Texas Cooking Online * May, 2004 Newsletter *

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Top Brands at Wholesale Cost Top Sellers Atkins Baking Products Atkins Bars We're coming up on Memorial Day weekend -- that nice three-day stretch that allows for picnics and patio cooking for families and friends. This month at Texas Cooking, you'll find plenty of ideas for just such occasions, now and on through the summer months. You can tell Trish Bales is thinking about summer entertaining in her article, Piña Coladas for Everyone. Sidney Carlisle shares two excellent recipes and a lot of knowledge in Oatmeal Cookies: Nutritious Comfort Food. John Raven's article, Grilling: Can't Get Enough, contains an astonishing array of recipes for the grill that will take you from main course, to bread, to dessert. We have included our classic article Memorial Day Cookout that will reinforce your determination to get outside and cook something. And this month's recipe entry, Texas Sheet Cake, will travel nicely to an outdoor gettogether, but is just as delicious indoors. Introducing 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 will 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.

Complete our short online survey for a chance to win a Plasma TV or $2500 cash Special Features Piña Coladas for Everyone by Trish Bales The Piña Colada is Trish Bales' favorite summertime cocktail. She writes "Just one sip and your surroundings are transformed to a tropical beach somewhere in the Caribbean. Just one sniff of the coconut milk and you’re reminded of the days when you didn’t care what the sun did to your skin as long as you were covered in coconut oil." Grilling: Can't Get Enough by John Raven, Ph.B. John Raven, Ph.B. shows us just how versatile your grill can be with an array of mouthwatering recipes. You can choose the exotic but surprisingly simple Brazilian-style Beef or crowd-pleasing Burrito Burgers. Or the Hula Ham Kabobs or Pizza Bread. Or even the Grilled Bananas with Orange Butter. Then again, you may want to make them all. Oatmeal Cookies: Nutritious Comfort Food by Sidney Carlisle If you must rationalize satisfying your sweet tooth, Sidney Carlisle points out the nutritional advantages of this delicious, old-fashioned treat. And if nutrition is not your chief concern in a cookie, you'll love both of her oatmeal cookie recipes anyway. And because Sidney knows a lot about food, you might just learn a thing or two about oats. Test your knowledge of Texas trivia Our May question concerns The Texas Capitol building was completed in 1888. What is the height difference between the Texas Capitol dome and the United States Capitol dome? Retired Fiestaware Now Available on Texas Cooking Homer Laughlin's colorful dinnerware, Fiestaware, brightens up kitchen and dining room tables everywhere with its classic and distinctive lines. Every year the manufacturer adds new colors, while retiring others. Texas Cooking's Fiestaware Store now has special pages on the recently retired colors juniper, pearl gray and yellow. Many of these products are available in our online store. 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 Texana Book Review: Wildflowers of Texas This pocket guidebook from Shearer Press contains complete information on all wildflowers growing around the Lone Star State. Recent rains are bringing many wildflowers to bloom along the highways and in the countryside. Newly revised. Over 500 pages. Read more original book reviews in the Lone Star Bookstore 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 Memorial Day Cookout by Eleanor Bradshaw Memorial Day weekend officially kicks off the summer. Children (and many grown up children) have Memorial Day emblazoned in their psyches as the end of responsibilities and the beginning of fun. But apart from any nostalgic associations we have for this warm-weather holiday weekend, it is also the first time each year that most of us break out our grills and our outdoor cooking skills, as well. Lots of recipes, tips and good ideas. Recipe: Texas Sheet Cake This cake is moist, chocolatey and altogether delicious. It's quick to put together. You don't even have to get out your electric mixer; you can mix up this cake by hand in a jiffy. 2 cups sugar 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup canola or other vegetable oil 1 cup water 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease and flour a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Sift together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda and cinnamon, and set aside. Stir together the remaining ingredients. (Since I'm a chocolate freak, I use just a half-teaspoon of cinnamon. I want the cinnamon flavor to come through, but only just a hint of it. Strictly a matter of personal preference.) Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, stirring until you have a smooth, rather thin batter. Pour into your prepared pan, and bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk (whole, 2% or skim - doesn't matter) 1/4 cup cocoa 1/2 cup butter 1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted (about 4 cups) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup chopped pecans Mix the milk and cocoa in a heavy saucepan (stir, stir, stir). Add the butter and, over medium heat, stir until the butter melts. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add the pecans. When the cake is just out of the oven, spread the frosting evenly on the hot cake. You can find this and over 400 more recipes in Grandma's Cookbook. Texas Cooking readers can get this satellite system - gratis 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! T-Shirt Contest May Contest Winners Ashley A. of Salt Lake City, Utah Chuck G. of Costa Mesa, California Harold H. of Wichita, Kansas Linda Kay M. of Abilene, Texas Mack M. of Dallas, Texas Molly R. of Farmington Hills, Michigan Andrea S. of Cincinnati, Ohio Robert T. of Chicago, Illinois Suzanne T. of The Woodlands, Texas Jack W. of Alexandria, Louisiana 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 five 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.