Book your January Class now!

Host a qualified Meal Solutions Class in January and you could receive One of 30 red Kitchen Aid® Toasters~ AND ~a phone call to their Homeshow from one of the three below!! You must book your show now thru December to qualify.

Ken Johnsen~Company Chairman
John Himelfarb~President
Tami VanHoy~Founder

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for being loyal customers with my Homemade Gourmet business. I have made many good friends and met many many lovely ladies these last 4 years with Homemade Gourmet. I truly appreciate everyone that has been a part of this, either by placing an order, hosting a meal solution class, becoming a HG distributor, having a catalog show, referring me to your friends, by taking the time to read my newsletters and blog, and to those extra special HG Preferred customers!! You have mad a major impact in my career and life!!

THANK YOU!!

Want a Delicious Career?

Need some extra fun money, want to pay a bill, or have a little extra for a vacation fund? Consider starting your own home-based business. I would love to have you on my team.
If I can do this, so can you!

-Unlimited income potential
- Work your own hours!
-Easy web and email support and training.
-Meal planning benefits you and your family.
-Everyone needs dinner!
- Help bring families back to the meal table.
-Up to 40% discount on products.
-Great as a business or hobby!
-I don’t feel pressured to sell anything... but inspired to share great meal ideas and offer menu planning help!
-Fun rewards, recognition, and incentives.
-A family focused company committed to making a difference through bringing families together at the meal table.
-Your family will love trying out all the easy to make recipes.
-My husband said this is the best thing I’ve ever gotten in to (I guess the way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach!)
-Did I mention you can earn cool rewards (like Coach handbags!)
-Minimum to stay active is about $130 a month and you can use the products to feed your family or give as gifts. Or make an income of your choice.
-Contact me for a 20 minute appointment to chat and see if this might be a great opportunity for you.

If you are just thinking about doing what I do, then consider becoming an HG Preferred Customer to get a 20% discount on products and get mailed to your door a “Bundle” every month (or less often if you prefer). The Bundle comes with shopping lists, menus and everything you need for quick and easy meals. A great way to see how you like the products before you sign on.

The Holiday Breakfast & New Year's Lunch Bundle

Introducing...The Holiday Breakfast & New Year's Lunch Bundle
Available November 26 - December 16, 2007
A $37.00 value for ONLY $33.00 -
HG Preferred Customer price ONLY $29.60 includes 20% discount

This special collection of mixes was included in one of the very first Homemade Gourmet gift baskets created by Founder, Tami VanHoy and given as gifts from her family during the holidays. Now, in honor of our 10th Anniversary, it is available to YOU....pre-packaged in a Homemade Gourmet gift box!

Serve as a special Holiday Breakfast:Country Style Pancake Mix, Basic Sweet Bread Mix and Spiced Cider Mix

Serve as a warm New Year's Day Lunch:Lucky Bean Soup Mix, Texas Cornbread Mix and Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix

Includes a BONUS - the holiday issue of the Kitchen Connection magazine featuring many more holiday recipes and entertaining tips! Enjoy the delicious and cozy meals from this bundle with your family and friends for the upcoming holidays, OR... share the warmth of two very special home-cooked meals by giving the bundle as a gift!

This special offer is available until December 16, 2007!! Contact me at 832-444-9605 or online at www.homemadegourmet.com/marylou and order TODAY!

Easy meal on a lazy Sunday evening

The last day of the holiday approached very quickly!! It was already Sunday! It was also time to clean. We had our traditional Sunday breakfast at McDonald's then headed straight home for some house cleaning....kids at home for a few days=messy house!

