Happy Monday to everyone!  I was lucky enough to attend the Regional Training in Dallas this past weekend.  I was so jazzed to see some of my old friends and to meet some great new people.  The excitement in the air was simply contagious!  As each of the great leaders presented their training, you could see ideas for action forming in distributors’ eyes.  As new programs were announced, the air took on an almost “static electricity” component.  I hope that everyone got to attend a Regional training meeting and walked away feeling as I did.

Our CEO, Ken Johnsen, lives in Dallas, so he had a Leadership gathering at his home the night before.  While it was so wonderful that the Johnsen family opened their home and their hearts to those in attendance, I have to tell you the food was awesome!  So, I wanted to share two things that Ken prepared that knocked my socks off!

First, was the Beef Tenderloin.  He rubbed the meat with olive oil and then pressed in Grandmother’s Sunday Roast Seasoning like a rub.  He seared both sides on the grill and then turned the grill down to a low heat to allow the meat to cook through.  WOW!

Second, was the Shrimp Skewers.  He skewered shrimp (tail on) and marinated them in a mixture of Cilantro Citrus Seasoning, olive oil, vinegar, juice from one fresh squeezed orange, 1 tablespoon honey, and the zest from the orange.  The shrimp were grilled over a medium high heat for just a few minutes for each side.  DOUBLE WOW!

And before you say, “Oh, yeah, sure, like the CEO of Homemade Gourmet actually made the marinades and cooked the meat.”  I was there and watched the whole thing, so there!  He really COOKS!

So, give these recipes a try and let Ken know how you liked them.  Do you have a favorite grill recipe?  Post here and I’ll pass them along.  Who knows, your recipe may be the next to land on the CEO’s grill!

Happy Cooking - Cindy

Ever think that it is weird that your favorite food or one of your childhood meal memories is something that others think is the most deplorable food in the world?

Sometimes, it occurs to me only when someone calls and I tell them what I am cooking or eating and they say, “Well that sounds just NASTY!”  Today is an example.  I was really hungry for Split Pea Soup.  Now, long ago, Homemade Gourmet had a great Pea and Potato Soup.  And even though Tami and I both love split pea soup, I am guessing that sales indicated the rest of America was not dying for a big bowl of the stuff.  We no longer carry that mix.  Which forces me to make it from scratch.  I still do the HG cheat and add about 6 tablespoons of Sunday Roast Seasoning so that I don’t have to figure out which 8 seasonings should go into it.  It is on the stove now and I wish those split peas would hurry up and get soft.  Once I ladel it into a big bowl, I top it with Garlic flavored croutons.  WOWIE!

I brought up this subject because America is diverse, which means Homemade Gourmet distributors and customers are equally diverse.  I remember once I was talking to a distributor from the east coast and mentioned that for one of my homeshows, I sampled Taco Soup and Bonnie’s Blue Ribbon Chili.  After everyone had tasted both, I drained the liquid from the Taco Soup and rolled it into flour tortillas, put in a baking dish, topped with the remaining BBR Chili and shredded cheddar cheese and popped it in the oven for some awesome enchiladas.  (Boy, was that a run-on sentence, or what?!?).   When I finished, I waited for this distributor to be amazed at my creativity and she responded, “Gross, why would you put chili on top of enchildas?”  Hmmm . . . not the desired response.  She told me that they put enchilada sauce on enchiladas, so my idea was not appealing at all.  Put me right in my place!

The new Jalapeno Bacon Cheddar Dip has been getting rave reviews from my “spicy” friends and “way too hot” from others.  By the way, if it is too much for you, just add more sour cream and mayonnaise, it will be fine.

When mixes are retired because sales were not stellar, we get a flood of emails that the particular mix was the “absolute favorite” and they are very upset with me.  But, obviously, it was one of those foods that some people love and others do not.  By the way, I do not make those decisions, so please don’t send bad thoughts my way.

I am quite sure that we will never make everyone happy, but we will keep trying to come up with winners in most peoples’ eyes (stomachs??).  Until that time, I am going to enjoy my big bowl of split pea soup.  What is your favorite “icky” food? - Cindy

I was in the thesaurus this week, looking up something else and came upon these two words, mishmash and hodgepodge, and thought they just felt fun on the tongue to say.  Go ahead . . . alright, I am feeling a little silly, which means you have to endure my mishmash of a hodgepodge of a blog posting today.

When I was in law school, I got an opportunity to spend a semester at the Queen’s College at Oxford University.  Chance of a lifetime!  (Of course, my student loan bill went up dramatically!)  The food tasted different, was prepared differently and some even had totally different names.  French fries are chips and potato chips are crisps.  I was there in 1989, but I rememeber that I was appalled that when I went to McDonalds (after a while, you NEED a taste of home) you had to PAY for that teeny tiny packet of ketchup!

