My wife and I wanted to share a local restaurant here in Phoenix that we just discovered this past weekend, with the help of our good friend & Phoenix Property Manager, Spencer, at Arizona Lodging Experts. The place is called Uncle Sam’s, and they actually have 3 locations here in the Valley of the Sun. The one we went to is located on Shea blvd, between the 51 Freeway and 32^nd street. On their website at www.unclesamsaz.com they claim to have the only true Cheese Steaks, Hoagies and Grinders “this side of Philadelphia”, and after eating lunch there for the first time on Sunday, I have to agree with them. They have some really good sandwiches and tasty hot wings. My wife had the Mushroom Pepper Cheese Steak and 6 hot wings and I had the All American Hoagie, which has 6 meats and 2 cheeses. We really enjoyed the food very much and we look forward to our next visit. The best part is that Uncle Sam’s is only 15 minutes from our apartment in Phoenix, so we will become regulars in no time at all. So, whether you’re a local in Arizona, or a winter visitor enjoying one of many beautiful Arizona resort condos, we encourage you to stop by Uncle Sam’s and enjoy a great meal with family and friends. Your tummy will be very happy that you did.

“Az Crazies”

I have a wonderful appetizer that you can serve at your next family gathering, and it will be “love at first bite”! This recipe was inspired by the Jerome Brewery in Jerome, Arizona.

This recipe is called Chef-Shea’s Artichoke Bruchetta.

Here are the ingredients you will need.
(This recipe feeds 3 to 5 people)

3 Medium to Large Artichokes
1/2 – 1 Cup of Mayonnaise
1 5oz Container of Shredded Parmesan/Reggiano
Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

First, you will need to steam the artichokes in a large pan for 40 to 45 minutes so the leaves and heart get nice and soft. You will want to add water about every 15 minutes or so to ensure that you don’t run dry during the steaming process. It can evaporate fast if you’re not watching. Cover the pan and let the steam go to work, checking every 15 minutes when you add water.

Steamed Artichokes

Once the artichokes are steamed to perfection, you can remove them from the steamer and place them on a large plate to cool for a few minutes. You don’t want to “dive right in” and begin shucking and scraping the leaves because they are piping hot right now. Let them cool a little, but not too long.

steamed for 45 minutes

Now, after a short cooling down period, you want to begin to remove the leaves one by one and scrape each leaf from top to bottom with a spoon to scrape off all the wonderful soft “meat” and then put the goodies you scraped in a bowl for mixing later. You will get a good amount of scrapings from the leaves, which you will add together with the artichoke heart, once you reach the heart of each artichoke. For each heart, all you want to do is scrape off the fuzzy part on top of the heart and cut off any of the green stem left on the bottom, so all you have left is a clean artichoke heart, like so.

Now we need to mash the artichoke hearts with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mayonnaise, depending on how much scraping you end up with, and a 1/2 cup of parmesan reggiano cheese. Add ground black pepper to taste. Mash with a fork until creamy and spreadable.

creamy artichoke goodness!

Turn the over to 400 degrees.

Next, you want to arrange some slices of bread on a baking sheet and spread your fresh bruchetta over as many pieces as possible until the mash is all gone. You also want to sprinkle a little more cheese over each piece as well. When the oven reaches temperature, you want to place the cooking sheet in the oven on the middle rack and set the timer for about 8 to 10 minutes. Here is the end result!

Ready to eat!

My wife and I love to use a nice fresh round loaf of Italian bread. This tasty treat will delight everyone who tries it. Not all the Property Management Companies in Phoenix give away secrets like this. Enjoy!

Next, put the chicken in the oven (middle rack) and set a time for 1 and 1/2 hours. Now, just sit back, enjoy a cold drink and wait for the magic to happen. For some amazing reason, which I am truly grateful for, the Stubbs sauce breaks down during the cooking process and mixes with the oil and broth to create this amazing spicy oil-juice that you can save and use on other dishes such as “Chef-Shea’s Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas”, which I will share with you another time, I promise!

