Sally Treonze joins staff of nation’s
largest-circulation food magazine
By:Mary Kaempfen
Pretty soon Sally Treonze of Mountain View Road expects to have an audience of some 4.5 million people for her home-tested recipes.
And that’s not just wishful thinking, because the busy teacher and local volunteer recently joined the field staff of the magazine, A Taste of Home. The publication is produced by cooks who feature their favorite recipes, food tips, entertaining ideas, and regional food-related news in each issue.
A Taste of Home has been published for 10 years and is edited by 1,000 home-based practical cooks, such as Ms. Treonze, and has grown from an appetizing idea into the nation’s largest food magazine with 4.5 million subscribers.
Ms. Treonze is already heavily involved in the food business. In addition to adding "editor" to her credits, she teaches Family and Consumer Science at the Flemington Raritan Middle School, volunteers for the Project Graduation party, coordinates and cooks at family gatherings, trades recipes with friends, and enters cooking contests for the 4H.
Ms. Treonze hasn’t published a recipe yet in A Taste of Home, but she is planning to submit a recipe soon for Polynesian cake, a favorite of her students.
Ms. Treonze became interested in a Taste of Home soon after the magazine started publication.
She began developing her interest in cooking when she took over the cooking at her childhood home when her widowed mother went off to work. The kitchen responsibility only served to whet her appetite (no pun intended) for fussing with food.
In 1970, Ms. Treonze obtained her family and consumer science degree at Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va. But it was the College of New Jersey that gave her the education degree in needed for teaching.
Ms. Treonze said kids liked best that they make things in her classes. "The little ones like cookies … seventh-graders like cake decorating and the eighth-graders, who have huge appetites, like main dishes like lasagna. Besides encouraging math skills and practicing the art of following directions, cooking instills confidence and pride when the children are rewarded with something in the end.
"I try to show the children that they can prepare simple food that’s good for them," she said.
Ms. Treonze also tries to show her students that food preparation is important, that there are lots of careers in cooking there are even four-year colleges that teach hotel and restaurant management.
Ms. Treonze’s favorite food is lasagna it follows that her favorite cuisine is Italian, especially when she also likes chicken scaloppini. Scalloped potatoes are one of her favorite dishes, and she is an all-time lover of different kinds of salads. At Christmas time, 27 guests were present when Ms. Treonze fixed beef tenderloin for the evening’s main entrée.
Ms. Treonze had many culinary interests that led her to A Taste of Home. She cooked for the PTA and her son’s Little League team, she helped cook for the Project Graduation, and she has helped kids in school to enjoy cooking. And under her nose, things are "made" and not "bought."
She has a heavy roster of activities. Besides being chairwoman of the Youth Services Commission and a volunteer for Project Graduation, Ms. Treonze runs a teen center twice a month at the local YMCA, judges 4-H sewing contests, teaches American Red Cross baby-sitting at the middle school, and entertains guests where she receives accolades for her recipes. The appreciative "guests" often include her husband, Anthony, three sons and two daughters-in-law.
And what does Ms. Treonze do just for herself? She’s a Scrabble addict. It’s a heady switch from working with one’s hands.
Here is the recipe for Polynesian cake that Ms. Treonze said is one of her students’ favorites:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sugar
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup corn oil
1 cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup water
1 small can crushed pineapple
3 eggs
1 cup flaked coconut
2 teaspoons baking soda.
Mix ingredients and pour into a greased and floured 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Frosting: fold 1-cup whipped heavy cream (till thick) into one package of vanilla instant pudding whipped with 1-cup milk until thick. Sprinkle the top with coconut after frosting.

