Don't put your crock pot away just yet!

Just because the weather has gotten warmer doesn't mean yo have to put away the slow cooker for the season!

One of my favorite time saving tips for WAHM cooking is cooking in the microwave. Homemade Gourmet has a great line of products called Season 'N Steam in which you quickly cook up meals using your microwave in a steamer bag! I love the Sloppy Joes and Broccoli and Beef.

But, I just learned that you can cook these in the crock pot too! All of the Season 'n Steam entrees can be prepared in the slow cooker, too- right in the season 'n steam bag for super easy clean-up! Just fill the steamer bag with all the ingredients and place in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 6*. Whether you're using the microwave or slow cooker, you kitchen stays cool!

This is especially good news for our hosts in May. The host meal gift for May is the Season 'n Steam BBQ Sandwich Mix!

Want a great idea for this summer? Try our new Season 'n Steam Orange Ginger Chicken, this is great served over rice or wrap in a tortilla with lettuce and tomato or slice and serve over fresh salad greens with an orange vinagrette, yummy!

Bonus Tip: To add an extra layer of flavor, brown the meat in a skiller over med-high for a few minutes on each side before adding to the slow cooker.

* Key to the Kitchen has been updated with the exact slow cooker instructions for each Season 'n Steam meal.

"So What's for Dinner - Sunday" March 28

What a week! It has been a while since I have been able to sit down to write a post. A hectic and stressful week at work and yet another round of illness with my children set me back in the kitchen.

I've been attending some couponing exchanges locally and even went on an excursion with a few ladies who showed me and a few others how to actually get things for cheap or FREE!

It was an eye opening experience and really got me excited! Some of the principles really fit into my WAHM meals! By saving coupons and waiting for sales and stocking up on those items you can save alot of money! The great thing with the Homemade Gourmet meals is that you use simple ingredients that can stay in your pantry and get used when you need them!

I was able to snag up quite a few deals on meat this week which filled our freezer with 12 meals! The great part is, each of these meals can be used int a complety different meal the next night!

Here is what I bought:

4 Angus pot roasts $1.99/lb

6 lbs Ground Beef $1.69/lb

8 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $0.99/lb! Yes! That was a GREAT deal I snagged at the last minute!

Now I did make a special trip to purchase these meats. Here in Chicagoland anything $1.99/lb or less is a STEAL! So when I saw these prices I took the money extra and stocked up.

Here is how I used up the meat:

• Double batch of Taco meat for tacos


• Beefy Enchilada Casserole - using extra taco meat above


• Garlic Parmesean Chicken


• Italian Slow Cooker Chicken


• Pepper Pizazz Burgers (made enough for 4 dinners!)


• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches


• Burgandy Beef Tips


• Awesome Chicken Grill


• 2 - Beef Pot Roasts

What I picked up on my regular shopping trip consisted of side dishes to accompany these meals.

All of the meals, except the taco meat and burgers, were 4 meals in 4 minutes meals. Meaning, with the meat, a Homemade Gourmet Seasoning and a wet ingredient, usually something like a can of diced tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, wine, chicken broth etc you mix it all together in a bag and SMOOSH it!

My 3 year old LOVES to help with this part! After I put the meat into the bag, we both count out the scoops of seasoning together as she pours it in, and then we dump in the wet ingredients. After we seal up the bag, we SMOOSH it together! You can see her washing her hands before we began! Due to our time crunch I didn't get to take any pictures of our meal making event!

It only took us 20 minutes to put all of that together. After dinner we set up our assembly line of recipes printed out on the table, setting each canned good or seasoning on the recipe. As my husband washed the dishes after dinner and my 6 month old played on the floor in the family room, "S" and I got to work!

After the kids were in bed I finished up the taco meat while rotating loads of laundry in the basement!

Remember, dinner time doesn't have to be a chore! With a few minutes planning ahead you can have several weeks worth of dinners waiting for you!

Now as far as cooking these meals goes, each one can be made in the following ways:

1. Slow Cooker - my first choice!

2. Grill - next best choice

3. Bake - last choice

I just throw my meal under the hot water tap to loosen it from the bag and dump it, frozen and all in the slow cooker, when dinner time comes I pop in some veggies in the microwave and dinner is done!

To find these recipes visit my website: Key 2 the Kitchen

What are you having for dinner this week?

Did she say "Steamed" Egg Omelet?

Okay, so I know what you are thinking....did she say a STEAMED omelet? What the heck is that? So Homemade Gourmet came out with these cool new Shakers. They are for meat and pasta and veggies and EGGS????? Well I decided to give it a try.

The Tami's Garden Select shaker is a wonderful blend of spices that is SALT-FREE! Yep, you can add flavor to your meat and pasta and veggies without the added salt. If you are someone on a sodium reduced diet then you will love this shaker. In fact there are alot of reduced sodium mixes that Homemade Gourmet carries. I would describe the scent of the seasoning as a bouquet of garlic and thyme and pepper flakes, a heavenly aroma.

Even if you are not on a sodium reduced diet you will still enjoy these eggs. No mess, everything made in one steamer bag that you toss at the end!

Steamed Omlete:

1. 2-3 eggs
2. Splash of milk
3. Tami's Garden Select Shaker
4. Any choice of omlete goodies - cheese, ham, bacon, peppers, onions, mushrooms, salsa, sour cream, black olives
5. Ziploc Steamer Bag - medium is good size

Crack the eggs and place in the steamer bag, add a splash of milk if you wish. Close up the bag and smoosh and shake the bag to 'scramble' the eggs. Next add the seasoning to taste, and all the add in's to your eggs.

Seal the bag and place in the microwave. Take care to follow the directions on the bag and place the correct side up to allow for the steam to vent. Cook 1.5-2.5 minutes depending on the power of your microwave. You will know the eggs are done when there is no more liquid. Take care to not overcook the eggs.

