The Duke and I have really been taking advantage of the grill lately. We love throwing zucchini, onions and peppers on and letting them get a good char. Want to know my favorite meat to grill? Smoked sausage! It’s delish.

Our friend brought us this smoked sausage that he picked up on a back country road between Birmingham, AL and Destin. No tellin’ where it came from, but this sausage was awesome!

We’ve had this meal twice in the last week…it’s just too good (and too easy!).

Have a great weekend! See you Monday.
The Duchess

I’ve been wanting to make Rachael Ray’s Salsa “Stoup” for a while now and finally got around to it the other day. As Rachael would say, it was Delish!

It really tastes like salsa, but piping hot. The onions, peppers and cilantro make this tomato soup for grown ups. I made some grilled poblano and zucchini quesadillas for dipping, and this meal was a home run.

For the quesadillas, I charred two poblano peppers and zucchini rounds on an indoor grill pan, then removed the skin and seeds and sliced the peppers. Sprinkle cheddar cheese, poblano slices and zucchini rounds on a whole wheat tortilla, then sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Broil the quesadilla for a few minutes, the fold over and slice into wedges.

If you love Mexican flavors as much as I do, then you’re totally going to dig this dinner!

Have a great weekend, friends The Duchess

We visited Betty Owen’s twins’ school for their 8th grade awards ceremony.

Shout out to Ben…he wanted to be on the blog!

And sweet Sarah, too.

Uncle Bill cooked Indian food…a family favorite!

Mom and I were able to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, along with our friend Margaret (it was Margaret’s first time in NYC).

No trip to Manhattan is complete without lots of great food. We found an awesome (and inexpensive) Thai restaurant in SoHo, then of course ended the day with sweets.

And finally, I towed a Crumbs cupcake (caramel apple…to die for) all the way home to Florida for the Duke to enjoy. Am I the best wife or what?

These pictures took forever to upload! I hope you enjoy. And if you’re the praying kind, please send up a few for my aunt. She needs a miracle to recover…doctors don’t know what’s going on, but are saying her brain is basically “asleep.”

Enjoy your week, and thanks for stopping by.
The Duchess

Anyhoo, I thought I’d share this super simple and delicious weeknight meal with you. I’ve been on a huge zucchini kick lately. I seriously can’t get enough. I decided to stuff one of the green veggies with a creamy Mexican stuffing of chicken, black beans, Rotel, and, of course, CHEESE!!!

I was really impressed with this dish. And, when you’ve got cooked chicken on hand, it all comes together really quick. You start by scooping out the flesh of the zucchini.

You could chop up the zucchini flesh and add it to the stuffing, but I didn’t. You could also add the leftover zucchini meat to a batch of scrumptious zucchini bread.

I had to stop myself from eating the stuffing before these little boats went into the oven. I mean, how can you not like sour cream, chicken and cumin??

Yum, yum, yum. I think even your picky, non-veggie eating kids will enjoy this dish.

I hope you have a great week! I’ll see you real soon with a recap of a bridal shower I catered over the weekend. It was tons of fun.
The Duchess

Anyhoo, after using a Canon PowerShot for the last few years (and for all of my blog photos), I’ve finally, and thankfully, graduated to a Canon Rebel XS. I feel like such a big girl! It’s still the bottom of the line when it comes to nice cameras, but it’s a great starting point for me. It actually belongs to the Duke’s mom, but she’s indefinitely loaning it to me. I’ve already bought a 50mm 1.8 lens for it. The lens should be here next week. Can’t wait to get shooting!

I’ve still got a lot to learn about the Rebel, but here are some of my first few shots. I decided to make overnight oats for the first time last night.

I used a small container of honey Oikos, 1/4 cup of rolled oats, a few chopped strawberries and about a tablespoon of wheat germ and threw it all in the fridge before bed. I thought it was pretty good! If you have a thing about mushy textures, I wouldn’t try it. I happen to like my cereal a bit soggy, so I devoured it.

Ruby’s favorite spot is on the back of the chair. She likes to sit here and watch me eat breakfast (and jump down to catch any stray crumbs).

Have you ever seen a cuter face??? She’s my precious angel girl.

Once I got to school this morning, it was work, work, work. Can you believe we’re already planning for field day? I feel like field day was right before school got out for summer when I was in school. Apparently the school where I work does theirs in March.

Each child gets an official lanyard with their name and events on it. When they complete an event, they get a whole punched. Pretty fancy!

After making the lanyards, I realized my overnight oats had faded. I happily munched on some carrot sticks.

I’d be willing to bet that my vision is better than perfect. I eat more carrots than Bugs Bunny! They’re just the perfect low calorie snack. My favorite way to eat them is dipped in peanut butter.

After field day stuff, I moved on to making bunny baskets for our spring party next week (we’re P.C. here, folks. It’s not an Easter party, but rather a Spring party). How cute are these??