(Sneak Peak)

Spicy Chicken Green Chili Cheese Enchiladas

Once you finally hear the timer go “ding”, it is time to sample some of the best chicken breast you will ever taste!

Spicy Chichen Breast 325 degrees - 1 1/2 hours

You can serve them any way you want to, maybe with a side of veggies and mashed potatoes and a side salad, or maximize your dish and make some tasty spicy tacos or spicy chicken cheese enchiladas. The chicken is fork tender now and full of great flavor. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and don’t forget to save the juices in the pan for later use.

Happy Eats Everyone!

And to all of our visitors that are renting our Vacation Rentals in Phoenix Arizona or any of the premier Homes, Townhomes or Condos from Arizona Lodging Experts, we hope you too can enjoy some wonderful home cooked meals and margaritas during your stay “thanks to great blogs like these”!

Wow, the year 2010 has ushered in some fabulous warm and sunny weather. The people out and about on the town are sporting their summer attire throughout the day and at night you can get away with simply a light sweater or jacket. The high today was 73 and as you can probably guess, the phone lines at Arizona Lodging Experts have been ringing off the hook. Some of our renters are reporting temps as low as –5 in Montana and The Canadians that didn’t leave before Christmas are snowed in for the winter. I don’t even want to know how cold the windy city is… brrrrrrrrr chilly!

So then, have I yet tempted you into leaving behind your frosty winter environment and escaping to sunny and warm Arizona? If enjoying the outdoors is your thing and you like stunning landscapes, road trips, golf, spas and 5-star dining then you need to get yourself out here now!

Here is how one prospective renter from Indiana put it to me today.

“We plan to swim in the pool, fry like bacon in the sun, eat out and hang with old friends. I desperately need a margarita by the pool while looking at some aloe plants and a saguaro cactus or two”

I love it, doesn’t that just sounds like the perfect week?

With that being said I wanted to let you know that we are blowing out our rental rates for January and first two weeks of February. Right now we are offering huge discounts on our rental rates. Everything we have available can be rented at special discounted rates. Mid February through March are booking up fast and we are almost sold out for that time frame. January and the first two weeks of February are wide open, not only is the weather warm we also have a lot of activities coming up like the Phoenix Open, the Arabian Horseshow and the Barrett Jackson Auction.

Last weekend the weather was so nice I fired up my motorbike and took a scenic trip to east Mesa were we have a nice vacation home with flat screen TV’s in all the rooms, a heated pool and a billiard table. From the east Mesa home you can be to the Superstition Mountains and on up to Canyon Lake in 30 minutes. Here is a photo I took of my bike after crossing over the first bridge at Canyon Lake.

Canyon Lake offers fishing, boat marina, restaurant and camping. The marina also has boats for rent. If you keep going past Canyon Lake you hit the town of Tortilla Flats with a population of 6! Stop in for friendly conversation and a cold beer at the town’s only bar/restaurant. Or if you happen to have some mail with you stop in at the post office and send your letters out with a post stamp from the Tortilla Flat post office! Here’s a picture of Tortilla Flat.

If you are really down for an adventure keep on going past Tortilla Flat on the Apache Trail. You’ll find some beautiful mountain vistas as you approach Apache Lake, Past Apache Lake you can visit some ancient cliff dwellings that are over 750 years old and finally you will get to Roosevelt Lake and beyond that to the town of Globe, which is an old mining town. My Nona, the daughter of Italian immigrants was born and raised right in downtown Globe were her parents ran a Tailor shop. There is a lot of history in that town. Here you can take the Highway back into Apache Junction and onto East Mesa via the US-60

Growing up in Arizona I’ve had the opportunity to explore all four corners or our state. I never grow tired of taking road trips. I hope you can come out here and enjoy all the great experiences we have to offer.