Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Just Say NO to Prestuffed Turkey

A few years back, my Mom was given a turkey as a holiday gift from her job. Now, my Mom is not a person who likes to cook. I inherited my cooking passion & skills from my Dad. So for her, this was perfect. It meant less things she had to worry about for Thanksgiving dinner. I remember my sisters and I looking at each other like "I don't know about this". Boy were we right. That turned out to be the nastiest mess we had ever eaten. The stuffing was absolutely disgusting. Where I come from, we don't make stuffing from a box and we definitely don't eat a pre-stuffed bird. It has a kind of grayish beige color to it. The taste was so nasty it permeated through the entire bird. We didn't get to eat turkey that dinner but thank God we had so much other food. I swore I would never ever eat any mess like that again.

I was in the grocery store today picking up some last minute items for dinner tomorrow. People hurried about grabbing up the last of the turkeys that were available. I already had mine so I wasn't concerned. Just wanted to see what the prices looked like the day before Thanksgiving. Well as I was strolling off, I heard a woman exclaim "Thank God! A pre-stuffed turkey. Less work for me". Me and two other ladies turned and had that same look that my sisters and I had that fateful day a few years ago. I felt it my duty to warn her. The other two ladies must have had the same thought because we all went over to her at the same time. As we told her our thoughts about buying this pre-stuffed turkey I could tell she was a little annoyed. I glanced at her cart and saw all canned and packaged food. Clearly she is not a culinary expert and was only looking for an easy way to make dinner. One of the other ladies said "look you do what you want, but think about it. Stuffing in there against raw meat for Lord knows how long....I wouldn't if I were you".

She thanked us for our input and said she'd take her chances. We all looked at each other, kind of chuckled and wished one another a Happy Thanksgiving. Ladies I beg you. Think about what you feed your family. Yes, the convenience of some pre-packaged meals is great. But not all convenient food is good food. Whenever you can, take the time to learn how to make some key items from scratch. Trust me, you'll be better off. We don't know what kind of chemicals or other junk they pump the food with these days. We also don't know how long it's been sitting in your grocer's freezer either. So err on the side of prevention so you don't end up taking a trip to the emergency room.

I wish you all a very happy & safe & blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy the time with your friends and family and be thankful for all you have. Most importantly, be a blessing to others.

Adrienne

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What's For Dinner Mom?

Those four words irk me to no end. LOL I love my son. I've cooked for him for the last 17 years. I've made countless meals for his football team mates over the last four years. I cook every Thanksgiving & Christmas meal (and sometimes Easter). You know what? I'm exhausted! I admit, there are times when I revel in being in the kitchen. But these days I find myself counting down the days until he graduates.

Now, I know this sounds crazy coming from someone who is embarking on a cooking based business. But there's a difference. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to cook for my son. But there are times when I am super busy for most of the day (business) and the last thing I want to do is cook for able bodied men (him and his Dad). They know that I will kick them out of my kitchen to ensure the meal is prepared correctly. But I've gotten hip to their little game. Hubby & son have been playing me! But it's partly my fault because I fell for it. No more. Things are about to change. Hubby can cook. I've eaten his cooking from time to time. My son can cook some dishes. I've taught him myself. I also told him that he will be helping out in the "test kitchen" over the next few months. I received the obligatory "aw Mom!". But I don't care. He's going off to college soon and I want him to be able to take care of himself. There will be no more "what's for dinner mom" when he leaves home. So it's my job to prepare him.

My whole gripe is sometimes I would really love for the men in my life to say "that's ok, I'll cook tonight". But since that isn't happening, I guess I can ride it out for the next 6-7 months. In the mean time, I am very excited about Thyme Out for Mom. It'll give me a chance to serve my very best to people who hire us. This is the closest I can come to running a restaurant without actually having to own or work in one. I am looking forward to trying new recipes, creating new dishes, and experimenting until I perfect every meal I touch.

So come share this journey and watch as I go from Mom the cook, to Adrienne the chef. I look forward to the journey and the experience.

Adrienne

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Monday, November 24, 2008

New Moms Need a Thyme Out

Hello everyone. We’d like to welcome you to the Thyme Out for Mom blog. This will serve as our home base until out website is up and running. Allow us to introduce ourselves.

I am Adrienne Graham. I’m a serial entrepreneur and owner of Hues Consulting & Management Inc (a recruitment strategy, training & consulting firm specializing in diversity recruitment of senior level executives). I am an author of a soon to be released book Go Ahead, Talk to Strangers- The Modern Girl’s Guide to Fearless Networking, and I’m working on my second book on women power brokers. My passion is cooking and baking. I find that with the stresses of my other business endeavors, cooking relaxes me. I am a mom to a wonderful 17 year old soon to be graduated from high school son, but I always remember the early days when he needed me most. Several friends and family members have had babies this year and their experiences and my passion for cooking led to the creation of Thyme Out for Mom. Always the one people come to for food, I decided to make it into a business venture and talked my friend Cynthia into joining me (because with my other obligations, I’d go crazy trying to do it all myself). I live in Atlanta, GA and have the love and support of my family (wonderful hubby and amazing son). I can go on, but I’ll let Cynthia do her intro!

In addition to Personal Chef services for new moms, we also provide real time cooking lessons in person (locally) or via web. Look for our new cookbook to be released in mid 2009. We’ll be happy to share our experiences with you through this blog and video diaries. We hope you continue to follow us and learn a lot from us.

We salute all the moms!

Adrienne & Cynthia

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