Texas Cooking Online * December, 2004 Newsletter *

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Food Gifts for the Holidays Send something that they will love. Our gifts include fine Omaha Steaks and gourmet dinners from A la Zing. See these and other great specials in the Texas Cooking Food Gift Store. Elegant Wine Gifts AllWineBaskets Send gourmet fruit, wine, champagne gift baskets Relax! Yes, relax for just a few minutes. Because of the holidays, December is probably the most stressful month of the year. Although most cooks enjoy their time in the kitchen, food (buying it, cooking it, serving it) can add even more to our stress levels. Just remember that food should be enjoyed this time of year. Plan well and give yourself plenty of time. Sometimes, deciding what you're going to cook is harder than the cooking. Texas Cooking can help you out when it comes to planning and preparation. We have hundreds of recipes and articles to inspire and guide you. But be sure to carve out some time between now and the end of the month for yourself. Read. Cook. Take a hot bath. And don't forget that good, well-prepared food will add to your enjoyment of the holidays. One nice way to accomplish this is to make eggnog. Patricia Mitchell looked into the subject and found that this traditional holiday drink not only has an interesting history, but also is made in many ways. The Joy of Eggnog relates her findings and includes seven great eggnog recipes -- enough for you to make a choice. Texas Cooking's Traditional Foods columnist, John Raven, Ph B., stepped into the spotlight recently when he was invited to appear in a program on Food TV. Read about his experience and the behind-the-scenes happenings in The Making of The Secret Life of Chili. We are also rerunning an article by Dorothy Sibole that gets lots of interest during December, Gingerbread House and More Baubles from Your Kitchen. Among other things, it includes not just the recipe for the "building materials" (gingerbread), but the "blueprints", too. Check out the many holiday events in our Texas Events Calendar. If you enjoy antique hunting, arts & crafts and flea markets, click on the Shopping-Arts-Crafts-Antiques-Flea Markets link. Even though Texas is a year-round shopping paradise, the winter months are chock full of trade days and sales for people who like to hunt for their treasures. Don't forget to look at the December winners in the T-shirt contest near the bottom of the page. So stop stressing, relax and take a little time to enjoy our newsletter. Help Yourself to Our Weekly Recipe Email Sign up for our latest feature, the Texas Cooking Weekly Recipe Email. Nothing fancy, just a carefully selected recipe that's sure to please with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Recipes range from savory to sweet -- the entire spectrum. At Texas Cooking, we have always focused on quality over quantity, and we carry that tradition to our Recipe of the Week email. Sign up here.

Restaurant Promotions Special Features The Joy of Egg Nog by Patricia Mitchell Upholding tradition is vital to most of us when celebrating the holidays. That's why we eat the same food, sing the same songs and lovingly bring out the same decorations year after year. Eggnog is a tradition that goes back at least to the 1700s and, judging from the number of requests Texas Cooking gets for eggnog recipes, is as popular as ever. The Making of "The Secret Life of Chili" by John Raven, Ph.B. As many of you are aware, I was featured in a TV program on the Food Network called "The Secret Life of Chili". My boss lady thought it might make an interesting article for me to tell you about the making of the program. It all began shortly after the first of the year when I got an email from a TV production company in California wanting to know if I would be interested in taking part in a new series. Gingerbread House and More Baubles from Your Kitchen by Dorothy Sibole Fruit, paper ornaments and flowers were used to decorate the first Christmas trees. Today we have electric lights, blown glass ornaments, and all kinds of beautiful decorations you can buy for your tree, but the ornaments and decorations that stand out are the ones that are made at home. Making decorations is a tradition in my family, and I want to share that tradition with you. Serve Up Texas Cooking with Style Brighten up the dinner table with Fiestaware. This durable china includes a myriad of serving pieces, drinking glasses, pitchers, teapots, bakeware and more -- all in the classic Fiestaware design and brilliant colors -- that it perfect for everyday use. With the holidays coming up, take a look at the American Christmas Tree pattern. Serving holiday dinners on this china will make a memorable meal. Texas Cooking's Fiestaware Store now has special pages on the retired colors like lilac and chartreuse. Many of these products are available in our online store and through our special eBay connection. Test your knowledge of Texas trivia Our December quiz concerns an unusual event that took place in Cisco, Texas in 1927. It's quite a story. Have you read John Raven's latest Q&A column, Ask Dr. John? A new online form has been added that makes "asking Dr. John" easier than ever. Not only does he field questions about barbecue, chili and outdoor cooking in general, but his downhome culinary knowledge extends to all parts of the menu. Sports Tickets | Concert Tickets | Theater Tickets Great items for Longhorns, Aggies and Red Raiders fans. Visit today for useful, decorative and fun ways to show your school spirit. Discount Cigarettes Inexpensive shopping by the carton. Click on our link to find out more. Looking for free stuff? Participate in contests, get product samples, trial offers and information Special Beef Dishes for Holiday Entertaining by Patricia