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

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 have to admit, I wasn’t the hugest fan of the movie. I don’t like scary and suspenseful movies at all, so I was nervous before the film even started. I hid behind my jacket most of the time! You didn’t know I was so brave, did you? There was a major twist at the end of the movie that kept the Duke and I thinking and talking about it. He loved the movie, but I thought it was just so-so.

Before the movies, the Duke dished up his famous quesadillas. I mean to tell ya, this man can cook a quesadilla!

He sauteed his onions and peppers with a bit of chicken broth, cumin, salt and red pepper. All of the flavors work so well together. I’ve been begging him to make them for a while, and since we had leftover chicken from last night’s dinner, it all worked out.

Alongside the ‘dillas I served a quick take on Frito Salad. I first had Frito Salad at the Duke’s mom’s house. It’s just fritos, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheese and Catalina dressing. I slimmed mine down by using Romaine lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes, shredded cheddar cheese, crushed tortilla chips, kidney beans and lite dressing.

The sweet dressing goes really well with the salty cheese and chips. My favorite part are the soggy chips covered in cheese. Gross, I know.

No Mexican date night meal can be complete without chips and salsa.

All in all, it was the perfect evening. And, with an 8:00 movie, we were back home and in bed at a decent time.

We’re off to church this morning, then we’ll be straightening up the house this afternoon. We’re going to try to make it to an open house in our neighborhood today. We love looking at houses! Have a fabulous Sunday. See you tomorrow with another tasty recipe. The Duchess

So this week in Pre-K our unit is called Bread and Butter. The students are learning about grains, varieties of bread, and the things we eat with bread. Today we turned some heavy cream…

…into butter!!

I guess it looks more like really heavy cream at this point, but oh well. The kids loved it. Instead of beating or whipping it, we put the cream into a small plastic container and let the kids take turns shaking the bajeesus out of it. It definitely got thicker, but it’s not quite butter. They got to try their creation on a cinnamon-raisin English muffin.

That hand belongs to Mrs. Barbara Brown, the teacher that I aide for. I love that woman! Plain and simple. She is an angel and has such a way with children.

So after a long and tiring day, I headed to the gym. I ran two miles at 6.2, then walked for five minutes on an incline, then cooled down. Not my best cardio day ever, but I was sore from last night’s personal training, and I felt hungry. I ate a banana and a string cheese right before, so I’m not sure why Oh, well. I’m getting up early and doing cardio before work tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a great cardio session! I usually have lots of energy in the morning.

All day I had been looking forward to the lentil soup that was simmering away in the crock pot. Remember the last time I made it? It’s the most perfectly hearty and delicious soup in the world! I had a piping hot bowl of it after the gym.

It’s really filling, so I could only eat about half of this bowl, plus my side salad and whole wheat french bread.

What a great dinner! Even the Duke loved it. He hardly eats a meal without meat, so that’s saying a lot for him.

For dessert I had a small chunk of my pink blondie (a creation I made for Valentine’s Day-I’ll fill you in with the recipe soon), with a dollop of peanut butter, sprinkle of chocolate chips and a dollop of lite cool whip.

Can you get over that pink color?? Love it! I made the blondies with whole wheat flour, and they were great. I may or may not have gone back for a few more nibbles after this bowl

Well, I’m off for the night. My early morning cardio alarm is going to be here before I know it. Sweet dreams!! The Duchess

The Duke and I were very productive today. We got up (albeit against our will) at 7:15, which allowed us to make it to “early” church. Our church has a 9:00 service and an 11:00 service. We always try to make it to the first one, so that we have the rest of the day to accomplish things. Thanks to a hyper-active maltipoo that I happen to know, we were able to attend the first service this morning.

When we got home, I made myself a lovely iced coffee with skim milk, agave nectar and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

It was the perfect pick-me-up to get me in the cleaning mood. Our house was filthy, so a deep clean was definitely called for. I tackled the kitchen, laundry and all three bathrooms while the Duke dusted, swept and mopped. I started getting hungry and made myself a taco salad-esque type of lunch. I topped Romaine lettuce with cannellini beans, carrot slices, jalapenos, feta cheese and a dollop of salsa. I had half of a wheat tortilla on the side. What a great lunch!

I got back to scrubbing toilets (joy of joys) and vacuumed the house. After the Duke and I cleaned every inch of our house, I was ready for a snack. I had apple slices with a mixture of chocolate peanut butter, Greek Yogurt and granola. Delicious!

