From the first glance I knew it consisted of caramelized onions and roasted eggplant, but I never could have imagined the bacon, roasted red peppers and goat cheese that were hiding below the melted mozzarella cheese. This is the best pizza I have ever tasted! It’s a bit time consuming (waiting for the dough to rise, roasting the eggplant, caramelizing the onions…), but it’s so worth it. I caramelized my onions in the bacon drippings and it made my life complete. It also made my pants fit a bit tighter, but that’s neither here nor there.

You have got to try this pizza soon. It is worth every step, trust me. Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you back Thursday. Don’t forget to follow my blog, please and thank you.The Duchess