Reviews For Taste Of Home Magazine


Taste of Home

Recently I?ve been reviewing exercise videos and my current mission to "get in shape." This review explains part of the reason that I need those videos so much ?
I love to eat, and I love to eat food that is "bad for you." Especially desserts. Lucky for me, Taste of Home magazine comes to my door six times a year, full of recipes that are delicious and that aren?t difficult to make (unlike some of the recipes in the "gourmet magazine category, like? well, Gourmet).

Since I?ve been obsessing over the most recent copy, I will review the contents of it (June/July 2001 issue), but the format is constant.

The first thing that I do when I get my issue of Taste of Home in the mail is not to look at the recipes. This might sound a bit strange, because I like to look at pictures of food. But the first thing I do is to look for the drawing of a toothpick hidden in each issue. It can be any size and on any page, but it always looks the same. When you find it, you can send your name in with the location of the toothpick, making you eligible for a drawing for small prizes for your kitchen. I never send my name in, but I must find the toothpick before I do anything else!

Of course, the recipes are the second thing that I spend my time on. As I mentioned before, these recipes are not, for the most part, things that, say, Dick Cheney should be eating. But they do use common ingredients (you are not going to have to go off looking for capers or anything) and they are usually not difficult to prepare. The result is a magazine full of recipes that remind me of those church potlucks where there are dozens of chicken dishes, potato salads, and fabulous gooey desserts.

The recipes are split up into various columns. Single people and couples will appreciate the "Cooking for One or Two" column. Those on a budget will enjoy a column devoted to making a meal that costs little per serving. I like "My Mom?s Best Meal," and this month that column includes a killer Creamy Potato Salad that I?ve bribed my husband to make twice already. Other columns include "Kids Favor Fun Foods" (recipes and suggestions to get your kids to eat), "Good Food That?s Good For You" (see, Dick Cheney isn?t totally left out), "Meatless But Marvelous," "Getting to Know Herb," "Potluck Pleasers," and "Men Who Run the Range." There are actually more regular columns than that, but I am getting tired out typing!

While some of the recipes are scattered about the magazine, most of them are printed on "clip and keep" pages, sized to fit into your recipe file, should you decide to clip them. I don?t do this because I wouldn?t toss the magazine out anyway ? there are too many recipes not included in this section. (Plus I don?t want to do all that extra work!) But it is a nice feature for those who only want to keep one or two favorite recipes.

Because desserts are my specialty, I have tried a couple of the bar recipes that were included in the June/July issue. The Raspberry Almond Bars were very good, but the Cappuccino Cake Brownies wowed our dinner guests and disappeared very quickly. There is also a Two-Tone Fudge Brownie recipe this month that is a brownie with cookie dough on top (sans raw eggs, of course) ? I can?t wait to try this one, but I fear what will happen to my waist.

Other features of Taste of Home include tips from readers, contests, and a section in which readers share mealtime prayers. I always enjoy perusing the section that asks other readers for various recipes. This month someone is looking for a recipe for carrot jam, someone wants a recipe for black licorice ice cream, and someone else wants one for a cheesecake with a fudge layer and a pumpkin layer. (I think I?d pass on the first two, but to each their own!) It is fun to see what dishes people have been hoping to re-discover, and who knows, maybe someday I?ll have a recipe to send to someone!

I love Taste of Home magazine. I love to look at the pictures and it even motivates me to actually get into the kitchen and make things. It might be responsible for a few extra inches on the thighs someday, but it is worth the extra workouts I?ve been doing! I would recommend Taste of Home to anyone who enjoys "home country cooking," and who doesn?t have dietary health issues to worry about.