Dinner was on my mind as I'm cleaning the kitchen and I smiled as I thought of my Burgundy Beef Tips meal kit that was in my freezer. I pulled the bag out, grabbed my crock pot, dumped the mixture in the crock pot with about 1 cup of warm water. I set it on high and continued to clean. It's amazing how many clothes you have to put up for 2 small children! So, as I'm hanging clothes I'm wondering what else to cook with our beef tips. We decided on mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and I had been craving Homemade Gourmet World Vision Basic Bread. I must admit that I love Homemade Gourmet Texas Cornbread so much that that's usually the bread of choice, but I hadn't made the basic bread in a long long time~even though it's so yummy! I actually forgot how to make it. As embarrassing as it is, I was so shocked that I all I had to do was to add milk to the mix and pour melted butter on top of the batter!!! I was like, "This is so easy!" I chose to make it the traditional way....it has several options for different breads such as Cheddar/Beer bread. My kids went crazy over it and I think my husband had about 1/4 of the loaf himself. Basic Bread yields: one loaf or 18 - 20 muffins. Total Time: 45 minutes for loaf, 15 - 17 minutes for muffins.

An added bonus of the Homemade Gourmet World Vision Basic Bread Mix is that a portion of the proceeds from your purchase of this bread is donated to World Vision. See my website for more information about World Vision.

Burgundy Beef Tips
Ingredients:
2 lbs Stew meat, cubed
2 scoops Sunday Roast Seasoning
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 4oz can mushrooms (optional)
½ cup water
Directions:
Label bag as burgundy beef tips with today’s date
Pour in 1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (low sodium) and 4oz mushrooms(optional)
Add 4 tablespoons Sunday Roast Seasoning
Seal bag and SMOOSH

Meal Suggestions:
Mom’s Smashed Potatoes
Green Beans
World Vision Bread

Best if cooked in slow cooker on High for 4-6 hours. Make sure to add ½ cup of water or red cooking wine (Merlot or Burgundy wines work well). This meal can be also be served over 5-minute white rice or egg noodles with a side salad.

A fellow HG distributor's blog post....

Tomato Basil Bread and "Mommy you have to blog about this."

So do you have a quick and easy meal ready to throw together on those nights when you have NO IDEA what to cook? Let me share mine with you:

I was in a hurry and not sure what to make for dinner. So I grabbed the Homemade Gourmet Minestrone Soup Mix from my cupboard. I looked at the ingredients to see if it was Vegetarian friendly and it is. (-; I am starting to pay attention to that since my really good friend Carmen is a Vegetarian. The soup was a breeze to make. The only ingredients to add to the mix was a can of green beans, water, diced tomatoes, and some frozen potato cubes from the freezer (cubed hashbrowns). I also had Homemade Gourmet Tomato Basil Bread muffins in the freezer. I made a double batch of the muffins last time I made them so they would be easy to reheat and serve with a soup. Within 30 minutes dinner was DONE! My hubby was skeptical that a "Vegetarian" dinner would be yummy and he figured leftover muffins would be tolerable at best. Boy was he wrong! Everyone (including the 2 year old) LOVED the soup served with some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese on top. It was like fancy restaurant or Olive Garden good for a lot less $$. The Tomato Basil Bread was toasty and delicious. My husband is now convinced that this bread is even better the second time (make sure it's toasty with a crunch for best results). Josh (who just turned 6) was so excited about the bread that he stood up during kids church this morning and shared about the best "five minute" bread ever. He calls it five minute bread because that's how long I had to toast it in the broiler. His words..."It was SOOOO yummy." Josh asked for the Tomato Basil Bread again tonight but I was out of the mix. I made the Homemade Gourmet World Vision Basic Bread instead. It only needs milk and butter added to it. But of course I was out of butter and almost out of milk! My little boy wanted yummy bread so I made it work somehow. I used the little milk I had left, a bit of water to compensate and a bit of sour cream. It was an experiment! I topped it with olive oil since I had no butter. The mix calls for melted butter on top of the bread prior to baking, but the oil worked fine. I also put a lot of grated Parmesan cheese on top. The verdict to the experimental bread? "MOMMY you really need to blog about your breads, they are really good. I love this!" My little guy is really easy to cook for! Especially with Homemade Gourmet food, it's hard to mess up their recipes even when I experiment! I think it's funny that our dinner conversations now include what is or isn't blog worthy!

