“The phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space.  It represents our capacity for vision; for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix inspires great excitement and inspiration.”  The Feng Shui Handbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen. 

The phoenix is a mythical creature, but one that creates such an image in my mind.  I imagine that in each of us there is a small phoenix; a part of us that is not satisfied with the status quo, a part always looking ahead for a new vision.  You probably have similar thoughts, just not relating to mythical creatures.  If you set a goal and work diligently to achieve that goal, are you then satisfied to sit and say, “Now, I am done, I have accomplished my goal.”?  No, most would say, “Now, I am done, I must set a new goal.”  So you “scan the landscape and distant space”, “collecting sensory information” about your environment and the events unfolding within it and you have a vision of a new goal.  With “great excitement and inspiration” you move forward, taking the necessary action steps to attain completion.  

 If you have ever read my blog postings, you are probably sitting there reading and thinking, “Has Cindy been drinking???”  Ha.  Nope, but I wanted to preface my comments and announcements with something thought provoking, since I always hope that each of us continues to grow and prosper and flourish no matter the circumstances of our lives.  And now, without further ado, my announcements:  1.  According to Wikipedia, a blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.  Homemade Gourmet® started its own blog in an attempt to create an additional sense of community between Home Office, distributors and customers.  Between Tami, Karen, Janet and myself, we were able to share a dialog with you on our community and the issues of meal time challenges, foods we like and dislike, great new recipes, helping others and helping ourselves.  Personally, the blog was a wonderful opportunity to learn from and about each of you who posted.   

  Remember, the whole phoenix discussion above (yes, I am tying it together, FINALLY)?  The blog has been good, but it was a goal that was accomplished and we are not satisfied to sit back and say, “Now it is done.”  As we take a look at technology, we want to offer you the very best tool that provides you more than a place to read my most humorous postings, but a more interactive and advanced tool to help you in your business, your family life and your own meal time challenges.  The staff will be working with experts in the field to redesign, upgrade and uplift our blog.  Until that Power Up occurs, the blog will Power Down.  This will be our last blog posting and the blog will disappear on June 1st.  Thank you for everyone who read the blog and contributed.   2.  And finally, I too, will be Powering Down.  As of May 17th, I have asked to be changed from full time employee of Homemade Gourmet to providing occasional contract work for the company.  With all of the busy-ness of the last year, I am going to slow down for a while and spend some quality time with my family.  I was blessed with opportunities to work on various projects and with some great distributors during my time as a staff member.  I am so grateful for all those who have touched my life.  I will be scanning the horizon, searching for my next, new vision.  I wasn’t looking for Homemade Gourmet when God showed me the business opportunity in July of 2003, nor was I expecting to become a part of the wonderful staff.  I would still love to hear of your successes and if you are so inclined, my personal email is cindypirtle@yahoo.com.  I wish each of you a calendar filled with homeshows, a team filled with awesome distributors, a list filled with Homemade Gourmet Preferred customers and, of course, a freezer filled with 4 meals in 4 minutes™.  My love and best wishes to you all. - Cindy 

A short post, but had to tell everyone that we had some company drop in last night after dinner.  I didn’t have any dessert made, which is odd, because normally there is something sweet.  This is so sad to admit, but while I did have canned pie filling, I did not have one Texas Cobbler or Apple Crisp Mix.  NOT ONE!  I really like the cheesecake to set for a while AND I didn’t have a graham cracker crust (cut me a little slack, I haven’t been to the grocery store in over a week!)  I had ONE (boy, I am really sad, aren’t I???) Double Chocolate Brownie Mix.  By the time everyone had made themselves a cup of coffee and we had the kids settled down to play, I had the brownies in the oven.  Our friends went on and on about how wonderful these brownies were (of course, a big dollop of vanilla ice cream doesn’t hurt, does it??).

