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

So, have you tried Israeli Couscous yet? My mom introduced it to me a few years ago and I just can’t get enough of it! It’s larger than the couscous you’re used to, and has a texture similar to pasta. It makes a great side dish, but can be a fabulous main course, also.

I had some zucchini, onions, shallots and yellow peppers that needed to be used, so I roasted the bad boys up in a hot oven.

If you’re anything like me, a big bowl of flavorful veggies is a heavenly site. I would have gladly eaten the couscous and veggies alone, but the Duke doesn’t think it’s a meal if it doesn’t have meat. To keep my man happy, I browned up some Italian turkey sausage and tossed it all together.

This is a quick weeknight meal that is packed with flavor. I actually roasted my veggies on Sunday afternoon, and kept them in the fridge until I was ready for dinner on Monday night. It worked out great. Any time-saving tips for my busy week are really helpful!The Duchess

This is my mom’s Thanksgiving table. I thought it looked very nice. How cute are her veggie flower vases??

My Uncle Bill (mom’s oldest brother) made two gorgeous Challah loaves. These were fresh out of the oven, and I could not believe how beautiful they were. Of course I had to snap a picture. They were perfect for sopping up Granny Flash’s gravy.

Speaking of gravy, I know this isn’t a great picture, but look at all of our gravy! My dad loves Granny’s gravy and requested lots…so that’s what he got! The only container it would fit in was a punch bowl…and we wonder why we’re a chunky family.

Granny’s turkey is also fabulous. She lathers it with tons of butter and herbs and bakes it off. Simple and oh, so good.

My favorite foods at Thanksgiving have always been Granny’s Cornbread Dressing (background) and simple White Rice and Gravy. We live in the South and do more of a traditional Southern Thanksgiving. No mashed potatoes or stuffing in this house. No way. There is nothing better than Granny’s cornbread dressing. It is to die for, especially with a ladle of gravy on top. I mean, I imagine it would be. It’s not like I’ve actually tried that before.

Here’s a close up of that famous gravy…boiled eggs, giblets and all. That’s right. I said giblets. You know you wanna try.

We don’t do the traditional pumpkin, sweet potato or pecan pies. I made Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake (I’m sharing the recipe Monday). Forgive the poor quality of this picture. I think the Turkey coma was slowing taking over. This cake was so incredibly rich and delicious, so of course the only thing to do was top it with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our family’s favorite Thanksgiving foods. I just love when everyone gathers under one roof and counts their blessings together. Even though this has been a tough year for many, we’ve still got plenty to be thankful for. Here’s to many more Happy and Healthy Thanksgivings from my family to yours!

The Duchess

The leftovers of this dish might even be better than the first time around. Have a great first week of November! See you again Thursday. And, how ’bout them Gators?!? That was a good ole fashioned butt whoopin’, if I do say so myself!The Duchess

The highlight of my week by far was completing and mailing in my application for the Next Food Network Star! Am I crazy or what? I am certainly no where near being a trained chef, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to send in the application. I guess we’ll see what happens from here, huh? All I had to do was answer about a million questions, film a 3-minute video and send in some pictures of myself. I hope the package at least makes it to the appropriate person…I’ll keep you all posted on the process, but I don’t really expect to be called back. I mean, unless they’re looking for a sweet Southern girl who can make a fine cookie. A girl can dream, though, right?? Wish me luck!!!

Now, down to business. I made a kick-butt Turkey Reuben on Monday night. The Duke and I looooooooove Reubens, but the original deli version is quite fattening. I slimmed it down by using turkey and creating my own Russian/Thousand Island -type dressing. The whole sandwich came together in about 7 minutes, and it was de-lish! I highly recommend you try it. If you are a Reuben snob, go on and use the corned beef, but I guarantee you won’t be disappointed with my version!

Well, I’m off for another fabulous day of school. Hope you enjoy these sandwiches soon. I’ll be back Saturday with some tailgating recipes…don’t touch that dial!The Duchess

Ever since we visited Greece on our honeymoon in April, I cannot get enough Mediterranean food in my stomach! We visited three spots in Greece: Santorini, Mykonos and Athens. The Mediterranean is such a gorgeous part of this world. We went on an 11-night Celebrity cruise that also stopped in Naples, Istanbul, and Kusadasi, Turkey. I highly recommend this cruise to anyone considering visiting Greece, Italy and Turkey. It was such a great way to see everything.

Here we are in Santorini. Pictures just don’t do this place justice! The little villages are high atop rocky cliffs, looking out into the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea. They say it was a huge island, but a volcano exploded, causing all but a crescent ring of land to collapse into the water. Some even think it may be the sunken city of Atlantis…pretty cool, huh? Either way, Santorini is pretty as a post card!

This is the picturesque coastline of Mykonos with our cruise ship in the back ground. The Celebrity Solstice is seriously like a small city. Mykonos was our favorite place we visited. It’s just a quaint little coastal town, with a hip party beach on the other side of the island. We rented a four-wheeler and hopped over to Paradise Beach. It’s been featured as one of the World’s Sexiest Beaches on the Travel Channel, so of course the Duke and I had to check it out. We’re just a couple of jet-setters. It’s what we do. We spent the whole day doing absolutely nothing on the rocky beach. Wouldn’t you know, we travel half-way around the world to relax on a beach, when we’ve got a gorgeous one in our home town!

Here we are in front of the magnificent Parthenon in Athens. Athens is extremely big and busy. We went up to the Acropolis, along with 2,500 of our closest friends. It was certainly breath-taking, but it’s now very touristy. It does provide amazing panoramic views of the entire city, though. We really enjoyed the old neighborhood right around it, called Plaka. It’s got funky shops, beautiful bakeries and sidewalk cafes dolling out huge portions of shaved meats and tzatziki sauce.

The Duke, who is one of my toughest food critics, really enjoyed these quick Greek meatballs. Hope you do, as well. Until next time, Ciao!The Duchess

I figured we’d start on a fairly light note, though. I anticipate lots of beer this football season, so I gotta conserve where I can, people. I created an easy and hearty taco soup after opening the pantry one night and finding lots of great canned stuff. You literally open four cans, brown some meat, and top it all off with cheese and sour cream! I like to use turkey or chicken for my taco soup. It tastes just as good as ground beef, but has a lot less fat and grease. Just don’t tell the man in your life…it will be our little secret.

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.