Why am I talking about this?  Oh yeah.  At the grocery store this week, I bought this Turbino Sugar.  It is brown and has really large crystals.  This was the same kind of sugar they used at the Queen’s College for after-dinner tea.  They always asked you if you wanted Black or White Tea.  This has nothing to do with the actual tea, but whether you wanted milk or not.  Anyhow, the sugar seems sweeter to me.  Maybe it is the big crystals, maybe the sugar is different, or maybe I just have some really sweet memories of that time of my life.  Hmmmm.  “Memories . . . like the corners of my mind, misty waters, colored memories . . .” 

It is Spring Break here.  I have mentioned that I work from my home.  You cannot imagine the joy of trying to finish up 12 different projects, talking on the phone trying to sound professional, all while my two lovely girls are screaming, “Give it BACK!   MOOOOOOOM, she’s got my stuff!  She did it first!  No, I didn’t, she won’t leave my room!  MOOOOM!”  The joys of Motherhood.

Husbands.  First, I have to give mine some credit.  I am forever sticking a spoon or fork in his mouth, saying, “Taste this.  What do you think?”  But I must say, it is a bit frustrating when you are oh, so proud of a new recipe that is supposed to taste like one thing and he immediately says, great taste of _____, something that is not in there and it is certainly not supposed to taste like.  So when I shriek, “BANANAS!  There are no bananas in there!”  He gets this deer in the headlights look and says, “Well, it tastes really good, whatever it is.”  Help.

Because it is Spring Break and both my husband and I are working, I have been trying to do a few fun things in the evenings with the girls.  We went to see Horton Hears a Who Monday night.  Cute movie.  One night, we went to this place where you paint ceramics.  I don’t know who enjoys this more, the girls or my husband and I.  It is very relaxing, to concentrate on nothing else, but painting.  And, hey, if you screw it up really bad, you tell everyone the kids did it!  Ha!

OK, do you feel that you have been mishmashed and hodgepodged?  I hope so.  Have a yummy day! - Cindy

It is Girl Scout cookie time again and they have been hitting me up from all sides.  Not much about Girl Scout cookies that I don’t like.  Everyone has their favorites; mine are Thin Mints (best if you keep in the freezer - YUM) and Caramel de Lites.  Bad thing about the cookies is that I usually hide them from my kids and then sneak them into my bedroom after they go to bed.  So there I lay in bed watching T.V. and eating the ENTIRE box!  I know, I know, I am a horrible mother for failing to share my cookies and a big fat slob for eating a box in the bed.  Yes, I do have a few faults, but I can live with them.

So, in today’s Food Section of the paper, they had all these area chefs making cool desserts using Girl Scout Cookies and I thought to myself - HEY, I CAN DO THAT!  So, I made 3 recipes that I really like:

Thin Mint Cheesecake - I used a Homemade Gourmet Basic Cheesecake mixed with Thin Mint cookies that I put in the food processor and poured the whole thing in a chocolate cookie crust!

Cinna-spin Spiced Cheesecake - Again, Basic Cheesecake, but I added a package of Spiced Dip mix.  I put the cookies in the food processor and pureed, mixed with a little melted butter and had an awesome crust to put my cheesecake in.

Mini Shortbread cheesecakes - Mixed up a Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake (ball recipe) and simply put a dollop on each cookie.

None of these were difficult, all were delicious!  Let’s talk desserts.  Any other ideas you may have?

Support your local Girl Scout troop, worthy organization and a great activity for young girls.

Last week, Tami and I were working on recipes and articles to go into the April Kitchen Connection.  Loads of work, but loads of fun as well.  But, I have to tell you, the absolute, very BEST part of last week was the FILL YOUR FREEZER and PERK YOUR PANTRY contest.  It was also that absolute, very HARDEST part.

You see, this entire quarter, Tami and I have been reading these heart warming stories of customers who want and need a Freezer Make Over.  They all submitted their coupons, a short essay and a before picture of their freezers.  I must say that even if I had never read a word of the essays, some of the freezers almost made me cry.  Want to know why???  All these people were Homemade Gourmet customers!!!!!  How, I ask you, HOW, can a Homemade Gourmet customer’s freezer be in such sad shape??  Luckily, each of those customers also submitted their distributors name, so guess who I am going to be calling????  Ha - you can run, but you cannot hide.

But, I digress.  (As usual!)  The BEST part, really, really and truly, was to watch this fantastic lady with 3 little boys draped all over her, stand with her mouth open and repeatedly say, “That’s all you have to do???”  “Wait, it is that easy??”  “What else can I make with that one?”  “Oh, my husband is going to be so excited!!”  “Hold on, you even have dinner for tonight for us??”  There is no greater joy that I have felt in a long time, than to be able to give this family easy great tasting meals and help them know that it was so simple they can do it themselves every month.

JOY . . .  When was the last time you felt JOY?  Not happiness, not excitement, not giddy . . . pure JOY.  Get up off the couch and go get some JOY . . . you know how, go ahead, repeat after me . . .

MAKE THE FOOD . . . SHARE THE FOOD . . . EAT THE FOOD.

So, how was your week?  Got JOY???

Cindy