I know, I know, bad timing.  Because of the summer months, Homemade Gourmet will stop shipping mixes that contain chocolate chips to avoid the melting that always occurs.  Better stock up!  You never know when unexpected company will drop in and need a Brownie fix!

Chocolate dreams to you all - Cindy

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Many years ago, my husband and I decided we would change our diet, eliminating meat, cheese and butter.  We also stayed away from gravies and sauces with high fat or caloric counts.  We did this for 3 months.  While I can say that we each lost 20 pounds and that our gastro-intestinal health was better than ever, I really missed meat, cheese and butter!  If you ever try this no meat diet, a word of warning.  The first meat we had made us very ill.  Our entire systems went haywire.

All of that being said, I do miss the meals where I looked across the dinner table and their were bowls and bowls of veggies!  When I make a meal with 4-5 veggie dishes, I still eat meat, just much less (like only the 3 ounces that are recommended).  I made use of the steamer bags and recipes in the Market Fresh Sampler this weekend.  No joke from Friday through Sunday, we had fresh broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans, yellow and zucchini squash, mushrooms, and new potatoes.  We also had fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and a huge green salad.  On the fruit side, we had strawberries and cantaloupe.  Clean up was much easier than ever in the past.  I only had to wash the serving bowls, but had no pots or pans to wash.  The veggies were crisp, flavorful and retained their vibrant colors.  If you haven’t purchase the Market Fresh Sampler, I encourage you to do so.

I wish I could say I was trying to eat healthy just for the heck of it.  The REAL reason I felt we needed an entire weekend of veggies, is that Thursday night was FRIED FOOD night.  We had battered and deep fried zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, and okra.  I cannot tell you the amount of grease I poured into my system on Thursday.

Don’t think to well of me, I am thinking of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, fried okra and corn on the cob for dinner tonight!

What is your favorite “good for you” meal?

What is your favorite “not really caring if it is good, it just tastes great” meal?

When we were developing the That’s A Wrap Sampler, everyone at Home Office had to eat a lot of different kinds of wraps, before we determined the best combinations.  Since the Sampler has been launched, we have had an overwhelming response from customers and distriubtors alike.

First, everyone likes the health aspect.  You can use low-fat ingredients, wheat tortillas and any fresh veggies or lean meat that lights your fire!  Second, we got a big thumbs up from the vegetarians in the crowd.  Finally, meals that you could put together and shove them full of every kind of known veggie and have an awesome wrap.  This crowd has also been singing the praises of the Market Fresh Sampler.

Some people are more daring than others and have been experimenting with different spreads and ingredients in their wraps.  I thought it would be nice to share with others.

Here is my favorite:

Spinach flavored tortilla, Jalapeno Bacon Cheddar Dip as a spread, roasted peppers (yellow and red peppers that I put on the grill), steamed asparagus and leftover pork tenderloin.   Yummy!  What have you tried?

I do so love a good story.  Hosts are the best, since they are either having an Ah-ha moment about 4 meals in 4 minutes or they are just so excited that their freezer is filled and they have a pantry full of free product that they are beaming from ear to ear.

My best host story was about a repeat host.  She had already had 2 homeshows before, but there were a couple of people who hadn’t been able to come, so she asked could we do another.  I know, don’t we all wish we had that problem with every host . .  PLEASE can I have another homeshow!  Any how, she was all jazzed, but several guests had last minute things come up and couldn’t attend.  So basically, it was 4 guests, me and the host.  I did the 4 meals in 4 minutes preparation, but about half way through, she said, “I have to show you my freezer!”  Everyone ignored me and went to her freezer, where she explained what each meal was, how she cooked it, what she served with it and how much her husband and son fought over the leftovers.

Each of the 4 guests bought a 4 meals in 4 minutes top collection.  It really helps when you have a host who really gets the concept, finds the value, uses it and is willing to share her excitement with her friends.

Tell me about your BEST host.