Recommended:
Yes

recipes for everyone

i have been on their mailing list for a few years, and will be on it for many more. This magazine offers something for every cook,be it novice to expert, cooking for 2 or 102. If your looking for praise from your kitchen then this a good place to start looking and finding those recipes. I have never given a magazine subscription as a gift, but this past Christmas, because of the excellence of this one,I gave subscriptions to it to both my sister and niece who love to cook. I cannot praise the over a thousand editors and contributors highly enough for coming up with such a unique magazine......It gives over 100 recipes in each issue, main course through deserts and snacks, an "ask me" section where readers can ask others for recipes they remember from their past that have been lost.......I'm a very basic, very good cook, I love the tried and true recipes, and this magazine has that and so much more......... The "My Favorite Meals" is one of my "favorites" because it's usually "Moms" dinners and it gives you some of the best recipes I have ever found in any cookbook, and a peek into other cultures and cuisines. They have contests for the readers to offer their best recipes using certain fruits, vegetables or meats and then post the winner's and 3 or 4 runner up recipes in future issues for their readers..... My Father, being the main cook in our house as I grew up, makes me gravitate always to the "Men Who Run The Range" section and am rarely dissappointed in what I find. I hope everyone who loves to cook orders this magazine..I know you will love it and find it well worth the subscription price.......I have to add that this magazine comes in a cellophane wrap with additional flyers enclosed such as "Savings Pack", that has quite a few coupons and additional recipes and "Country Store" which offers savings on products that are new on the market and/or useful to all who love to cook.......))


Recommended:
Yes

AHHH the SMELL of MY KITCHEN *P*

I have to be honest with you , I just sent in my postcard to subscribe to this magazine. BUT What I am going to write about is the reasons why I am subscribing to this wonderful magazine.

My Mother in law lives in a small town in Iowa. There they still cook their Husbands three meals and bake wonderful smelling pastries. I was raised in the big city and my Mom cooked but not usually by recipe. She made tasty dishes but nothing she could really pass down. I love reading cook books and Have always enjoyed them but again need to be honest and say I do not coook by recipe very often.

Ok Ok I am getting to the point. During a visit to my in laws I was reading her wonderful cookbooks when I stumbled upon a magazine Yes It was the "Taste OF Home". Oh I could not out it down. The articles where so much fun to read. Reading about how a recipe was passed down from generation to generation.

There is a section where someone submits a whole meal of recipes and it tell you how much that meal cost per serving. It is not only helpful when budgeting for meals you can chose from different meal plans. I have tried one of the recipes and it was delicious. It was a pumpkin spice cake.

I was so impressed by the stories, the recipes, the canning tips, the meals by men, that I had to have this magazine. My best friends mother in law subscribe her to this magazine the year before she died and she was so excited she called long distance to tell me about it. We figured out we both were nuts about this magazine.

SO, if you desire to make a wonderful tasting home cooked meal and on budget you can afford You have to check this magazine out. I paid 14.95 for a years subscription and I will get a magazine a month. I have a hole punch and will be putting all of my magazines into a three ring notebook. I know you will love this Taste of Home as much as I do. It is well worth the money.


Recommended:
Yes

Great Magazine

Taste of Home is a great magazine, full of recipes and tips. This is one of the few magazines I have seen that have no advertisements. It's a very high quality magazine, with glossy pages. I save my magazines and use the recipes in them frequently.

There are many regular articles which include:

Here's One of Our 1,000 Editors...and Here's Her Favorite Meal! - This feature has a newsy article by the person selected and the recipes for her favorite meal are included.

A Complete Meal...in A Matter of Minutes - This feature has the recipes for a meal with a picture. They always look so delicious! In the current issue the recipes include Italian Grilled Cheese, Sausage Bean Soup, and Pretty Cherry Parfaits.

Surefire Potluck Pleasers! This is a great feature if you go to potluck dinners. It's nice to take something different. The recipes they include are always unique and they're crowd pleasers. I've tried several of them.

Cooking with Coleen - this is a section for questions from readers.

Feed Your Family for .89 a Plate! This issue has recipes for Tuna Mushroom Casserole, Snap Salad, and Vanilla Wafer Cookies. The picture sure does make this meal look good.

'How I Get My Kids to Cook' - This feature tells how readers make cooking enjoyable for their children. This includes a picture of the children.

'My Mom's Best Meal' - This is pretty much self explanatory. There is a 3/4 page picture of the meal with recipes included.

