Easy Family Dinners with Homemade Gourmet

4 Meals in 4 Minutes Homemade Gourmet give away

In order to celebrate FAMILY DAY this Monday and honor the long forgotten tradition of bringing friends and family back to the dinner table, I am beginning the first of many give aways to help facilitate this and make it a reality.
See how to get your name in the hat below. :)
With our crazy busy schedules, it's really hard to be intentional, especially for meal time, isn't it?
(I will continue my meal planning/coupon posts this weekend.)

Since I have a large family, people have always come to me on "food advise." They assume that because I have to feed the multitudes, I have this down to a science.
Honestly, I "know" it in my mind, and I can teach a great class and show others how, but the nuts and bolts when reality hits always goes in streaks.
It's all part of the balancing act.

The times that I don't always "get to it",
Homemade Gourmet has made it appear as if I do.
Their Homemade in a Hurry line and the 4 meals in 4 minutes concept has been a life saver for me over the last 18 months. These meals, sides, desserts, and appetizers that can be whipped up in literally minutes are for anyone/everyone.
I became a distributor only for personal use, but have had so many friends want to know more, and implement the meals ideas, that I have begun to dabble in the business.
Who doesn't want to have a grocery list, recipe plan and meal solutions at their fingertips. Hopefully, I can help you with that.
My give away is going to be for a sampling of my favorite 4 Meals in 4 Minutes mixes.
I will pick 4 HG dinner meals/mixes for you, along with the grocery list and recipes to make those meals, or you can look at my website and give me an idea of what you love.

There are three ways to get your name in the drawing.
1. Leave me some comment love (if you want to give some meal planning tips or you have questions that you want me to address in future posts...I'd love to hear.:)

2. Mention this give away with a link in your blog post.

3. Add me to your side bar (that counts as two :) Now, I really wish I had some bling to share.
Once you've done that, let me know how many times to put down your name, and I will pick a winner on Tuesday...(after you all have had dinner together on Monday night...right?) xoxox.
Our family emphasizes the power of a shared meal. Here are some ideas...
Do something fun for dinner.
If you have kids, why don't you try a "backwards" dinner night...serve dessert for the main course, making sure that they "save room" for the green beans.

I have also served a full spaghetti dinner under, yep...under the table. I set the place mats, charger plates, china and even lit the candles all while dining under the table. It was so fun and memorable. Yes, I even made the teens do it.
Remember, I am the Queen of Forced Bonding. :)
Good luck and get ready for some Good Eating.!

Featured Recipes: Click here to see this month’s menu planner>

As a mom of five, I guarantee that climbing Mount McKinley often pales in comparison to the managing of our mealtime madness. Once thing I can guarantee is that spending quality time in the kitchen and connecting with friends and family around the meal time will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come. This simple, deliberate act will add more to building strong, family ties and opening the lines of communication with our kids than 100 trips to Disney.

This will be my opportunity to share what works, (and what doesn't) when it comes to maneuvering this mountain. We will brainstorm ideas on cooking with the kids, bulk cooking, 4 Meals in 4 Minutes, and a host of other ideas. I am open for ideas......we will liven up this mealtime madness together. It's about sharing ideas, and getting excited about cooking again. Is this possible? I know so. Homemade Gourmet has helped me solve some of these dilemmas, but it's not just about our products (which are great), it's about looking at our dinner time from a new perspective.
Amid busy schedules, sports, school, and ..... life. I hope this blog will refresh, encourage, and inspire you to bring your families back to the dinner table...something that our family is still working on.

So sorry.....if any one stumbles on this site, it will be an asset to blog land once I work the kinks out. This is my learning curve. I know these need to be pictures of wonderfully appetizing family meals. Step by step pictures that will make you coming back for more wisdom for your family mealtime crises, but I don't have any of those loaded. Oh...it's all so new. I did make beautiful homemade pizzas (yes, and the crust....freshly picked basil.......can you just imagine it in your mind for me....please?)

Since I am advanced blog reader, but not an advanced blogger, I must practice before I launch to the real world.....I don't even know how to add a picture. Here goes....will it work? Nope....How do I add pictures that take up the whole space? I will try again with all 4 pictures that I have loaded on my computer and you have seen three of them.:) Ok...off to research...wow, I hate it when I feel my "roots" showing.

Considering that I haven't posted since last Oct., it is quite evident that this blog has gone no where. I will be changing that. Since we added such a huge amount of anti-spywear and security protection items to our computer, it even decided to block all of the blogs that I love to visit. My Earth Angel ladies and I have had a good chuckle over the fact that it blocks our Once Upon a Family "values based" yahoo group. Well, I guess it's doing its job. I will be entering the blog world in the next few weeks with a "daily" blog and then will use this for all my wonderful meal planning ideas. Please see http://www.fastfamilymeals.com for some great meal ideas already posted.
blessings on the journey,
Jen