Inactive

YIKES!!!! I just tried to do something on the Pampered Chef website, and it told me I was inactive!! I agree I haven't done all that I could in my power to do more with Pampered Chef, but I have been reading material, practicing with my new tools I got with my kit, and trying to have 3 contacts a day. I have only done two shows so far, but none of them have actually been shows! 

I am not giving up yet, but it is a little depressing to see that inactive status. I need to really step it up, especially since my husband is planning on quitting his job here soon to sell insurance. So we will be strictly living off commissions, either from me or from him. After having him on salary for the past few years, this will be a HUGE difference. Down right scary if you ask me.

2nd Show-Mommy & Me Pampered Chef Party

When my kids found out that I was a consultant, they wanted to help me sell the stuff as well. But how could a 7, 5, and 3 year old help me sell? Then I got to thinking, they love to help me cook in the kitchen, so maybe I could do a party where they were my helpers and they could show their friends how to cook. But then my next thought was, the kids can't buy the stuff. So I would need to have the moms know that they were needed there. Hence the name of the party; Mommy & Me.

Recipe: S'more Cups

Things I did differently

• I bought the bigger chocolate bars, and so instead of just braking them into their normal rectangles I broke the rectangles in half again.
• To make it so more of the kids could participate in crushing the graham crackers we put 1-2 graham crackers in the chopper. They had a blast with that.
• Some of the graham crackers weren't compacted  down with the tart shaper very well, so when it came time to dip them into the melted chocolate they were really crumbly. So I ended up drizzling the chocolate on the top of some of the marshmallows. It was a little less mess on my fingers, and I could've made them more fancy looking with thin lines, but I was in too big of a hurry.

Thing I learned

• Good to make some ahead that were already cooled.
• Dark chocolate took longer to melt both in the microwave, and on the graham cracker mix. And in return took longer to cool to eat. Almond chocolate was good on the bottom layer, but was harder to dip for the top layer.

Other Recipe:Pizza Puffs

Things I did differently

• I didn't have a cut & seal, so I started to use a wide mouth canning jar. Then one of the moms suggested I use cookie cutters. So we had star and ginger bread shaped pizzas
• I forgot the recipe said to chop the pepperoni and mushrooms, so they were a little more bulky.
• I did pineapple, it really added a sweetness to it that I think it needed. 
• Didn't put the top part on, I was having a hard time sealing them, but maybe if I actually had the cut & seal tool I wouldn't of had that problem. And the cooking time was less with out the tops.

What I learned.

• I should've had the stuff sliced up, grated, etc before hand with the kids. It took way too long to let all the kids have a turn on doing some of those things. 

If I do another Mommy & Me Pampered Chef Party I will do the following things differently

• Have the kids help me at the kitchen table, not at my small island. It was way too crowded.
• Practice more with my kids before hand, so they knew more what they were doing. I did most of the recipes because I hadn't taught my kids the majority of what was needed to be done. So my kids were really frustrated with me.
• The moms should've been assigned to help the kids with certain tasks, and not me helping them. That way we could've had more then one thing getting done at one time, instead of me helping each child with each task. 

Only two moms showed up to this show, but both moms purchased some stuff. Sadly not enough for a party, once again. = ( I am not giving up though, because I know that everyone has LOVED the products, and my presentation skills will only get better. 

My Opening Show

My opening show I only gave my guests a few days notice, but I still got a few people to show up. We made the Lime-Berry Mousse Trifle. I am not one for the taste of Lime, but I have to admit I was looking for a recipe that would help me demonstrate quite a few products in one recipe.

Here are some things I changed from the original recipe:

• I used my deep covered baker to roast the almonds in the micro wave with. We just stirred them every 20 seconds or so.
• My store didn't have fresh strawberries so we used frozen. I made sure that they were fully defrosted, rinsed and patted them as dry as I could to try and not make them so mushy.

What I learned

•  Do not feel dumb about looking at the recipe. Otherwise you will do as I did and put 2-3 C condensed milk and not 2/3 C. 
• Don't make guests feel like they have to try products. Do most of the work and occasionally ask if someone wants to try a product after you have demonstrated it. 

My sells weren't as high as I would like, to be honest they weren't high at all. I wasn't even able to count it as a show. How embarrassing when it was my opening show. But I did get 5 people wanting to host a show for me!!! That was a big success.

And even though my recipe was made wrong, with too much condensed milk, it still tasted really yummy. Even for the lime haters like me = )