The Homemade Gourmet mixes and groceries for this meal probably added up to $16. It fed 4 of us twice (had lots leftover) so the cost per serving was less than $2 each. Cheaper than eating out my friends, which is EXACTLY what we would have done before I learned to cook with Homemade Gourmet.

Thanks for sharing Gina....you can see her blog at: http://mealsandmemories.blogspot.com/

Ideas on what to do with those Turkey leftovers:

Make Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad
What to do with your left over turkey? Dice it up and add it to Homemade Gourmet's easy to make Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad! It makes a yummy lunch for the next day.

Soup! Always a winner. Dice up the leftovers and turn it into a yummy soup. I like the Homemade Gourmet Chicken Noodle Soup Mix. Your family will never settle for canned soup again!

White Chicken Chili- You can use diced turkey instead of diced chicken.

Creamy Italian Casserole Mix- Another great one to COST cook with. Just add a few simple ingredients (and your leftover Turkey) and you got another meal ready to go! I love this mix from Homemade Gourmet. When I make this casserole I get 2 batches out of it. I use 2 8x8 Glad Ready pans that can go from the oven to freezer to microwave. We eat one for dinner and the other batch goes in the freezer for a quick meal that even my husband can handle.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Recipe

Carmel Apple Cheesecake

1 homemade gourmet basic cheesecake
2- 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1-8 oz whipped topping divided
2/3 cup carmel sauce, divided
1 prepared graham cracker crust


1. with an electric mixer, beat together cheesecake mix, cream cheese, and apple juice until creamy
2. gently stir in 1/ 2 of whipped topping and 1/2 cup carmel sauce
3. pour mixture into piecrust and chill at least 2 hours
4. when ready to serve, top with remaining whipped topping and drizzle with remaining carmel sauce

serves 6-8 DELICIOUS!

Have you seen Homemade Gourmet's blog? Make sure to check it out at www.homemadegourmet.com/marylou

Below is Tami's...Homemade Gourmet's founder...lastest blog post about getting her freezer full. I thought I would share it you to show you that even the best of us Moms can get busy and distracted. So, never get discourage about "What's for dinner"!


Blog by Tami Van Hoy

What a great feeling…a freezer full of choices! Last time I posted on the blog I was out of choices and suffering the consequences. Since then I have done something about it! Now…if I had waited till I had it all figured out, I’d still be looking at an empty freezer. Instead…I took action without a plan, but with Homemade Gourmet that is not a problem.

First action step was the grocery store. With my busy schedule, I had not been able to sit down and figure out which meals I wanted to put into my freezer…but the freezer was in a state of emergency and I needed to take action immediately. I took a quick inventory of my pantry using my handy Homemade Gourmet grocery list copied from a past cookbook. I noted on the list that I needed to restock a few basic items and canned goods and then I threw that list in my purse so I would be ready for the first time I could squeeze in a grocery trip.


On Saturday that opportunity arose and I seized the moment. After shopping from the list I went to the meat section. Without a clue of what meals I was going to stock my freezer with, I just filled my cart with what was on sale and what I know my family likes…a roast, some stew meat, 10 pounds of ground beef, chicken breasts, a couple of pork tenderloins and some pork chops. I put it all in the fridge that day so it would be ready for a quick 4m4m session on Sunday.

Sunday evening, I pulled out all of the 4m4m planners that I have collected over the last year and started making choices. Going through the planners, I pulled HG mixes and canned goods from my pantry and matched them with the meat of choice…and the result was over a dozen meals bagged in the freezer. What a difference choices make! It truly feels good to be full of them again!

What’s in your freezer?


God Bless,
Tami

Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad

What to do with your left over turkey? Dice it up and add it to Homemade Gourmet's easy to make Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad! It makes a yummy lunch for the next day. Make sure to order it now to get it before Thanksgiving. Need a dessert to compliment your meal or are you in charge of dessert for the family? Our Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake is a nice twist to the traditional pumpkin pie~ plus it takes less then 5 minutes to prepare!

New Number

Please note my new phone number.....832-444-9605. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I'm happy to hlep!!

