Texas Cooking Online * March, 2005 Newsletter *

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Want to lose weight in 2005? Vitamin Brands at Wholesale Cost Top Sellers Atkins Products Atkins Baking Products | Atkins Bars Texas Cooking Food Gift Store. Do you feel like spring will never get here? There are hopeful signs: days are getting longer, and the robbins are on the move. But the thermometer just won't cooperate. Well, don't despair. Texas Cooking is here with articles and recipes to lift your spirits and warm you on the inside. Trish Bales accomplishes this feat almost single-handedly in her article Hot Toddy Season, while the recipes in Patricia Mitchell's Expert Waffling article will have you plugging in the waffle iron. And the amazing John Raven conjures up all kids of things you can do with a head of cabbage in his Get A-Head (of Cabbage, that is). By popular request, we are running as our classic article Chicken Fried Steak - A Texas Tradition Revisited by David Bulla. And if your grill is packed away or under a foot of snow and you're yearning for ribs, check out the classic recipe: Oven-Barbecued Pork Ribs. Before you get started, though, here's a reminder that prime season for Texas Ruby Red grapefruit lasts only a few more weeks. Get 'em while you still can. We have a number of great grapefruit recipes. To get to them, just type "grapefruit" into one of the little search boxes you'll find on most every page. The pages of the Texas Events Calendar are swelling daily with festivals, fiestas, cook-offs, rodeos, arts & crafts, music, dance, and lots more, so mark that down. And, of course, scroll down to find this month's t-shirt winners. Lots to do. 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 Expert Waffling by Patricia Mitchell It's easy to see what foods are America's favorites. Patricia Mitchell spotlights one favorite, waffles, looking at the benefits of making fresh waffles in the morning. Homemade waffles straight from the waffle iron are a real treat. How to Get A-Head (of Cabbage, that is). by John Raven, Ph.B. John Raven has got it into his head (no pun intended) to write about cabbage. He shares a passel of tasty ways to fix cabbage, from plain old boiled, to fried, dutch ovened and coleslaw, winding up with Raven's Cabbage Surprise. Hot Toddy Season by Trish Bales Gripped by winter's chill? Trish Bales provides the means to counter that chill with a multitude of time-honored toddies. Mix up one of these simple concoctions, warm your hands on the mug, and create some inner warmth that should see you through to spring. Sweet Things: Desserts & Good Memories by John Raven, Ph.B. Here we are starting a whole new year. I've hung out here at Texas Cooking so long it's become a second home to me. I know it's traditional for any food column to have folks beat up on themselves for eating too much over the holidays, but I feel that everyone deserves a treat once in a while. And treat rhymes with sweet. I've got a couple of my favorite sweet recipes to share with you this month. You can eat lettuce and cottage cheese next month. 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. 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 Texas is full of surprises -- none moreso than the subject of this month's quiz. 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 Chicken Fried Steak - A Texas Tradition Revisited by David Bulla I just love the opportunity to explain to folks that are a little new to the wonders and ways of Texas just what in the heck a Chicken Fried Steak really is. While I muster up a level of passion that no man should have for sustenance, I get into very fine details of just how a steak is fried in the style of a chicken. And then, like a child on Christmas morning with wide-eyed wondrous anticipation, I wait as the newcomer orders the famed culinary contraption off the menu of the local eatery we happen to be patronizing at the moment. "Another closed sale," I say to myself with satisfaction. Classic Recipe: Oven-Barbecued Pork Ribs 4 pounds pork ribs, cut in several pieces 1 lemon, thinly sliced 1 large onion, thinly sliced 1 cup catsup 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 dashes of Tabasco sauce 2 cups water Preheat oven to 450°F. Combine catsup, worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt, tabasco sauce and water in a saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil, then remove from heat. Place ribs in a shallow roasting pan, meaty side up. Cover with slices of onion and lemon. Roast in hot oven for 30 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350°F. Pour sauce over ribs, and continue baking, basting frequently with pan juices. Makes about 4 servings. 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) Martini Gifts Martini Glasss Gift Packs. We have the most unique martini glassware online. Shipped FREE, Gift Wrapped FREE, and FREE Gift card. We are sure to please. 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! March T-Shirt Contest Winners Tammy C. of Waco, Texas Elise D. of Knoxville, Tennessee Scott E. of Greensboro, North Carolina Adam H. of Lake Charles, Louisiana Dave J. of Scottsdale, Arizona Babs M. of Canton, Ohio Sherilyn S. of Houston, Texas Mitch S. of Seattle, Washington Jerry T. of Amarillo, Texas Sharon W. of Lincoln, Nebraska 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. ©2005 Texas Cooking Online. All rights reserved.