Tuesday evening we had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful family. Joe & Cindy Haan, their children, and a large extended family. In fact, we liked them so much we decided to adopt them as our own. Let me explain.
Cindy has Pulmonary Hypertension and Limited Scleroderma (or CREST) syndrome. PH is a very rare disorder where the vessels in the lungs are restricted, causing the heart to work overtime pushing blood through the lungs. This causes the right side of her heart to be enlarged from working so hard. Simple things can totally wear her out.
Limited Scleroderma affects the skin. It slowly hardens your skin. Cindy has a lot of trouble with her hands and fingers. She is also having a lot of trouble with her esophagus. She's had multiple surgeries, and will have more.
One of these on its own is enough to slow down or even stop many people. Cindy has both. Neither one of these has a known cure, and Cindy takes @ 20 meds every day. She has 3 wonderful children, ages 5, 7 & 9. This does not give her the luxury to slow down. Clothes get dirty, homework needs to be done, and they need to eat. This is where her family and friends come in.
Tuesday almost 20 of her nearest and dearest came together and made meals for them. Not just a few to get them thru the week, but a LOT. A FREEZER FULL!! These meals will allow Cindy to stop worrying about feeding her family and concentrate on spending quality time with them.
The sight of so many coming together to help someone they care for brought tears to my eyes. And it reinforced the whole reason why I love what I do. THIS is why we are here. To help families. To get to know our community. To make a difference. And Tuesday we did. How cool is that?
So we adopted her. And her family. Anytime someone comes in to make meals for the Haans, we will take 10% off those meals. And anytime someone wants to donate a meal or contribute to their meal fund, we will take 10% off.
To learn more about Cindy's condition phassociation.org is a good start.

Ok, part of my New Years Resolution was posting more pictures of the "finished product" so to speak. So far this month we have had the Baked Fish & Chips, Fireside Pork Roast, and the Tuscan Chicken. I remembered to take pics of the pork and the chicken. And now for my humble opinion.....
We all (my family of 4) have really enjoyed all 3 meals so far this month. My kids were VERY excited to learn that Dream Dinners has fries. Fries are a major food group in our house. The fish has a wonderful crunch to it, and the tartar sauce - yummy! It has capers in it, which gave the sauce an additional hit of vinegar.
The Pork Roast was very tender and moist. I really enjoyed the marinade with it. I would recommend to everyone that you keep the rest of the marinade and heat it up in a saucepan to serve on the side. My kids both thought it was a little (emphasis on little) spicy, but the spice was in the sauce, not the pork itself.
We had the Tuscan Chicken tonight, and as you can see by the photo, it was a full meal. We opted for the whole wheat pasta. Yes, we have whole wheat this month - yeah!! It cooked up in @ 25 min. and made the whole house smell wonderful. I must confess, I am not the most picky of eaters. However, my 7 year old IS. And even he admitted, somewhat grudgingly, that it was very good. I think the pasta helped him overlook the presence of artichoke hearts. I don't mind, I took the artichoke hearts.
Sooo, that's my 2 cents worth.
Every meal so far I plan to make again if possible. They were all very different from each other, that is nice.
Now, we always enjoy hearing your feedback. Whether you really enjoyed a meal and wish you had made more, or were disappointed in one and need a do-over. You can let us know in comments, by e-mail (26crossingin@dreamdinners.com) or in person when you come in for your next session.
Thanks!!

Community Food Drive

We have extended our Food Drive benefiting Faith Community Food Pantry. Please bring in your food donation to your next scheduled session. There are so many around us in need that we like to make sure ALL families were able to have a good meal together. Some ideas for donations are as follows:
Spaghetti Sauce~ Spaghetti Noodles~ Peanut Butter~ Jelly~ Cereal~ Pop Tarts~ Boxed Mashed Potatoes~ Cream of Mushroom Soup~ Cream of Chicken Soup~ Canned Chicken~ Canned Tuna~ Pancake Mix~ Syrup
Please visit their website, www.fcmlafayette.org, to view the complete list. We thank you for your involvement in helping further our mission!