Recipe of the Day

Cheddar Waldorf Salad

1 Homemade Gourmet Coleslaw Mix

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 large red delicious apples, cubed

2 large golden apples, cubed

2 cups chopped pecans

1/4 cup chopped cranberries

1/4 cup shredded cheddar Cheese

.

1. In a large bowl, combine the mix and the mayonnaise. Add apples, pecans, and cranberries.

2 Top mixture with shredded cheeese. Serve immediately or chill untill needed.

Serves 6-8

.

A cutomer of mine said this salad was a big hit at her convention. She made this for a group of ladies and they ate it all! They loved it so much that they made her make it again for today's meeting.

Mango Tea & Tropical Dip

Did you know that our Mango Tea Mix is wonderful as a HOT tea as well as iced? Tropical Dip Mix is not just for dip. It is great on chicken, pork and fish! Here is another great recipe using this tasty seasoning!


Herbed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

2 pounds pork loin roast
2 tablespoons Homemade Gourmet® Tropical Dip Seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut slits about
1-inch deep and about 1-inch apart across
the top of pork loin, rub seasoning into slits.
2. Place meat in a 13x9x2 ungreased baking
dish with 2-inches of water and insert ovenready
meat thermometer in the center of
roast.
3. Cover and bake for 1½ hours or until meat
thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Serves: 6

Easy Gift Giving....

Holiday Gifting is NOW AVAILABLE
exclusively to HG Preferred Members!!

Skip the crowds at the mall and the lines at the post office this year!
Direct ship your holiday gifts from the comfort of your home. Give your family the gift of Homemade Gourmet this year!

Click here for gift program details.
Click here for a list of Holiday shipping deadlines.

Softball

What does softball have to do with meal solutions? Well, nothing....I just wanted to brag about my daughter's 6U softball tournament team.....Just being a proud mommy! The girl's got 1st place...almost had a scare....the girls had a horrible 1st inning, but they regrouped and stopped the team from scoring!! All the girls stepped up and did their part. It's amazing to see what these 5 and 6 year-old girls can do!! Kathryn is on the bottom right.

Gifts From Your Heart...and Your Kitchen

*Any Homemade Gourmet cookie mix. Prepare the mix and roll into 1" balls. Place the dough balls into the freezer up to 3 months. Just pull them out of the freezer and bake on the day you need them for a delicious home-baked treat!

*Any Homemade Gourmet bread mix is EASY to prepare and freeze ahead. Wrap in colored saran wrap and stick a festive sticker with the type of bread as a label. Then all you need to do is defrost and add a bow to give a gift from your heart and your kitchen! Defrost, slice, and serve for a home-baked treat anytime. (Hint: A loaf of homemade bread or muffins makes a GREAT Hostess gift for all of those holiday parties on your schedule!)

*Also, you can make a different varieties of Fudge with our super easy Homemade Gourmet Five Minute Fudge mix. Like Toffee Fudge, peanut butter, butterscotch, chocolate mint chip, cashew, walnut, pecan, toasted coconut.

Perfect Packages for the above:

Chinese Food Containers
Decorative Tins
Cloth Lined Wicker or Metal Baskets
Beautiful Cookie Jar
Santa Clause Cookie Plate
Christmas Stocking

Halloween Treats

SPIDER WEB CHEESECAKE

INGREDIENTS:

1 Homemade Gourmet Basic Cheesecake Mix
16 oz cream cheese, softened 4 oz Cool Whip
2 TBS semisweet chocolate chips
1 Chocolate Cookie Pie Crust
1 TBS butter or margarine 1 plastic storage bag
1 toothpick or knife

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine Basic Cheesecake Mix and softened cream cheese and beat well.

2. Fold in the whipped topping and pour into pie shell.

3. Melt semisweet chocolate chips and butter/margarine. Stir until smooth.

4. Place mixture in plastic bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner (a fast and easy cake decorator!)

5. Draw circle of chocolate in the center of the cheesecake and continue making circles about ½ inch apart until you reach the edge.

