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

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 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

Since this has been a crazy week from hell, dinner has been really simple (AKA cereal most nights). I had a spark of energy the other night, though, and decided to use up some chicken and other ingredients from the fridge. You know the Duke and I love Mexican food, so I threw together a Chicken Fajita Hoagie.

Talk about simple. This dinner came together in about 20 minutes. I’m talking start to finish here, folks. I did have a cooked chicken breast on hand, which simplified the situation. The crusty bread was a delicious departure from a tortilla for the fajita flavors.

I mixed 1/2 cup light sour cream with the juice of 1 lime, 1 tbsp. green salsa, a pinch of garlic salt and a handful of chopped cilantro for quick dipping sauce. The sauce was delicious! The Duke and I dipped a few too many tortilla chips in it.

Alright friends. Tomorrow is officially moving day. It’s strange that tonight is the last time I’ll be sleeping in this house. The Duke and I adore this house, but we’re excited to see what the future holds.

Have a great weekend! The Duchess

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

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

Like yesterday, for instance. I pulled out the mini slow cooker, dumped two chicken breasts in with a cup of chicken broth and almost an entire packet of chili seasoning. I set the pot of poultry on low for 3.5 hours and out came perfectly cooked and moist chicken.

Now, these may not be the most beautiful breasts that ever were, but this method is perfect for cooking chicken for salads, casseroles and soups. And soup is exactly what I intended to use my chicken for.

Jenny at Picky Palate posted a copycat version of Chili’s new Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup the other day and I immediately started salivating. I new the spicy and lime-y broth that she spoke of would be right up my alley. My favorite restaurant in Destin is a little Mexican joint called LaPaz. They make a killer Tortilla Chicken Soup which is very similar to Jenny’s recipe. I knew I had to try it ASAP.

The original recipe made a boatload of soup, so I only used half of the chicken, garlic, broth and rice called for, but kept the original amount of onions, Rotel, green chilies, lime juice and seasonings. Holy Cow!! This soup was incredible, and thanks to my CrockPot chicken, it came together in about 15 minutes.

Most slow cooker chicken recipes say to cook breasts on low for 4-6 hours. I say that’s a load of rubbish. Without a bone or skin, the chicken can easily dry out. I cook mine with the broth and seasonings for 3-4 hours max. Especially if I know it’s going to get heated again, like this chicken did in the soup.

I seriously can’t get over how good this soup is or how much I love the baby CrockPot. If you’re a vegetarian, this soup would be great sans chicken. My best friend, Jessica, always orders LaPaz’s soup without chicken and she loves it. Shrimp would also be great!

I’ll leave you with a picture of my precious baby Ruby. I mean, could you ever get tired of seeing that sweet face??

This was taken after I got back from the gym last night, so excuse the rough appearance.

Tata!! 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

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