Happy New Year!
Yes, I know I'm a few days late, but I still want to extend our best wishes to everyone.
It's a New Year and we are full of energy and enthusiasm. As always, new resolutions come to mind. Ours are very simple - to help more families eat healthy meals around the dinner table while saving money and time. I think this covers the majority of resolutions made. Did you know that almost 85% give up on their resolutions within 2 months? I think usually we set the bar too high. Change doesn't happen overnight. We need to give ourselves a little grace and patience while we learn new habits and unlearn the old.
With a New Year comes a new menu full of heart healthy dinners and sides to fill out your meal. As we expand our Chef Touched Menu we are looking at adding maybe a bread or two, and another vegetable. Many of our meals this month already have the potato or rice. So just add a veggie or salad and you're done! I look forward to having more soup as well. We have our wonderful Yellow Split Pea soup again! Add some Sour Dough Bread Bowls for a complete meal. It will be available starting Tuesday, Jan. 6 - while supplies last. And we are also offering a Super Bowl Party Pack. 6-servings each of the Canadian Bacon French Bread, Teriyaki Meatballs, and Almond Chicken. Add some chips, veggies & dip, and you have a party! The Party Pack is available for $65.00 and we encourage you to pre-order.
Our allergy info will be posted in a few days, and I have a new camera thanks to my wonderful Father-in-Law. Thanks Fred!! So one of my New Years Resolutions is to take pics of the various meals and post them for all to see, as well as more pictures in general.
We look forward to seeing you this month!!
Check our our menu - www.dreamdinners.com
sign up today!
Blessings~
Tammy

Merry Christmas~
We hope you have had wonderful Christmas! It was so nice to be able to relax and enjoy a day with family. For Christmas Breakfast we had the Raspberry Stuffed French Toast. How many others had it? It was perfect to just pop in the oven and pull out 30 min.later. Yummy!!
I would post some pics but... I dropped my camera into my cup of coffee this morning. Yup, not working. So off to Berry's Camera Shop we will go tomorrow. Here's hoping that they can work some magic. Otherwise I guess I'm asking Santa for a camera next year :(
We are closed for the rest of this week, but look at our January menu and calender and start planning. We have a new menu, and many brand new entrees. We also have the Canadian Bacon Stuffed French Bread again in January!! Sessions start Friday, Jan. 2 and all sessions for the 2nd & 3rd are open for children 10 and up. So spend some quality time with the kids, get them out of the house doing something productive, and come in and make your January meals.
We are also continuing our Food Drive. We hope everyone will bring in a few cans or boxes to benefit the Faith Community Food Pantry.
Have a Blessed Christmas~
Tammy

Happy Anniversary to Us!!
Today we celebrate our 1 year anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been a year already, but at the same time I find myself wondering how it's only a year. We've learned A LOT this year, and we've met a lot of wonderful, fabulous people that we didn't know a year ago.
We've had so many people come into our store, and I hope, walk out having had a great time and taking home some great food. Now we just need to figure out how to get everyone to come back every month, or even every other month! So this is where you come in. We want to hear from you!! What are we doing right? And what are we doing wrong? How can we help you more? What could we improve? We believe there are many of you out there who plan on coming in, but for some reason or another don't. So we want to know.

We want to say THANK YOU! to everyone who has come in, made meals with us, supported us and encouraged us. We could not have done it without you. And THANK YOU to all of our fabulous and dedicated employees. We are so blessed to have such a great team.

For all you Dr. Phil watchers out there - Dream Dinners will be participating in the Tuesday, Dec. 16 show. So watch, or set your DVRs, and then let us know what you think!

Blessings~

Allergy info for December

We know that allergies are at the top of many minds. Every month we look at all our meals and their ingredients. We will post info regarding the 8 major food allergens on our blog for you to refer to. Please know that we take food allergies very seriously and will work with you if you have any concerns.
body & soul Mediterranean Cod ~ none
Thai Ginger Beef Kabobs ~ none
Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms & Mashed Potatoes ~ milk, soybean oil, wheat
Raspberry Stuffed French Toast ~ eggs, milk, almonds, wheat
Shrimp Scampi ~ shellfish, milk
Fruit Stuffed Pork Roast ~ wheat, treenuts
* still waiting on info re croutons
Pecan Crusted Pork Chops & Garlic Mashed Potatoes ~ milk, treenuts, wheat
Chicken Parmesan with Garlic Bread ~ wheat, milk
Lemon Chicken Piccata ~ in the soupbase - wheat, soy
Tuscan Steaks ~ pignoli nuts
Chicken Tetrazzini ~ milk, soy, wheat
Chicken Enchiladas ~ wheat, milk
Cheese Lover's Manicotti ~ wheat, milk
Chicken Paella ~ milk, soy, wheat
Turkey Medallions ~ milk


Many times these meals can be made with some simple substitutions to eliminate the allergens.
We are also learning more about Gluten/Celiac disease.
And as always, our nutritional information is available on dreamdinners.com

Hope to see you this month!