Season's Greetings! The Taste of Home staff is enjoying our winter break, celebrating the season with family and friends, and we expect you're doing the same. But we hope you'll find a few quiet moments to enjoy this newsletter and respond to the requests for recipes and other information—and we'd love to hear which recipes you tried from our Dec/Jan issue.

WE NEED YOUR RECIPES!

Food Editor Pat Schmeling is looking for recipes in the following categories for upcoming issues. If you have family favorites that fit any (or all) of these categories, please send them to fieldeditors@tasteofhome.com. You may see one of them in print! DEADLINE: Jan. 18, 2010.

INDIVIDUAL DESSERTS: Do you make pretty individual desserts to serve at dinner parties or other special occasions? We're looking for small eclairs, cream puffs, creme brulee, parfaits, tarts, cheesecake bites, puddings and other sweet treats made in individual pans or ramekins. 

PEANUT BUTTER: Share your favorite recipes that use peanut butter as an ingredient—from pies, cakes and candies to stir-fries and Thai specialties.

MEDITERRANEAN: The Mediterranean diet emphasizes eating healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, pasta or rice, and shellfish, flavored with herbs and spices. This includes Greek and Italian dishes and more. Please send us your most-requested dishes.

ASIAN-STYLE APPETIZERS: We'd love to receive your best recipes for spring rolls, lettuce wraps, pot stickers, meatballs, satay and any other savory bites with an Asian flare.

HOT DRINKS: When enjoying hot cocoa, hot buttered rum and other winter favorites over the next week or two, please remember to send us your yummiest hot beverage recipes.

HALLOWEEN: We're always on the lookout for new recipes and party ideas for this fun and festive holiday. Did you try something new this year that was a big hit? Please share!

SPECIAL OFFER!

To thank you for all you've done throughout the year, promoting Taste of Home in your community and sending us recipes and tips for our magazine, we're offering you our special 40% Field Editor discount on not one, but two best-selling cookbooks:

Taste of Home Annual 2010. This popular cookbook features recipes from an entire year of Taste of Home magazine. Plus, you'll find more than 100 bonus dishes—for a total of 506 scrumptious delights in one keepsake edition. From snacks and breads to soups and desserts, all of your favorite Taste of Home recipes from 2009 are here! (Regular price $24.99, item 39133.)


Holidays & Celebrations 2009. This brand-new edition features 242 never-before-published recipes shared by family cooks from coast to coast. Whether you’re celebrating Christmas or planning a backyard barbecue, these mouth-watering menu items, party favors and simple centerpieces will make your next party merry and bright. (Regular price $24.99, item 39131.)

OUR ADVERTISERS WANT YOU!

Several of our advertising partners are interested in working with Taste of Home Field Editors on various projects, such as in-store demonstrations, product feedback, and providing recipes for their advertisements. You may pick and choose which opportunities you want to participate in. All arrangements will be between the advertiser and the Field Editor. If you are interested in learning more, please send an E-mail to fieldeditors@tasteofhome.com. Please put "Advertisers" on the subject line.

SPREADING THE WORD

These Field Editors are promoting Taste of Home in their community. Let us know how you're getting involved by sending an E-mail to fieldeditors@tasteofhome.com. Please put “Spreading the Word” in the subject line.

• “Two years ago, my Buttermilk Cake with Caramel Icing won a Taste of Home Potluck Contest in Lexington, Kentucky. Since then, I've been baking one for our annual Christmas bazaar at church. The president of our ladies church group puts a note in front of the cake, saying it is a contest winner and that I'm a Taste of Home Field Editor. The cake sells quickly, and the comments I hear about the magazine are wonderful.” —Anna Jean Allen, West Liberty, Kentucky

• “I've been a Field Editor at least 10 years and have helped at Cooking Schools for the past 4 years. That inspired me to start a once-a-month cooking class in my community. Students range in age from 13 to 60-plus. They decide what we'll prepare for each class. We usually make an appetizer or salad, a main dish, side dish and dessert.
  About 18 people participate, and they work in pairs or threesomes at different stations. The ingredients are put in a central location, and the students pick the ingredients they need and measure them out. I help where needed and demonstrate any technique they are not familiar with. I buy the supplies and divide the cost among the participants; it usually averages about $3 to $4 per person. When the food is ready, we eat together. It's always a fun time!” —Teri Rasey, Cadillac, Michigan

FIELD EDITOR FORUM FUN!

Join us in the tasteofhome.com Field Editor Forum as we launch a new series, Field Editor Forum Fun. Every week, we’ll ask for your input on a wide range of topics…some meant to get your pulse going, others just for fun. It’s your chance to share your opinion and converse with other Field Editors.

Here are a couple of recent topics…

If Taste of Home were to do a TV show... play along!

What’s your tried-and-true Christmas cookie/candy?

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Have you been recognized as a Taste of Home Field Editor, like these women have? We want to hear about it! Send your story to fieldeditors@tasteofhome.com.

• “We live in Alabama, but my daughter goes to college in Wisconsin. After our family's pictures and some of my recipes were in Light and Tasty a few years ago, I had to contact a secretary at the college. She recognized our family's name from the magazine. I was surprised but shouldn't have been. Taste of Home is well-known everywhere!” —Julie Williquette, Hartselle, Alabama

• “It's my opinion that, in order to get recognition, all you need to do is leave a copy of Taste of Home in a beauty salon. After my article appeared and I took a copy to the shop, it stayed around forever. So many customers asked the owner, “Doesn’t that lady come in here?” The owner later told me that she had subscribed to the magazine for the shop, and many other customers did likewise.” —Betsy Hedeman, Timonium, Maryland

Enjoy the rest of the holiday season and best wishes for a delicious New Year! See you in January.

Barbara Schuetz, Managing Editor
Erik Bergstrom, Web Community Manager