6. With a toothpick or knife, start at the center circle and pull to the outer edge; wipe and repeat to complete a web pattern.

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Ball

INGREDIENTS:

1 Homemade Gourmet Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Mix
1 stick butter
1 8 oz cream cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix together Homemade Gourmet Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Mix, cream cheese and butter. Beat until creamy.

2. Cover & chill in refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.

3. When mix is semi firm, roll into ball and serve in hollowed out pumpkin lined with plastic.

Serve with graham cracker sticks, ginger snaps or chocolate wafers.

Eating Together as a Family...

Highlights from the September 2007 Journal of the American Dietetic Association


Eating Together as a Family Creates Better Eating Habits Later in LifeEating together as a family during adolescence is associated with lasting positive effects on dietary quality in young adulthood, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota.
More than 1,500 students were surveyed once during high school and again when they were 20 years old to determine the long-term effects of family meals on diet quality, social eating, meal structure and meal frequency. Participants were asked questions such as how often they ate family meals, how much they enjoyed sitting down to a meal with family or friends, if they had a tendency to eat on the run and how often they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The researchers found eating family meals together during adolescence resulted in adults who ate more fruit, dark-green and orange vegetables and key nutrients, and drank less soft drinks. Frequency of family meals predicted females would eat breakfast as adults. For both sexes, frequency of family meals as adolescents predicted eating dinner more frequently as adults, placing a higher priority on structured meals and a higher priority on social eating. For women, eating together as a family more often during adolescence meant significantly higher daily intakes as adults of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6 and fiber. Among males, eating as a family more during adolescence predicted higher intakes of calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber as adults.

“Results of this study suggest that having more family meals during adolescence is associated with improved diet quality during young adulthood,” the researchers say. “Food and nutrition professionals should encourage families to share meals as often as practically possible.”

What a deal!

Wow! Homemade Gourmet's regular $79 Starter Kit is a very affordable way to start a new business - and this month, it's twice the value!

We recently reviewed the Starter Kit values of 24 direct selling companies. All the companies did business through home parties, and they sold everything from food, kitchenware or home décor to personal care, jewelry or scrapbooks. Here's what we found:
Only four of those companies had kits more affordable than Homemade Gourmet's $79 Starter Kit. Only one of those four sells products similar to Homemade Gourmet (and that kit was only $4 less).
Three of the companies offered "free" kits with certain size orders in the first month ($350, $500 or $1,000 retail). Homemade Gourmet's total investment is $79 plus a $200 activating retail order.
The average Starter Kit price for the 24 companies was $138.49.
The Starter Kit for many companies included few or no retail products (Homemade Gourmet's Starter Kit includes the Pantry Basics Collection valued at $84 retail).

Homemade Gourmet's Starter Kit is a great deal any month of the year, but this month, the Souped Up Starter Kit is even better. It has double the value (over $300 worth of products) and all the extra supplies a new Distributor needs to do her cook-off and a couple of Homeshows. It's a great way to get started, especially this month when people are get cozy inside their homes again and entertain.This is a ground floor oppotunity...with less then 1800 distributos there is lots of room to grow!!

Hosting Specials for October

Hosting Meal Kit for October through December – Free with a $400 Home Show

Homemade Gourmet® Grandmother’s Great Gingerbread Mix
Homemade Gourmet® Basic Cheesecake Mix
Homemade Gourmet® Spiced Cider Mix

Brunch Bunch BundleA $31.50 retail value for ONLY $18.50!* That's 40% off!

*The Homeshow must reach $400 or more in retail sales to be eligible for the 40% OFF Bundle

Fall and Holiday dates are booking fast! Call TODAY to ensure YOU have an opportunity to receive these terrific hosting rewards!

Food For Thought

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gve up." ~Thomas Edison

Meat last longer in the freezer if it already cooked. Take 15 minutes after shopping to cook and season your meat before you freeze it.

One pound of raw chicken equals 2 cups cooked chicken (sliced, diced, chopped, or shredded.)

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. " ~ Hugh Downs

"Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" ~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.