toledoblade.com --

Last week Julie Didion, senior sales consultant for Tastefully Simple, had three home taste-testing parties. On Tuesday night the Toledo resident made meatballs with "two of our sauces - Vidalia Onion Dressing and Tastefully Simple Sweet & Sour Mustard," she says. "These are pour-and-serve sauces. I put frozen meatballs in the Crockpot and add the sauces."

For 18 guests, host Joy McKarus of Sylvania made five dips in 20 minutes and the signature Tastefully Simple Bountiful Beer Bread Mix, and Nana's Apple Cake that baked in 45 minutes each.

Pampered Chef consultant Debra Skrzynecki of Ida, Mich., who has been with the company since 1995, has done more than 1,600 cooking shows around Toledo and southeast Michigan. On Tuesday night she had an ice cream social showcasing tools such as stoneware to make brownies for a brownie sundae, she says. She served fresh strawberries, blueberries, and nuts in Pampered chef products and made Bananas Foster Stir-fry. "With different tools, we show how you put things together."

Janice Moore of Walbridge has done 210 cooking shows for Pampered Chef. She demonstrates how to make Peanutty Brownie Pizza on a parchment paper on a flat stone. It is topped with cream cheese and peanut butter mixture topped with bananas, peanut butter cups, and drizzled with chocolate.

Home party sales of food and cooking utensils are not new. Tupperware, which began in 1946, is in 100 markets around the world with a sales staff of 1 million. (Now it is also sold at Tupperware Mall Showcases in shopping centers.)

Home parties are on the rise, with more home culinary party sales than ever. "We see an expanding number of goods and services sold by direct sales," says Amy Robinson of the Direct Selling Association. "Home parties focus more on learning something today. Not only do people see friends, they are looking at the products and having a good time."

"The TV Food Network has sparked interest in home parties," says Pampered Chef's spokesman Amy Jo Steinbruecker in Addison Ill. She estimates that there are about 130 consultants within a 20-mile radius of downtown Toledo. Pampered Chef is in four countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany) with demographics of ages 20 to 50, and a lot of suburban parties.

With Pampered Chef's cooking tools, nothing is electronic. The most popular item is as the signature handheld food chopper. This season's trends include bright colors "because people are investing time and money in redecorating their kitchens," says Ms. Steinbruecker. "There's towels, linens, and tabletop dishes. People entertain more and want to show off what they have. They are looking for what is aesthetically pleasing and functional."

Tastefully Simple, with about 79 consultants in the Toledo area, is primarily in the Midwest and the Northeast, but is expanding in other parts of the country. New this season are Cinnamon Muffin Melts, Lemony Dill Sauce, and Key Lime Cheese Ball Mix, which Mrs. Didion says "flies off the rack."

"Everything takes less than two ingredients," says Lynn Grueneich, spokesman for the company. "We do not manufacture foods. We are a distributor. Some of our recipes are exclusive to Tastefully Simple."

Established companies are diversifying and getting into direct selling. Culinary home party companies include Southern Living at Home and Taste of Home Entertaining. Other companies offer coffee home parties, wine parties, Two Sisters Gourmet, Tea Parties To Go in Houston, and Diadre's Fine Chocolates By Design in Florida.

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