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 don’t know if any of you live near a body of water that gives you access to lots of fresh shrimp, but here in Northwest Florida, we’re lucky enough to have two sources of shrimp: the Gulf of Mexico and the Choctawhatchee Bay (hopefully this oil slick won’t ruin our profitable and delicious seafood industry forever).

My mom and I actually prefer bay shrimp to gulf shrimp. They’re meatier, juicier and just all around better. Gulf shrimp are what you’ll find in every restaurant around here (and their iodine-y taste is just fine for the tourists), but bay shrimp are where it’s at! That being said, my mom brought me 15 pounds of beautiful shrimp the other day. Incase you’re wondering, that’s A LOT of shrimp! Clearly the Duke and I are weren’t going to eat it all before it went bad, so I had to freeze it.

I don’t take the heads off of my shrimp before I freeze them, but some folks do. The Duke’s mom does, so to each his own.

Since I leave the heads on, I obviously can’t freeze them in zip top bags, or the barbs would poke through. Instead, I freeze them in quart-sized plastic containers.

Fill the containers nearly to the top with shrimp.

Then COVER the shrimp with water.

Remember to leave a bit of room at the top of the container, because the water will expand slightly when it freezes. You can store the shrimp in any size container you like, just be sure to mark the contents of the container on the outside, so you’ll know what you’re pulling out of the freezer.

Don’t forget to write the date! Believe it or not, shrimp will keep in the freezer for up to four months.

Shrimp are the perfect food to have on hand in the freezer. They defrost very quickly, and cook up in a matter of minutes. Once they’re defrosted you can peel them and take the heads off before cooking. I’m so happy that our freezer is loaded down with these tasty shellfish, because I plan on cooking them up all summer long.

I hope you found this amateur tutorial helpful. Let me know if there is any other information that I can assist you with. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll just make it up!

See you soon with another tasty treat. Have a fabulous week, friends. The Duchess

I’ve been salivating over PW’s Baked Lemon Pasta for about a year now and finally broke down and made the darn dish over the weekend. All I can say is Oh, Baby. This stuff is goooooood.

This dish involves lots of lemon, parsley, sour cream, and my good friend, butter.

Since I live on the Gulf of Mexico, I decided to saute some fresh shrimp on the side. Don’t hate, but I never devein my shrimp. Living in the South, we eat everything. Not even the digestive tract of shellfish can scare us! And honestly, I think the vein adds a little somethin’ somethin’.

I followed P-Dub’s recipe exactly, but used whole wheat pasta (instead of white) and lite sour cream (instead of whole fat). Gotta keep it healthy, folks.

If that doesn’t look good, then I don’t know what does. I could have just eaten this creamy and citrus-y pasta straight out of the pan, but I was nice and decided to share some with the Duke.

I suggest you make this dish at your earliest convenience and lock yourself with it in the closet with a fork and and a loaf of garlic bread.

I secretly hope that one day the Pioneer Woman and I can be friends. We’ll do each other’s hair and stay up late talking about Taylor Lautner. Until that day, I’ll just continue to live vicariously through her mouth-watering kitchen creations. 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

For today’s My Girl, Paula! challenge, we could pick any Paula recipe we wanted. I’d been eyeing a Seafood Pot Pie recipe of hers, and my Granny’s 84th birthday dinner proved to be the perfect time to make it. This casserole is really simple and is quite the looker! It’s also fairly light for containing half and half. The phyllo on top makes such a pretty presentation. My dinner guests were definitely impressed. Another great thing about this dish is its versatility. I made it with fresh shrimp and scallops, but you could easily use crab, oysters or even chicken with the same delicious results. I recommend you make this soon! Served alongside some bubbly, this pretty pie would be perfect for your Christmas party.

I hope you have a fabulous week. I’ll see you back on Thursday with another tasty recipe. Don’t forget to Share and Save your favorite recipes!The Duchess

I created this recipe for Sutter Home’s “Build a Better Burger” Recipe Contest. Growing up in the coastal South, most of our gatherings revolved around low country boils. Friends and family would come together in the back yard and feast on piles of freshly boiled shrimp, smoked sausage, corn, potatoes, cole slaw and hushpuppies. These are classic Southern flavors that blend quite well in a hand-held sandwich. Just like a true low country boil, these burgers can be a bit messy, so lay down the newspaper, grab a stack of napkins, and dig right in!