Hello!

Welcome to the very first issue of the Gourmeted Newsletter.

We are so happy to finally launch and deliver the December issue to your mailbox. It's packed with 20 printable recipes for your upcoming feasts, including healthy options, such as Quinoa with Oven-Roasted Vegetables and the very guilt-free version of our Ultimate Brownies. We love indulging without the guilt as much as you do. :)

Here's wishing you --

May your get-togethers and feasts be filled with great food, lovely company, roars of laughter and smiles that warm the heart.

Joy & Dan

Recipes for the Holidays

To help you with your holiday menu planning, we've put together a collection of our favorite recipes. Just click on any recipe to download its print-ready PDF page. Enjoy!

• Baked Portobello Mushrooms with Tuna • Baked Potatoes & Beets w/ Garlic-Lemon-Thyme Dressing • Crisp Rosemary Flatbread • Gourmet Loaded Potatoes • Green Beans with Pancetta • Spinach Pancetta Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette	• Baked Salmon Pockets • Crustless Quiche (basic recipe you can   customize w/ your ingredients) • Herb Crusted Flat Iron Steak • Italian Sausage-Stuffed Chicken Breasts • Quinoa w/ Oven Roasted Veggies • Steaks in Mushroom-Madeira Sauce • Stuffed Baby Pumpkins
	• Apple Crumble Upside Down Cake • Chocolate Pudding Pie • Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes • Food For The Gods • Ultimate Brownies: Original or Healthy • Ultimate Caramel Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

Gourmeted.com turns 2!

On December 11, we will be celebrating the 2nd birthday of our "home" on the web. Wow, how did that happen?!

Thank you for being part of the fun-filled 24-month "Adventures of Two Desperate Foodies" and engaging us in our food and recipe chatter, leaving comments and suggestions, generously sharing your recipes and your expertise, and "tweeting" with us on Twitter!

We've also had the pleasure of meeting some of you at the food blogging events in San Francisco this year: Blogher Food (September 26) and Foodbuzz Festival (November 4-6). One thing's for sure: the food blogging world is a friendly lot! The best part about this journey is finding new lifelong friends who happen to be passionate about food, food photography/styling, and eating good food. For that, we are very grateful.

Some of you have noticed that our "Adventure" tagline was recently changed (good eye there, and thank you for the kind comments) to reflect how we've grown. If there's anything we have learned, it's this: "A Good Meal Makes Everything Better". Don't you think so?

Featured Elsewhere

December has been an exciting month for us so far. We have been included in Saveur's Best of the Web with the Garlic and Black Pepper Shrimp with Black-Eyed Peas recipe we posted last March 2009:

And Joy contributed this Healthier Ultimate Brownies article for the Craftzine.com's relaunch.

Knorks!

What's a Knork? A Knork is a fork that also works beautifully as a knife and it can cut through pizza and pears. We got to try this clever invention, thanks to our Foodbuzz Festival goodie bags. Since then, we couldn't get enough of it!** And we think you'll love it.

We're giving away Knorks to 4 lucky newsletter subscribers who give us some feedback about our newsletter -- good or bad, we'll take it. And you'll get a chance to win. :) Just go here and leave a comment. [Password is shown to subscribers only.]

We will randomly select 4 winners among those who leave comments. Winners will be selected on January 3 and announced in our January newsletter.

** This is not an advertisement and we are not paid in cash, or in kind, to endorse this product. Prizes will be purchased, wrapped, and sent by yours truly.

This December

• Foolproof Pie Dough Recipe - It has never failed after more than a dozen consecutive tries. We cannot wait to share this with you!
• Brined and Breast-up Roasted Turkey Recipe - The turkey recipe that almost never had any leftovers.
• Pumpkin Pie with Almond Nut Crust Recipe
• Recap of the Merlot Tasting at the Foodbuzz Festival
• Recap of the Wine Sparklers event at the Foodbuzz Festival
• We are hosting the 2009 Twitter Secret Santa Foodie Edition with 39 participants. They will be sending some holiday cheer to each other in the form of homemade goodies and kitchen gadgets. A number of people missed the deadline to join and have expressed interest in signing up for a mail exchange similar to it, so we just might host another one in February: My Secret ValenTwine. :-)

Oh, and stay tuned on December 11! *hint*

Ho Ho Ho!

My young cousins, Laurie (10) and Lea (8) wrote poems just for you. They are regular readers of the site and were so excited to have their poems published here. I highly recommend listening to the audio. Hope they bring a smile or two. I was certainly amused. - Joy