It’s always wonderful to hear from our readers. Last week Eydie took the time to write us regarding our article on mincemeat pie. Along with her appreciation, she shared a couple good ideas. I thought you might like to know what Eydie knows. And I want to thank her for taking the time to write and share:

“Loved your article in my monthly Cook'n Newsletter giving the history of mincemeat.

“My mother always cooked up a shoulder roast for her pies. After it cooked and she took off all extraneous fat, she ran it through the food/meat grinder before adding her other ingredients. If she was in a big hurry, she'd through in a quart of NonSuch Mince Pie filling instead of chopping and dicing all the fruits. Every thanksgiving she'd bake at least 4 of those pies.

“She never, ever gave out her entire recipe (even to me!) but I've never forgotten the exquisiteness of her mincemeat pie. I think running the roast through the meat grinder was the big secret of her success because the meat was evenly distributed and you didn't end up with a mouthful of meat and nothing else.”

Another note I received a few months ago, from Mark, talked about how he tried out the free trial offer of America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School. Their ad said “Become a fearless cook. Guaranteed. Our one-of-a-kind online cooking courses will help you become the best cook you know. Choose from 200+ courses for everyone from novice to advanced cooks and learn at your own pace, anywhere you are.” Mark found it really helpful, ended up signing up for the full range of classes, and thought our readers might like to know about it. We appreciate Mark taking the time to pass this information on!

And then there was the note from JanaLynn, expressing her thanks for the articles from time to time on food storage and preparedness. She wanted us to know she’d found a terrific book on the subject, Food Storage Made Easy by Jodi Moore and Julie Weiss. She thought our readers would like to know about it as well. I’ve since read lots of reviews on this book and it’s getting 5 stars consistently. So thank you, JanaLynn, we appreciate this tip.

And we continue to hear from readers regarding our health-oriented articles. Lots of you are glad to see vegan-related information. Not too long ago, Allen wrote to say he was glad for more vegan recipes and information on dealing with internal inflammation. He closed his email with a suggestion that I do an article on matcha tea. He said “Drinking matcha regularly reduces the damage caused by free radicals. This has anti-aging implications plus it’s excellent news for building a stronger immune system!”

I’ll be following up on his suggestion next week, and really appreciate him taking the time to send it along. And that’s the thing, Cook’n is about you, your interests, and your needs. Our total focus is to provide timely and truly helpful information that actually makes a difference to you. So please don’t hesitate to follow the leads of Eydie, Mark, JanaLynn, and Allen. Keep those comments and emails comin’. We take them seriously and are grateful for your input.

Here’s to good Cook’n. It’s better because of YOU—our reason for bein’!