This post arises from the responses from the last post.  There were many of you who said that the Italian Mozzarella Meatloaf was in your top five favorite mixes, but almost without fail you said, BUT NOT AS MEATLOAF.  So now, this will be the shortest blog I have ever done, but, I just have to know . . .

What in the world are you making with the Italian Mozzarella NOT Meatloaf Seasoning????

I am doing a little research project, so I hope that anyone who reads this will respond.  Here is my curiosity:

Tell me first, what are your favorite Homemade Gourmet products to eat that you use all the time?  It could be that you use Garlic Basil Seasoning in everything you make or you could have a top five list that you think is better than sliced bread.

Second, tell me the mixes you NEVER eat.  It may not be that you don’t care for them, I just am curious of the ones that you personally NEVER use.

So here is my example.

I use Sunday Roast, Garlic Basil, Maria’s Salsa, Mock Spinach Dip,Basic Cheesecake and Bonnie’s Blue Ribbon Chili every month without fail.  Sometimes all in one week!

I hardly ever use the Casserole mixes, the teas or the tomato basil soup (I like them all, I just don’t use them for the most part.)

I know, I know, Curiosity killed the Cat.  What can I say??  Meow!

How many times did your Mother telling you to quit playing with your food?  Chances are, if you did, you didn’t like the food or you were eager to leave the table. 

It’s a good thing I ignored my Mother’s warnings, since playing with my food is how some new Homemade Gourmet recipes come about.  For most of our mixes, I have dabbled around, added some of this and some of that.  Some are good, some are okay, some are down right disgusting.  Someone asked me once how I came up with so many 4 meals in 4 minutes recipes.  My answer was, “The only ones you see are the ones that taste good, you should have seen the combinations that ended up in the garbage disposal!”  The point is if we all only ate the recipe on the label, we would be so limited in our meal choices.  For a Pantry Staple to be created, there must be at least 15 recipe cards that support it.  Not just any recipe, mind you, it actually had to get good taste test scores.  The only way these recipes were created was by playing with the food.

Some recipes are created by Research and Development, but loads of them are created by distributors and customers that were simply playing around with combinations.  Of course, everyone’s tastes are different and something that you think is fabulous, other may turn away in disgust.  (For more on the topic of Icky Foods, see an earlier blog entry!)  The trick in creating new recipes comes in creating a dish that most people will like, understanding that some will say, “Oooo, too spicy for me!” and others will say, “Could you put a little kick in this sucker??”

One of our Directors, Rebecca Gengler, made taco seasoned hamburgers on the grill the other night and then topped them with the Jalapeno Bacon Cheddar Dip as a spread.  She called them Cowboy Burgers.  I can’t wait to try them.

Do you play with your food?

I never know who reads the blog, so here goes . . . the New Kitchen Connections are here!

If you are a customer or a Homemade Gourmet Preferred Member - Fantastic new light and refreshing recipes that will keep your kitchen cool, but your summer meals HOT!  The absolute BEST news, is that each Kitchen Connection magazine comes with a coupon that not only allows you to start your own Homemade Gourmet business for FREE, yes, FREE, but also get tons of products for FREE!

If you are a distributor - This is an excellent opportunity for you to share with your customers the great business opportunity that Homemade Gourmet has to offer and some really AWESOME recipes.  The host benefits page has a wonderful visual spread so that everyone can SEE how many phenomenal benefits there are to hosting a 4 meals in 4 minutes homeshow.  AND . . .  there is a two-fer deal on ordering packs of Kitchen Connection magazines that will allow you to offer it as a host gift or gift with purchase.  You will want EVERY customer to have one of these magazines.

Check out the Fill your Freezer and Perk your Pantry winner and the Susie Says article that has a fantastic bran muffin recipe.  Of course, the 4 meals in 4 minutes planner in the middle of the magazine will help you fill your own freezer and hopefully those of all your customers!

Tell us what you think.  Tell us what you would like to see if future editions.

And by the way . . . What’s in your Freezer? - Cindy

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