I felt kind of tired after working like a dog all afternoon, but the Duke and I managed to make it to the gym. It was a terrible work out. Do you ever have those days? I managed to run a mile at a 6.2 speed, then did 15 minutes on the elliptical on a level 14….I couldn’t even make it through a full 30 minutes of cardio I hate those kind of days. Oh, well. For every kick ass workout that I have, I’m bound to have a crappy one every now and then.

I think my lack of energy at the gym is due to a lack of protein in my diet today and yesterday. That being said, these little guys are on the menu tonight.

As we speak, they’re marinating in soy sauce and olive oil. I plan to grill them up and serve them alongside a spicy peanut butter dipping sauce with brown rice and sesame cucumber salad. YUM!

On another note, where are the Saints tonight??? They need to pick it up if they expect to be in the Super Bowl in two weeks! Speak of the devil- as I typed that they scored a touch down. WHO DAT!!! The Duchess

I was starving for breakfast and happily cut myself a huge slice of Low Fat Whole Wheat Coffee Cake. I’ll show you the recipe tomorrow.

I toasted this bad boy and topped it with a mix of peanut and almond butter and a handful of apple chunks. It was such a great breakfast! I think I’ll have a smaller slice tomorrow, though. I didn’t need to eat such a huge portion, but just couldn’t help myself once I started.

After getting some work done on the computer, I headed out to the gym. Our personal trainer has been gone since mid-December, but we’ve been doing pretty well on our own. I kicked ass on the treadmill today. I’m planning on sharing some of my 2010 health goals with you tomorrow and will discuss my cardio regimen then. After the gym I was starving again, so I made myself a beautiful salad of baby greens, craisins, apple chips, pecan pieces, low fat feta, carrot sticks, chick peas (my favorite!!) and some dressing.

Doesn’t that look great?? I ate every last bite. So, as you all know, I decided to kick my Diet Coke addiction to the curb. It’s only been four days, but I’m doing great!! I haven’t even had any cravings for it. It’s also been the weekend, so I’m in a different routine than during the week. Hopefully I won’t have the urge to pop a top tomorrow.

I’ve been looking for some other sweet and refreshing drinks to take the place of my beloved DC. At WalMart today I noticed these Lipton Tea To Go packets (like the Crystal Lite individual packets) of white tea. You just dissolve one packet into a bottle of water. I grabbed up the Apple Craberry variety.

It was really tasty! I think I can handle it. It has some artificial sweetner in it, though, so I don’t think I’ll be drinking one every day. I also grabbed a bottle of agave nectar. I always read about people who use it to make their food sweet in a healthy and natural way.

I’m yet to try it, but I think I’ll put a squeeze into my hot tea and maybe even oatmeal and see how I like it.

Oh, I almost forgot. Tina from Carrots ‘N’ Cake has been making this healthy oatmeal cookie a lot lately. It only has 150 calories and cooks in 45 seconds in the microwave! It piqued my interest, so I made one this afternoon and had half of it with a scoop of peanut butter as my snack. I’m saving the other half for later (dessert??).

Well, the Duke and I are off my my mom’s for dinner. My aunt is in town from Colorado, so my Granny is making Chicken and Sausage Gumbo for everyone. It’s my single favorite home-cooked meal of all time!!!
The Duchess

Hey y’all! How is everyone’s week going? We’ve been busy, as usual. My birthday was yesterday, so I was mostly in La La Land all day! I ate a piece of vanilla cake and a peanut butter chocolate cup cake for lunch. If you can’t do that on your birthday, then when can you?

I’m in the process of becoming a teacher, so I’m going to be an aide this year at a charter school. Friday is going to be my last day at my current job and I start my planning week next Monday! I’m beyond excited! I’ll be with Pre-K this year. How much fun is that going to be?!? I get to hang with 18 four-year-olds every day. I’m sure I’ll have some fabulous stories to share!!!

Anyway, this week is crazy at work, so I’ve been keeping dinner fairly simple. The Duke’s mom got me an EggGenie for my birthday (this fabulous contraption that poaches and boils eggs!), so I thought I’d make a cobb salad. I had some buffalo sauce on hand, so I made a quick and creamy dressing, grilled some chicken, chopped some veggies, and threw dinner on the table in no time. If you’ve got leftover cooked chicken on hand, this meal is a great way to use it up.