I could go on and on about the good points of Taste of Home but I think you can tell that I thoroughly enjoy it. If you like to cook and enjoy trying new recipes, this is definitely the magazine for you!



Recommended:
Yes

mmmmmmm........

I developed my love of cooking sometime between graduating from high school and moving out on my own. I spent many hours learning and experimenting in my grandma's kitchen. I'm not sure where my grandma first heard of Taste of Home, but I was hooked the second the first issue arrived in her mailbox.

I had looked through several other cooking magazines, only to end up feeling very overwhelmed. They contained recipes for foods I'd never heard of, called for ingredients that I didn't even know where to begin to look for, and required cooking utensils to which I didn't have access. I wondered if any real people actually made these foods, let alone ate them. Taste of Home was the complete opposite of these other magazines. It contained recipes that other readers have been feeding to their families for years. The ingredients were things that were already in the pantry. The foods were familiar and appetizing.

When I moved out of my grandma's home, I was hoping she would pass her issues of Taste of Home on to me after she read them. No such luck. She let me read them, but she wanted them back. It was time to get my own subscription. That was five years ago, and I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every issue.

Taste of Home is edited by 1,000 cooks from all over the country. They help to write the articles and they also contribute some of the recipes found in each issue. This is part of what makes Taste of Home such an excellent magazine. The editors are real people - your neighbor, your sister, your friend from church, who cook for their own families everyday. They know what the typical cook looks for in a recipe - convenient, frugal, and tasty enough to get even the pickiest person in the family to fill themselves up.

Here are some of the regular features in each issue of Taste of Home:

Here's One of Our 1,000 Editors... and Here's Her Favorite Meal

A Complete Meal... In a Matter of Minutes

Cooking for One or Two

How I Get My Kids to Cook

My Mom's Best Meal

Good Food That's Good For You

When the Gang's All Here

Fishing For Game Recipes?

These are just a few of the features found in each issue. As you can see, many different topics are covered. There are recipes for those who are diabetic or those who need to watch their fat intake. These recipes all come with a nutritional analysis and diabetic exchange. There are fish and game recipes in every issue. There is even a section on cooking for large crowds, which has come in very handy for me at family reunions and other large functions.

When this magazine arrives in my mail box every other month, I can hardly wait for a chance to sit down and read it from cover to cover. Many of my "old stand-bys" have come from Taste of Home, and I am always anxious to try out some new recipes. The drawback is that many of the recipes contain a lot of fat. As with anything, if you use moderation, you will be okay. I balance it out either by choosing the low-fat recipes for some meals or by substituting some of the ingredients with low-fat alternatives. However, the occasional high-fat meal never killed anybody, and boy is it tasty!




Recommended:
Yes

Real Home Cooking

I've subscribed to Taste of Home for a couple years now and I haven't been disappointed with one single issue yet.

I love to try new recipes all the time, and this magazine lets me do that with ease.
All the recipes are fairly simple, with ingredients you're likely to have on hand, and if you don't they aren't anything exotic or hard to find.

In fact I have the stack of all my magazines filled with post its on pages of recipes I still want to try.

I love the "cooking for a crowd" feature in every issue. If you ever have to cook for a large gathering this is the section to go to !
I'm always amazed at the quantities these recipes put out, true to the name of the feature.

I also like the "men on the range" section.
This section features one person (a man obviously) and gives his recipe for a complete meal.
It also gives a little bio of the featured "man on the range"

Each month also "features" one herb, and tells you all about it and gives several recipes that it can be used in.

I love the cut-out recipe cards in the middle, although I never have the nerve to actually cut them out, they're much easier to lose that way I think.

In my busy home with three kids, and all the activities that go along with them Taste of Home recipes always come through in the quick, easy, practical, and "real" departments.
I've yet to try a recipe from one that we haven't liked.
Many of them are comfort type foods too, or variations on some childhood favorites.

My all time favorite Beef Brisket recipe is in an issue from 1996, and while there are many ingredients, they're all ordinary and it comes together easliy and quickly, and it's always a hit, which is always a plus.

