Sweet & Spicy Grilled Chicken

Here is another Simple & Delicious recipe we tried. It is super easy and I had all the ingredients on hand! *love that* We liked it and it is not very spicy. Enjoy!

2 TBsp brown sugar

1 TBsp paprika

2 tsp onion powder

1-1/2 tsp salt (I used less)

1 tsp chili powder

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (I only did two of course)

combine the first five ingredients; rub over chick. If grilling chicken, coat grill rack with cooking spray before starting the grill. Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat or broil 4-6 in from the heat 4-5 mins on each side or until meat thermometer reads 170.

Mom's Day

For Mother's Day my grandma and my mom decided they wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory.

The food was good.

The company was even better.

And dessert was the best!

Happy Mother's Day!

Bread Pudding

My grandma subscribes my mom, aunt, me and herself to Simple & Delicious magazine. Each month we get it and a flip through it telling each other "Ooooww did you see page 12, doesn't that look good?" But we rarely make anything from it... SO I got the idea to make something out of it each week when I go visit my grandma. This was the first thing she chose. Bread Pudding. I have never eaten bread pudding so I wasn't sure what to expect or what to compare it to... kinda looks like barf too.... It was DELICIOUS! So rich and sweet! It was a little too sweet for my grandma AND it serves 12 so I took the leftovers to work and they devoured it!

Although the recipe shows $1.48 per serving it actually cost about $25 to make... ouch! Luckily Wednesday when Ken and I were at the Suns game our section won "section of the game" and we each got $5 gift cards to Frys! What a deal!

Anyway, here is the recipe.

Prep: 15 mins + standing

yield : 12 servings

Cost : $1.48/ serving

Bake time: 50- 55 mins

Ingredients :

3 eggs

4 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups of sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups fresh or frozen berries

1 pkg white baking chips

1 loaf of french bread cut in 1 inch cubes

Sauce-

1 pkg white baking chips

1 cup heave whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla. Stir in berries and baking chips. Stir in bread cubes; let stand for 15 mins or until bread is softened.

Transfer to a greased 13 X 9 inch baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 50-55 mins or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 mins before serving.

For sauce, place baking chips in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over baking chips; whisk until smooth. Serve with bread pudding.

Golfing for Charity

What a tough day at work... had to leave the house at 5:40... to drive out to the Mesa Country Club

for a few hours of golfing with these guys (Kevin, Steve and Joe)

Our company sponsored a hole and it ended up being #1-- see EMC is #1

We did great *I thought*, but came in about average with a score of 69! We used my stroke 4 times all on "chipping" shots... I was super proud because these guys were all pretty good golfers!

We all had a really great day and got tons of goodies (golf balls, tees, golf towels, snacks etc) . I learned a lot, but apparently didn't learn to put sun screen on! Man did I pay for it too!

It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it was super painful!

Game 2!

We got to the game a little late and had to wait in this ridiculous will call line to get our tickets

And ended up being 2 rows from the top! Ugh... totally reaffirmed our decision to buy lower level for next season. The games was still awesome and we enjoyed watching the Suns snag game 2 of the series!

Jail Tour

Its not how you imagine. What you see on TV and in movies doesn't portray the reality of JAIL. When you approach the modern looking 4th Avenue Jail it is far from inviting, but doesn't look (or smell) nearly as bad as it does inside.

From booking to maximum security this jail is state of the art in technology and people come from other states and countries to see how it is run.

We began the tour in bonds and fines were we watch some interesting people try to bail their loved ones out of jail or but money on their books. Next we headed through booking. The process takes several hours, but every person MUST see a judge within 24 hours of their arrest so they have a court going 24/7/365. That court is often seen on the nightly news as they have a camera mounted in the court room. The holding tanks were rooms about size of our bathroom and were crammed full of people waiting for their next step in the process. Once the people have been seen by a judge they are either released, post bail or stay for the duration. If they are leaving they get to head to the exit "row" where their personal items are returned, they take an exit interview and freely exit thru the door onto 4th Ave. If they are going to stay they then must get dressed in jail issue pink undies and zebra clothes... After seeing the new Zebras we headed up to the 2nd floor in an elevator with no buttons! There is an intercom and cameras and you have to advise what floor you need and the operator (from some remote room in the building) will punch in "floor 2" for you. We were able to view one of the "pods" of inmates from the director tower. At this level the inmates are housed 2 to a cell and 1/2 are aloud to be in the day room for 8 hours/day at a time. They are released from the cell in shifts so they have 72 men out on the floor at a time. I was surprised to learn they are aloud to access to a telephone (collect calls only at a price of just $2 per minute), play games, have personal items within reason etc. Federal Law mandates the inmates be given access to natural light and air for at least 1 hour per day. This is "yard time". This is NOT like what you see in the movies (yes I realize that is usually Prison and not jail). Basically it is a cement room about 20 feet by 10 feet with a high ceiling which lets air and light into the room.... no basketballs, not benches, nothing just the fresh air and light they are required to have. I am sure they really enjoy that room when it is 120 in August!