Shake the bag to get the eggs off the side and to make it fall into a nice roll. Roll out onto plate and enjoy.

I paired up my eggs with two slices of warm Strawberry Bread, YUM!

Enjoy!

What is WAHM Cook about Anway?

So you maybe wondering what is this blog all about? Well I am a WAHM and I like to call myself the WAHM Cook!

I have been working from home since 2006 and while I have the luxury of working in my PJ's life is very hectic with two kids! Working full time from home and raising a family does not mean that dinner is always easy! Let's face it. If you are a SAHM you are still trying to find out how to balance getting everything done and the number one area is always dinner!

"Mom, What's for Dinner?"

Those are the words that ring in your ears as you realize that you have nothing started, it is now 4:45 pm and you have a freezer full of chicken breasts or a solid chunk of ground meat! Your solution maybe to pop a frozen pizza in the oven, cook pasta AGAIN, or worse yet, go out to eat or order in costing you more money.

I'm here to help you get balance in kitchen while you work at home! I'll share with you tips and tricks to better meal preperation, saving time and making sure you have a backup plan that doesn't involve the pocket book!

And no this advice is not full of OAMC (once a month cooking) ideas either. Although freezer cooking is part of my plan, you do not need to spend a 3 day marathon of cooking to have dinner at the ready the rest of the month!

I'm not a health nut either, so if you are looking for something that is uber healthy, then this blog is NOT for you! I will give you yummy tasting recipes without regard of the fat content! Let's face it, we need our kids to eat this stuff so it has to taste good!

Well I hope you enjoy your time on my blog and that you get some tips that are easy and make your WAHM life more balanced!

Happy Cooking!

WAHM Cook

Garlic Basil Mozzarella Bread

Mmmmm, nothing like the house filled with the smell of fresh baked bread. Even better when you combine that with the smell of garlic, basil and melted mozzarella cheese!



To get a head start on my WAHM dinner tonight I whipped up a loaf of Garlic Basil bread. Although it only took less than 5 minutes to prepare the cooking time is a good 45-50 minutes.



So during my break at lunch I mixed it all up and popped it into the oven. My little boy is home from daycare sick with RSV so I had him playing in his highchair while I explained to him the ease of putting this dinner together!



Typically we keep a few frozen loaves of garlic bread in the freezer to whip out on spaghetti night. But I had a few packs of the Homemade Gourmet World Vision Basic Bread mix on hand and decided to spice dinner up tonight with wonderful homemade bread instead of the expensive and often tasteless store bought stuff.



Now you might be saying, why don't you just keep a loaf of french bread around and spread on some minced garlic and butter? Well again, I find that to be relatively tasteless as well, the garlic never imparts enough flavor for me unless I roast it, and that is not on my to do list! Also, unless you freeze your french bread or use it right away then your bread spoils. I am also not a big fan of freezing loafs of baked bread (unless it is muffins or banana bread, you get the point). Somehow it just never comes out just right.



Plus, this bread is infused with HG's Garlic Basil seasoning and gooey mozzarella cheese. Mmmmmm. This will bring a different twist to having the same old spaghetti dinner tonight.



By having a mix that I can go to and just add a few different ingredients to I can have warm fresh baked bread TODAY. Now that is a WAHM dinner! Also this mix has TONS of other recipes you can make with it, love beer bread? How about a cheesy bacon bread? The recipes are endless!







Here is the recipe, enjoy!




Ingredients
1 Homemade Gourmet® Basic Bread Mix
2 tablespoons Homemade Gourmet® Garlic Basil Seasoning
1-3/4 cups milk
1/2 stick butter/margarine, melted

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese




Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.



2. In a large bowl, combine bread mix, seasoning, and milk (batter will be lumpy).



3. Spoon batter into a greased 5x8 loaf pan.



4. Pour melted butter over batter.



5. Place loaf pan on a baking sheet to catch any spillover.



6. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The best Homemade Fish Tacos

My husband is a huge fan of Fish Tacos. When we were stationed in Memphis, TN we both fell in love with a little mexican deli called Las Tortugas. He always got the Fish Tacos made fresh by Pepe himself. Well up here in Illinois we are finding it really hard to get super good mexican food. I have experimented many times with various fish taco recipes, including the simple fish with Old Bay Seasoning on them (bleh, too salty!).

Well Homemade Gourmet to the rescue! I was on their Key 2 the Kitchen website with all the recipes for their products. Lo and behold there was a Fish Taco recipe using the Garlic Lemon seasoning.

Well needless to say it was a HUGE hit! I made it with only 3 tilapia filets and I had to hear about it! He even took the pan I cooked it in and scraped up all the tiny bits from the pan. This is a great WAHM recipe as it only takes less than 10 minutes to prepare.

WAHM Dinner Method:

Start the rice side dish in the rice cooker first
Take out taco toppings and flour tortillas
Just before serving prepare the fish

Ingredients

1 lb. Trout Fillets, cubed (I used frozen tilapia fillets)
2 T butter
2 T lime juice, divided
1 T Homemade Gourmet Garlic Lemon Seasoning
2 T sour cream
2 T mayo
Pinch Homemade Gourmet Southwest Seasoning
8 flour tortillas – soft taco size
chopped tomatoes
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese

Saute fish in butter, 1 T of lime juice and Garlic Lemon seasoning over medium-high heat for 6 minutes until fish easily flakes with fork.

Meanwhile, combine sour cream, mayo, remaining lime juice and Southwest Seasoning to form a smooth sauce

Fill warm tortillas with fish, drizzle with sauce and top with toppings of choice.

Serve with rice


Need to order Homemade Gourmet? Click here: WAHM Cook’s HG Site