Friday, June 17, 2011

The Brass Verdict

Everybody lies. 

Cops lie.  Lawyers lie.  Witnesses lie.  The victims lie.

A trial is a contest of lies.  And everybody in the courtroom knows this.  The judge knows this.  Even the jury knows this.  They come into the building knowing they will be lied to.  They take their seats in the box and agree to be lied to.

Michael Connelly, where have you been hiding all this time?

I had picked up Lincoln Lawyer to read simply because I saw the previews for the movie and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie.  A bit of a quirk I have.  It also helped that it was the first book in the Mickey Haller series - another little quirk I have.  I have to read a series of books in order or it will bother me.  Loved Lincoln Lawyer.  Loved it.

I downloaded The Brass Verdict to my Kindle hoping that the first book wasn't just a fluke.  Nope.  Once again Connelly has proven himself to be a master at combining engrossing plots with compelling characters.  It kept me entertained from the opening sentence through all the twists to the end of the book. 

Checking out his website, Michael Connelly has at least 25 books for to me to add to my 'to read' list out on Goodreads.  I hope that each one I pick up is as good as the last!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Kalamata-Balsamic Chicken with Feta

I think summer is officially here!  Summer = grill in this house.  Truthfully I'd grill all winter long too but we have this pesky wind chill thing in Iowa where it gets pretty cold.

I was perusing the magazine aisle at Target one day last week and saw a new supplement put out by Weight Watchers - 15 minutes and 5 ingredient recipes.  Something along those lines anyway.  15 minutes for a meal sounded pretty good to me so I tossed a copy in my cart.

We had this one for supper the other night.  Rather than using a grill pan, I pounded the chicken and threw it on the grill, cooking the tomato mixture on the side burner ... all while watching the kids in the sandbox.  Can I multi-task or what??

This was a snap to put together and it tasted great.  Even better, I had everything I needed to make it, with the exception of the tomatoes.  Next time I'll double the tomato mixture as the kids gobbled it up.

Kalamata-Balsamic Chicken with Feta
WW 5 Ingredients, 15 Minutes supplement

4 6-oz  boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon  black pepper
1  cup cherry tomatoes -- halved
16 whole kalamata olives
3 tablespoons light balsamic vinaigrette
3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons basil leaves

Sprinkle chicken even with pepper.  Combine tomatoes, olives and dressing in a medium bowl.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat pan with cooking spray.  Cook chicken 6-7 minutes on each side or until done.  Transfer chicken to a serving platter and cover to keep warm.

Add tomato mixture to pan and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until tomato softens.  Spoon over chicken and top evenly with cheese and basil.

Yield 4 servings (1 chicken breast half, 1/4 cup tomato mixture and 3/4 tablespoon cheese)

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 254 Calories; 8g Fat (28.3% calories from fat); 41g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 105mg Cholesterol; 431mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 5 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Happy Belated Birthdays!

I'm a little behind the times these days, but I wanted to make sure I got my little people's birthday wishes out there.

Happy 5th Birthday!


Happy 2nd Birthday!


This year their birthday party was all about Mickey and Minnie.  A Mickey Mouse cake pan is pretty simple to find but it was a bit tougher to find a Minnie Mouse cake pan.  The only place I could find them was Ebay and I was not about to pay $80 for a cake pan.  I improvised instead:



Not bad, if I do say so myself!  I do think that next year I'll pick something without black frosting though.  It does a pretty good job staining your teeth!