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Welcome to Dupage Mamas! This blog is a place for Mamas to connect, share their experiences, and recommend great finds and ideas (or let us learn from your mistakes!) If you are raising kids in Dupage County, then we'd love to have you along for the adventure!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Gourmet in a Flash

I do love being a mom. I truly do. Even on those days that take me to the edge of insanity. Those two sweet boys just smile up at me and it makes the crazy melt away. But then one of them looks up at me and says those dreaded words (OK, only one of them can speak but the little guy's cry says it all): "I'm hungry." This is the one part of motherhood that gets me every time. Feeding people. I feel like I am constantly feeding people.


Planning dinners can be such a hard task, especially when trying to stay within a tight grocery budget and not eat mac-n-cheese every night. It is definitely not my mommy-strong suite. That is why I am always on the lookout for shortcuts. Yummy, budget-friendly, healthy-for-my-family shortcuts.

This is why I fell in love with Homemade Gourmet. Their mixes and marinades make cooking and baking so much easier. Right before my baby was born, I stocked up on their Meals-in-4-Minutes kits knowing I would need some quick and easy meal options. The idea is, you take one of their marinade mixes and mix with 6lbs. of chicken or pork chops. Youthen add one canned good (cream of chicken soup or diced tomatoes or something like that). Mix all of it together and throw it in a casserole dish and bake. Or you can store it in a freezer bag until you need it and then cook it in the Crock Pot. Super quick, super easy. The kits are meant to feed 6 so I halved them and got even more meals out of it.

Yummy meals, even yummier (is that a word?) bread mixes and desserts... That is my kinda thing! Their sweet bread mix is to-die-for. Muffin mixes, cookies,... all SO, SO good!

Homemade Gourmet is sold at local markets or online through your local rep. They are coming out with all new Meals-in-4-Minutes kits this summer which I know we can't wait to try. They have gluten-free and diabetic options and each product comes with a couple recipes so you can make the most delicious meal possible. They also have a whole database of recipes for those of you who are meal-planning challenged like myself.

Bonnie with Homemade Gourmet would like to give away a $25gift certificate redeemable for any of their mixes and marinades to one lucky Dupage Mamas reader. AND... she is giving away 2 Meals-in-4-Minutes kits for 2 more lucky readers. Yes, y'all. That is three winners in all! Comment here telling us your favorite meal to cook for your family or why you need some help (like me). And as always, blog this or Facebook or twitter us and get another entry.

If you would like to find out more about Homemade Gourmet products, contact Bonnie Wooten. bonnie@yorkville.us or visit her website.

12 comments:

Just Me April 17, 2009 at 7:34 AM  

well i suppose that the fact that i have three kids and have the fun of feeding all of them on my own...and cooking with 'help' is so not cool

Atwood-Family of FIVE April 17, 2009 at 9:13 AM  

I need some help because I just had a baby-he's 7 weeks old, nurses every 2-3 hours and I have a 3 year old. Not too easy to cook long term these days. We're living on food I cooked during pregnancy and froze. Thanks!

Atwood-Family of FIVE April 17, 2009 at 9:15 AM  

I also just blogged about it for my second entry. Thanks again!

Lindsay April 17, 2009 at 9:28 AM  

well i'd love to win! but even if i don't i think i probably need to check this out! trying to balance a family of 4 and two part-time jobs makes cooking (among other things) difficult. and i have two picky eaters (i am one of them). i probably have about 6-8 meals that get rotated - one of the tastiest and my husband's favorites being Dr. Pepper pork chops. thanks for the info!

NimrodVern April 17, 2009 at 1:11 PM  

I really do love to cook from scratch, but everything seems to turn into a HUGE project... And since we're gluten free, most convenience foods aren't possible for us. I'm excited to see that Homemade Gourmet has GF options!

Anonymous,  April 18, 2009 at 4:14 PM  

Homemade Gourmet has a lot of great mixes and marinades and I can vouch for them. I love their pantry staples, and their baked goods including cheesecake mixes, cookies and their carrot cake is to die for!
Mary

megan sanders April 18, 2009 at 9:32 PM  

What a great option, thanks for the link! I despise cooking, no matter how good I try to be with my meal plan I still find myself at 4:30 trying to figure out what to make! My favorite easy meal is the Polynesean Meatballs on the Kraft.com website, so fast and good!

Tracy April 19, 2009 at 8:22 PM  

I could certainly use this help :) I actually love to cook and have a lot of good recipes, my problem is actually planning ahead so I have what I need. I have to give props to my husband who is a wonderful cook and we are 50/50 in this department. But, we both work full time and sometimes more than full time, so it is a constant struggle.
Tracy
mahoneytracy@yahoo.com

Carrie Pyykkonen,  April 20, 2009 at 10:08 AM  

I love Homemade gourmet and my kids do too!

Lisa Gertz April 21, 2009 at 4:45 PM  

I'd heard of Homemade Gourmet but didn't know of their meal-in-4-minute kits -- wow! Very cool! I made a winner tonight (well, a winner for my husband and me, and a neutral for the kids) -- eggplant parmesan. The kids said "it looks and smells like little pizzas!" so I called them veggie pizzas. When they pressed me as to what veggies were in it, I used the British term for eggplant and said "aubergines"! No one groaned or said "ew!"

Lisa Gertz April 21, 2009 at 5:06 PM  

I linked to you on Facebook and raved about your site =)

girlfriendcelebrations April 22, 2009 at 10:39 PM  

Dear Mamas,
I need all the help I can get. A kit would be a wonderful luxury in my crazy whirlwind life...kids, work, blogging? Some day's I'm lucky to just have a minute to step into the kitchen.

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