The baskets are actually gallon milk jugs! You cut them, leaving the handle in tact, and glue tissue paper, ears, eyes and a nose right on. Pretty crafty, huh? Can you believe this is what I get paid to do?

After all of the crafting goodness this morning, I was starved for lunch. I usually wait until about noon for lunch, since our class eats at 11. Not today. I was so hungry that I ate right alongside the little ones.

I was craving veggies like a mad woman, so I packed spinach, chopped zucchini, white beans, marinara sauce and a little mozzarella on top. When you microwave the spinach, it wilts and is just perfect. I brought a piece of whole wheat soda bread for the side.

The camera charger is forever lost, so I’ve ordered a new one. It won’t be in until next week, so I may have to revert back to my point and shoot for the weekend. I’m still very excited to experiment with the Rebel. Hang with me as I work through it all. I’ve got miles to go to become a decent food photographer.

Do any of you shoot with a Canon? If not, what do you use? Any tips?? Please leave comments and suggestions. I love hearing from you guys. The Duchess

Do you ever crave veggies? I do. I crave veggies all the time. Especially after my last post. If I have oatmeal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, all I want for dinner is a big salad! The other night I decided to do southwest hoagies, but I opted to keep mine vegetarian. The combination of crusty bread, melty cheese and flavorful veggies was a home run. Of course I piled the Duke’s sandwich high with chicken, but I was in my own personal version of veggie heaven.

We have sandwiches at least once per week, because they’re so fast. I’m always trying to come up with new and excited ways to prepare the American classic. I made a quick avocado smash for these sandwiches. Paired with melted pepper jack cheese, the hoagies were delicious. I’ll definitely keep this quick fix dinner in my repertoire.

Of course, you can use any assortment of veggies for this sandwich. Mushrooms, eggplant and sauteed spinach would also be great, but I just used what I had on hand. Isn’t that the beauty of dinner on the fly?

I’m so happy it’s finally Thursday! I’m subbing in Pre-K today and tomorrow, so I better get going. Hope the little ones are easy on Mrs. Carter. 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

Remember me bitching about studying for this dreaded thing for so long? Well I took it two Saturdays ago and just found out TODAY that I passed. This opens many doors for me and is the first step in getting my own elementary classroom next year. Now the fun part begins: job hunting!

So, my day started out with a great elliptical workout at the crack of dawn (seriously-it was about 5:35a.m.), then I came home and refueled with half of a wheat roll topped with a mixture of peanut butter and almond butter and half of a banana.

Bananas with peanut butter are the best way to start the day.

For lunch I had leftovers of last night’s roasted veggies with Israeli couscous. This dish was incredibly good! I’ll share the recipe later in the week.

At this point I ran home to let the dog out and found out I passed the test when I checked the mail. I celebrated with a bag of 100 calorie Chips Ahoy and two tablespoons of lite cool whip. YUM!!

I also baked three dozen heart-shaped sugar cookies for our Pre-K party this week. Here they are pre-iced.

They look kind of scared and naked. Not to worry, little cookies. You will be beautifully decorated in no time!

The Duke and I are watching American Idol, so I gotta run. It’s the first week of Hollywood auditions, after all! So far Andrew is my favorite. He rocked “Straight Up Now Tell Me.” I mean, the dude put Paula to shame. Sweet dreams…The Duchess

The Duke was out of town the other night, so I relived the glory days and made myself a beautiful plate of pasta with every veggie I could find. This is a great dish for using up produce that’s nearing the end of its life, so use anything you have on hand.

This is such a simple dish that I almost feel silly even typing it out, but it’s just too good to pass up! If any of you readers are participating in Recipe Girl’s 10 in 2010 Challenge, this is the perfect recipe to add to your healthy collection.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll see you Monday with a Lentil Soup recipe that is more comforting that momma’s chicken and dumplings. And that’s no joke. The Duchess

Do any of you have resolutions this year? Mine are really just the same old, same old. I’d like to lose 5-10 pounds (I gained about 7 after my wedding in April, but have since lost about 2, so I’m still up 5 lbs). I’d like to be better with my finances. I also really want to run a half-marathon in March. I know I can do it, I just have to get over the mental block. I psych myself out thinking I’ll never be able to do it. Any of you runners have any advice??

Well, with all of the heavy holiday eating behind us, I’m having lots of fun experimenting with healthier recipes. I hosted ladies’ lunch the other day and made a fabulous casserole with veggie succotash and brown rice. I opened the fridge and threw in everything I could find, and wouldn’t you know, it was delish! I really enjoyed the succotash by itself before adding the rice, so that’s what I’m sharing with you today. Serve with sour cream and warm tortillas for a comforting and light meal.

This dish would also be great with corn or mushrooms thrown in. I hope you all have a very blessed 2010. Here’s to good health, happiness, peace and prosperity.The Duchess