Then we headed to the next level of security. This "pod" had about 12 prisoners that are 1 to a cell. They are in cells that you can stand in the middle of the room and touch both walls. Their "day room" is basically as big as a phone booth attached to their cell and actually has a phone in it. In order to leave their cell they must be cuffed with a belly chain and I believe legs shackled. They can either go for a 20 min shower or to the fresh air room for 1 hour per day. Their room for fresh air was another cement room (about 15 by 15 feet) with a high ceiling letting in the hot summer air and light.

Lastly, we headed up to the 4th floor where the most secure prisoners were... It was odd being that close (maybe 5 feet) to them, but of course we were separated by walls, locks and doors. They basically have the same set up, but the officers have no real physical contact with those prisoners. There doors are open and shut electronically and their shower and fresh air room are all connected. I think I would go mad being in a room like that for 24 hours a day, no one to talk to (unless they want to foot the $2/minute collect calls!), no one to hug. Hearing the officers stories and knowing what they did to get into jail makes it a little easier not to have pity on their jail living quarters.

We ended the tour in the visitation room. Visitation is all done by video conference. They do not get face to face (separated by glass) like you see in the movies. This is actually one of the things that other jail systems model after our set up. The visitor is one the first floor and the prisoner is either in their cell with the video machine pushed up to it or at a booth with a camera. The officers said it really made a difference in the amount of contraband they got in the jail.

It was a very interesting tour and makes you very thankful for your freedoms!

WE R ORNG

It's official WE R ORNG! Kenny and I are 2010-11 Phoenix Suns Season ticket holders!

As a bonus we got tickets to Game 1 and 2 of the Spurs/Suns playoff games!

We totally had a blast, got free shirts and enjoyed sitting at our bar level seats in the Lexus lounge!

Here was our view... our season tickets are better than this!

Golfing

A Sunday round of golf....

with my dad

and hubby

We didn't end up finishing the 18 holes because someone (I won't mention names, but we all know who is super clumsy in the group) fell out of the cart and got a bruised knee, foot and elbow...

This Thursday I will be golfing at a CPCU charity event with some co-workers. It is a 4-man scramble, but I am really nervous... Wish me luck!

Girl's Day!

Saturday my mom, grandma and I had a girls day! Grandma got her hair done then we had lunch at the Black Bear Diner. We shopped around all afternoon, but didn't end up buying much. Great time with the girls!

While I was out Kenny spent some time with his mom and Nana. They had a nice lunch at Bill Johnson's Big Apple and then Barb went to watch Kenny play a round of golf. They both enjoyed the time together.

That night Kenny and I went to a fun BBQ at Blair's house. We ended up playing pictionary , guys vs girls and they guys didn't even move off the first space! It was awesome :)

Picnic/Playdate

Tonight Kenny and I picked up our nephews and met Michelle, Trevor and the kids up at the park. Michelle treated us all to Pizza and we just hang out and let the kids run around.

Little Brian cracks me up. He laid down in the grass and wait "Ah, this is so nice"

Zack loving his pizza!

Poor Emma! She hardly ever cries so I had to snap a pictures. She is adorable!

Jacob just hanging around

Jacob

Brian "the alien"

Zack loves to swing!

All the boys playing in the rocket ship

Trevor and Zack

Jacob wanted to hand feed the ducks while Little Brian wanted to throw the food AT them!

Michelle, Zack, Jacob and Brian feeding the ducks.

Emma and Trevor

The boys

The boys love when Uncle Kenny wrestles them

Zack!

My only pictures of Matt... he had just been crying