Mitchell Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we've had our fill of turkey and the trimmings. As we turn toward the December holidays, with all their sparkle and magic, what could be more fitting for a company dinner, traditional family get-together or holiday party than some of the finest beef cuts available -- prime rib and beef tenderloin - roasted to perfection. New Recipe: White Christmas Fudge This delicious, bright white fudge with bits of candied cherries will put you in a holiday frame of mind. 2-1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup sour cream 1/4 cup milk 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (Karo) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1/2 cup chopped candied cherries 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see below) Butter an 9-inch square pan or dish. Combine the sugar, sour cream, milk, butter, corn syrup and salt in a large, heavy saucepan with steep sides. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Cover and cook over medium heat 2 or 3 minutes to wash down sugar crystals from the sides of the pan. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches soft ball stage (238°F on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and let mixture cool until it reaches 110°F or until pan is barely warm to the touch. Add almond extract, and beat with a wooden spoon 2 or 3 minutes or until mixture thickens and begins to lose its gloss. Quickly stir in the candied cherries and chopped pecans. Pour mixture into the buttered dish. Let cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 1-1/2 pounds of fudge. Lightly toasting the chopped pecans will make a big flavor difference in this or most any other dish. Spread them out on a baking sheet and toast at 350°F for 4 or 5 minutes or until you begin to smell them. The cold-water test for soft ball stage is this: Fill a cup with very cold water. Spoon a small amount of the boiling candy mixture into the cold water. If the syrup forms a soft ball in the water that flattens when removed, it is at soft-ball stage. Quickly remove your candy from the heat, or you will find yourself at hard-ball stage, and your fudge will be too hard. You can find this and over 450 more recipes in Grandma's Cookbook. Cookie Gifts Our sponsor Chip-N-Dough offers a sweet selection of cookie gift tins. You can order them now for the holidays. Custom designed gift tins are very popular, no lead time. Texas Cooking readers get $5 off regular price. (coupon code AFF5 at checkout) Lobster Gram Gifts The Wall Street Journal just featured Lobster Gram as the best lobster delivery service in the country. Looking for a unique gift? Lobster Gram is always popular with Texas Cooking readers this time of year. Use the promotion code to get a discount on certain gift certificate orders right now. More Great E-Mail Newsletters Texas Cooking's Recipe of the Week email is great for people who enjoy our new and classic recipes from our cookbook. Cooks, recipe collectors and fans of Texas will enjoy this brief, weekly email that contains a carefully selected recipe with maybe a link or two to some compatible dishes. Sign up here. Stop Spyware! Kazaa, Gator and other similar programs have been sneaking onto people's computers wreaking havoc to their systems. These malicious programs are difficult to remove. They flood the screen with their own pop-up ads and open up the computer to a host of viruses. If you have programs like Kazaa, TopText, Gator, WhenU and others on your system, take a moment to learn about the problems these programs cause. We have written a useful and quick tutorial that will inform you about these programs and how to uninstall them from your computer. Free Catalogs Enjoy Great Savings from Free Catalogs Clothing Bridal / Wedding Invitations Wine & Brew Sporting Goods Hobbies / Crafts Pets _________ Cosmetics, samples, DVDs, promotions Gratis! December T-Shirt Contest Winners Steve A. of Missouri City, Texas Alicia A. of Fayetteville, North Carolina Linda Kay D. of Richardson, Texas Raye H. of Las Vegas, Nevada Jim J. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Frank M. of Kansas City, Missouri Darla M. of Fort Worth, Texas Chris S. of St. Paul, Minnesota Scott T. of Gaithersburg, Maryland Ashelyn W. of Jacksonville, Florida Congratulations winners! We are frequently asked if we award T-Shirts to non-US residents, and the answer is Yes. We have had quite a few Canadian winners, and have also sent T-Shirts to winners in England, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. The Rules Since we began our T-Shirt giveaway seven years ago, our contest rules remained unchanged. Readers have been able to enter as many times as they like, and their entries were retained in our database. As you can imagine, our contest database has become very large (which is good), BUT much of it consists of old email addresses that are no longer valid. Therefore, we are making the following change in our contest rules: Readers can still enter as often as they like; however, each contest entry will expire three months following the date it was entered and will disappear from the database. This will greatly reduce the number of "names in the hat" and improve the odds of winning. We think this change will result in an even better contest. We are frequently asked how one goes about entering the T-shirt contest. Sign up here. Subscription / Unsubscribe Help This newsletter is sent to you because you, or someone on your behalf, indicated you would like to receive it when you signed our Guest Book or entered our T-Shirt Contest. If you wish to stop receiving the Newsletter, click here or point your browser to http://www.texascooking.com/unsub1.ihtml If you would like to change your email address, please send an email to txmailbox@texascooking.com. ©2004 Texas Cooking Online. All rights reserved.