If you love trying new recipes without wanting to be a gourmet I strongly suggest this magazine.


Recommended:
Yes

Great Magazine for Anyone who likes to cook

This is a fantastic magazine. It covers a wide range of foods and methods of cooking. The magazine is edited by regular people from across the US and Canada. They all contribute to the production of each issue.

When I first found this magazine, it was geared towards "country cooking". I find that the recipes and ideas in this publication can be useful in any household. There are recipes for one or two servings and you can even find recipes to feed up to 100 people.

The magazine actively seeks reader input by sponsoring contests for recipes, and by giving away prizes for just reading the magazine. There is even a section for asking questions. An example would be someone who wrote in looking for a recipe of a certain type of pie that their grandmother used to make.

There is no outside advertising in this magazine. There are a lot of other cooking mags out there but half the issue if filled with advertisements. You won't find that in the publication.

One big plus I really like is that the middle 10-12 pages are printed like recipe cards. You can cut them out, laminate them and store them easily. A great feature if you ask me.


Recommended:
Yes

Great Magazine!

The Taste of Home Magazine is the best magazine that I've seen. The recipes are very easy to follow. I tried to follow Martha Stewart and had a hard time. The taste of home magazine comes every 2 months. It is loaded with recipes, contests and coupons. Some of the contests are looking for a toothpick in the magazine and adding up the coupons that you get. There are 3 prizes if its found. The most important item is that the editors are the readers themselves. The recipes are true and unique!! They don't use hard to find gadgets and food items. Please get and you will enjoy it!


Recommended:
Yes

Real Home Cooking!

I've been getting this magazine for five years now, and some of my issues are quite dog-eared. This magazine appeals to me because my husband and I grew up with families that sat down to 3 or 4 course meals every day. I like to continue the same tradition, except I favor meals that can either simmer on their own, or be put together with a minimum of fuss.

This isn't a Martha Stewart cookbook, which is why it appeals to me. The recipes are presented with a minimum of fuss or decor, yet appealing to the eye and the appetite.

A word of caution, many of the recipes are loaded with fat and calories, so some adjustments may be in order. I often substitute skim milk or canola oil whenever I can and have gotten good results. One section of the magazine is devoted to "Food That's Good For You" which is also geared towards those with diabetes. Another section is devoted to cooking for a crowd, with portions averaging 50 to 100 servings. You will also find recipes for two in every issue.

My favorite aspect of the magazine is the complete meal of a featured cook. All the recipes for this meal are found on a 3 x 5 recipe card that you can cut out and put into a recipe file.

Every issue has "Ted's Toothpick" hidden in it. Of all the years of getting this magazine, I've never found one of them despite casual searches for it. My aunt, on the other hand, finds it in every issue. Subscribers can submit their findings and have a chance to win prizes for finding the toothpick.

A big plus of this magazine is that it's straightforward and has no advertising. You'll find it chock full of helpful hints and recipes that go back generations.

It's definitely worth the money.


Recommended:
Yes

Taste of Home - Easy Recipes Using Real Ingredients

I like Taste of Home magazine. I have found some delicious recipes from it, one of my favorite reasons is because unlike some cooking magazines in Taste of Home you'll find recipes using "real" ingredients - meaning stuff you actually know and can find at your local grocery store!



Taste of Home has several helpful sections - such as Cooking for One or Two, Theme Parties/menus, recipes for snacks, potlucks, brown bag lunches - you name it.



I have found the recipes easy to follow and what I have tried we've enjoyed. It is also nice that the feature recipes are on clip out pages that will fit in a standard recipe file.



I also think its nice that they mention something about the cook - I find it interesting to learn a little about the person behind the recipe and where it originated, etc. I also enjoy the articles about small businesses that readers have "cooked up". Its very interesting to see how something as simple as a good recipe can turn into a profitable home business - or more.



I recommend Taste of Home to anyone who would like to try some simple recipes - it also makes a great gift for someone just starting out, or, for yourself!

Recommended:
Yes

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