Quick and Easy Back to School Recipe

Don't blink, you'll miss it.  This recipe would probably feed my family for 2 meals and maybe a lunch.  My oldest would probably flip to have this in his luch box!  He LOVES orange chicken! 






Orange BBQ Chicken

Recipe Yields: 6

Recipe Serving Size: 5 ounces

Servings Per Recipe: 6 serving

Ingredients

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 tablespoons Homemade Gourmet® Kansas City Rub

2 cups orange juice

1 gallon zipper freezer bag


Directions

1. Place all ingredients into a gallon sized ziptop freezer bag and SMOOSH. After labeling, Orange BBQ Chicken, freeze until the day of cooking. This is a 4 meals in 4 minutes™ recipe, so your cooking options are:


BAKE: Thaw meat and marinade. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour entire contents of bag into baking dish and cover. Bake approximately 40 minutes or until steak has reached desired doneness.


SLOW COOKER: Thaw until meal can slide out of bag. Place entire contents of bag into slow cooker. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low 6-8 hours.


GRILL: Thaw and discard marinade. Preheat grill to medium high heat. Place meat on grill and cook about 3-5 minutes per side depending on desired doneness.

 + You may substitute the chicken with 3 pounds pork chops for a variation on this recipe… Make both and fill your freezer quick and easy!

Nutrition Facts



Serving size: 5 ounces


Servings per container: 6


Amount/Serving


Calories 190 Calories From Fat 30


% Daily value*


Total Fat 3.5g 5 %
Cholesterol 75mg 25 %
Sodium 370mg 15 %
Total Carbohydrate 10g 3 %
Dietary Fiber 0g 0 %
Sugars 7g
Protein 27g

* Percent Daily Value (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet


Important: This information is accurate only if nothing has been added (e.g. egg wash, icing, etc.)

Something to leave behind

As we think about sending our kiddos to school and packing their lunches, we strive to send healthy things for them to eat.  However, the grocery store is packed with fast and easy snacks that aren't so healthy for our kids.  My goal this year was to pack fresh and healthy things for my kids.  We were able to catch some of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last year and I was really convicted about what I packed in my oldest child's lunch.  As I started to look at healthy alternatives, I stumbled on an article by Dr. Joseph Mercola about High-Fructose Corn Syrup.  I read the article in horror as it described how dangerous for us HFCS is.  You can read it here http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/02/highfructose-corn-syrup-alters-human-metabolism.aspx. 
So, I started looking at EVERYTHING to see what had HFCS in it.....well just about everything has it!  All of the convenience packaged snacks, ketchup, sodas, PEANUT BUTTER....arghhh.  So, the first thing we gave up was those little 'fruit' snacks.  Kids don't miss them...they'd rather have fresh fruit.  Then, soda...I changed some brands of some other things that I bought...such as spaghetti sauce and started buying goldfish instead of cookies and snack cakes.  We don't eat much cereal anymore and I love to buy from Cascadian Farms or Kashi when I do.  So, that wasn't a big deal. 
All that to say that Homemade Gourmet strives to put healthy meals on your table.  That is why we offer low sodium, diabetic friendly, and gluten free options.  When I say that we offer that, I don't mean we offer a few choices either....our gluten free list is around 75 items...our diabetic friendly items, 79 items...low sodium...56 under 140mg.  We don't put preservatives in our mixes and there is no MSG! 
So, if you are striving for a healthier lifestyle, Homemade Gourmet provides lots of options.  Leave behind the HFCS and all those nasty preservatives and put something better in your body!

Coming soon, recipes for the busy school year!!!!

It Starts....

I took the plunge last night!  I signed with Homemade Gourmet.  Now, I wait....for my kit that is.  If you are reading this, you're important to me and I want to share with you how easy and stress free dinner can be! 
I set a goal to have my first $400 order in before the 1st of September.  I know that's quick, but I also know that there isn't another HG consultant in my town and there might be some people out there who already know what they need, they just need a way to get it!  So, if that's you, email or call me and let's get this thing rolling!!!! 
If you know nothing about HG and would like to go with me to a party or have one of your own call me and let me know.  Oh, and browse through my website, www.homemadegourmet.com/fastmealsformoms then call me and let me know what you want!  You can't order on the website until I place that initial order.
I am excited about this!  It's called Simplifying.....

Meridith- markitemb@yahoo.com
940-595-0546

The Age-Old Delimma

Mom!  What's for dinner?  The kids come from all sides of the house and yard famished from a day of play or school.  There you are, standing in front of the freezer wondering why in the world you didn't take something out to defrost this morning.  You give up and order a pizza or run to the local fast food joint.  Dinner Fail, again.  I've been there, you've been there....more times than we can count.  Our family's expanding waistlines concern us, but we still repeat the same old cycle.  OR we make the same thing every week, week after week.  The family is getting bored and refusing to eat beans and cornbread again. 
I met a lady about a year ago at the North Texas State Fair who worked for Homemade Gourmet.  I had seen their mixes and tried a few, but knew little about the company.  Kim was faithful to call me every few months to see if I wanted to come to one of her shows or have one of my own.  I was really kind of busy with 3 kids and work of my own, so I would politely decline every time.  I wanted to go, but it seemed that there was something every time she called.  Such is life.  Kim caught back up with me a couple of months ago when we started our Farmer's Market in Pilot Point.  She had signed up to be there and I was excited to finally get to talk to her.  The first month, something came up for her and she couldn't be there.  The next month a lady from her team came, but she couldn't make it that month either.  I did buy some mixes and some tea that I was very happy with.  I finally met Kim in person again at the market in August.  It was hot and my kids were running around like crazy monkeys, but I did get to talk to her for a little bit.  It was there that she introduced me to the meals in minutes.  I am so excited about these products.  You mix their seasonings with the called for liquid and put in some meat and you have a meal.  They have a box that comes with enough seasonings to make 19 meals....WHAT?!!  You mean I can easily make meals ahead to throw in the crockpot or have already prepared when I get home?  This rocked my world!!!  I bought a pasta salad mix and said I'd get back to her on the box.  I was really excited about it. 
Later that day, James and I headed out on a 6 hour car ride to his Grandmother's 90th birthday party.  I pulled out the catalog and started going over what Kim had shared with me.  See, I may be going back to school in January and I thought this would be the perfect thing to not only have HEALTHY meals ready for my family, but cut my food bill down as well.  James got excited about it to and said, "Why don't you just sell it?"  We're going to need to supplement my income when I go back to school and I had thought about it, but didn't know how he would feel about it.  I had some questions about the company and how everything worked, so we agreed that I would talk to Kim some more. 
I emailed Kim on Monday and that night we were talking Homemade Gourmet.  She was so kind to answer all of my questions and even invited me to a show.  I plan on going to the show.  James and I talked about it and have pretty much decided that this would be a good fit for us.  So, here I am, blogging my journey to food freedom!  I hope to loose weight and share with as many women like me as possible how to make the kitchen a whole lot less scary and boring.  
I hope you will join me on my journey and when I become a consultant, I hope you will take the opportunity to find out what it's all about! 
Away we go...