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

Last night we threw an impromptu dinner party at our house with two other couples. We all went out together Friday night, and the idea to have them over for dinner last night just naturally came together. You all know I love to cook, but I also love entertaining. I love the feeling of a house full of great people enjoying each other’s company and wonderful food.

When everyone arrived, we munched on a yummy appetizer. It’s Praline Mustard Glaze over cream cheese with extra pecans sprinkled on top.

It’s the perfect mix of sweet, salty, sticky, creamy. It goes great with a plate of salty crackers and chips.

Here are our good friends Laura, Damon, Patrick and Laura. We have about two other friends named Laura, also. Makes things pretty easy.

For dinner I made a delicious and super easy pasta dish from Real Simple. The original recipe was Sausage, Mozzarella and Broccoli Rabe with Shells, but I used spinach and mushrooms instead of the broccoli rabe and used whole wheat egg noodles. I think my pan was a little too small, huh?

Guess I underestimated how much food I had!

Here it is, ready to go in the oven (minus mozzarella, of course).

And here it is fresh out of the oven.

Holy yum! This stuff was delicious. The whole wheat egg noodles are great- a bit lighter than other hearty whole wheat pastas.

The Duke and I were thoroughly stuffed after this meal.

While we all digested, we played a thrilling game of Catch Phrase- girls vs. guys. Girls won, of course, 4 games to 2!!! Girls rule, boys drool!

Now the Duke and I are off to enjoy this extra hour of sunlight today. We’re signed up for a photography class today. We also have a house showing, so hopefully these buyers will be interested. Ta ta for now. The Duchess

I spent today doing homework and studying for the dreaded FTCE, which is on Saturday. Check out my stack of flash cards.

Let me tell you how much fun that stuff is. Between breakfast and lunch I snacked on a handful of Annie’s Honey Bunnies, topped with a dollop of greek yogurt, half of a banana and a drizzle of honey. It was such a good snack! I’ll definitely be having this again.

After a bit more studying, I was in the mood for lunch. I had been looking forward to leftovers from last night. We ate all of the chicken tenderloins, but the brown rice, sesame cucumber relish and peanut sauce were excellent the second time around.

I ate EVERY last bite. After venturing out to the grocery store, I decided to make cookies. My dad gave me a Meyer lemon from his garden a few weeks back, and I wanted to use it up before it bit the dust. Look how yellow it is…almost a mustard yellow.

The flesh is slightly sweet, almost like a grapefruit. It was delicious!

I didn’t feel like exerting a whole lot of effort to make cookies, so I decided to make cake mix cookies. They’re so easy (I’ll share the recipe soon), and you can mix in anything you want. I used classic white cake mix and stirred in the zest and juice from my lemon, some white chocolate chips and toasted almonds and coconut. How good does this batter look??

I won’t lie…I had a small scoop of batter with some sugar-free cool whip as my afternoon snack. I just couldn’t resist. Is there anyone else out there that likes the batter even more than the baked cookies??

The finished product was equally as good (yes, I also ate a baked cookie).

I had big plans for the gym, though. Our trainer has been out of the country for a month, and we scheduled our first appointment in a long time with him tonight. I ran two miles at a speed of 6.3 before the work out. The Duke and I then endured a solid hour of dumbells and abs with Zoli, the trainer. It wasn’t all that bad, but I’m sure I won’t be able to move tomorrow. Though the Duke and I have been pretty good about cardio and strength-training while Zoli’s been gone, it felt great to have him back and get into the groove again.

Dinner was quick and simple. I picked up these beautiful whole wheat kaiser rolls at Publix while shopping.

Aren’t those puppies big?? I used half of a roll to make a veggie pizza, complete with caramelized onions, spinach, feta, marinara sauce and provolone. It was indescribably good!

I made the Duke a panini with caramelized onions, spinach, ham and provolone. We each had a huge salad on the side.

All in all, my three-day weekend was great. I’m excited to get back to reality. We’re taking the Pre-K students to a concert on Wednesday, which should be interesting. Have a great night!! The Duchess

I found these fabulous sourdough ciabatta rolls at Fresh Market and had to make a panini with them. There is nothing like a hot, pressed sandwich with gooey melted cheese oozing out! The sweet hot chile glaze (found at specialty kitchen stores) gives the panini a sticky and spicy bite! This sandwich comes together in a flash, and is very filling.