Texas Cooking Online * October, 2004 Newsletter *

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Vitamin Brands at Wholesale Cost Top Sellers Atkins Products Atkins Baking Products | Atkins Bars If you are a city dweller, you are probably so far removed from farming and agriculture that you hardly realize why there is such an emphasis on food from Labor Day through New Year's. Autumn is the harvest season, and for thousands of years humans have celebrated with food when food was plentiful. Nowdays, the availablility of food is constant, but many of our most food-centered celebrations still occur during the last three months of the year. There is so much food to write about that we find ourselves trying to go in many directions at once. Fortunately, there are abundant choices on Texas Cooking Online. If our newsletter piques your interest, you can always browse further and lose yourself in all the selections. Festivals abound in Texas this time of year. Our Texas Events Calendar reflects literally hundreds of festivals, among them the George West Storyfest held November 5-7 in the South Texas town of George West. Now in its sixteenth year, this festival celebrates the telling of stories of all types. Everything from folklore to fable, history to tall tales, ghost stories to cowboy poetry and even sacred stories are told. With live oak trees for canopies and hay bales for seats, thousands gather each year to celebrate this time-honored tradition. John Raven has penned the finale to his three-part series on sourdough baking. He ends the series with a flourish of sourdough recipes you'll appreciate. Trish Bales shares part of her Louisiana heritage with an enlightening article about those Gulf Coast treasures -- oysters. And Patricia Mitchell takes a nostalgic look at a favorite Texas staple, Ranch Style Beans, and contributes some chilibean recipes of her own. Our classic article, Cooking with Texas' Own Dr Pepper, concerns itself with a true Texas classic, and our classic recipe for French Onion Soup is one of our very best recipes. It may sound fancy, but this is one fine soup. Check out the October winners in the T-shirt contest near the bottom of the page. So settle down, get comfortable, and 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 Sourdough Baking: Part Three by John Raven, Ph.B. In addition to the recipes in this series of articles, there are hundreds more to be found on the Internet and in cookbooks -- everything from doughnuts to English muffins. All come from the oven with the unmistakable taste of sourdough. After you've had a few successful baking sessions, you will have the urge to buy a team of mules and a chuck wagon and move back to the days of yesteryear when men were men and the women did most of the work. Halloweenie Chili Beanie by Patricia Mitchell For many years Ranch Style Beans, a brand that was founded in 1872, were made in Fort Worth. Fort Worth residents with memories that go back 15 or 20 years will remember the water tower off East Lancaster that, except for its conical top, was an exact replica of a can of Ranch Style Beans. I am still a big fan of these savory chili beans. I don't know that I could ever duplicate them, and have never tried since the genuine article is available in Texas and many other parts of the country. Texas Oysters: A Unique Holiday Option by Trish Bales Trish Bales praises the goodness of oysters, dispels the myths surrounding them and shares an heirloom, family recipe for oyster dressing. Serve Texas Cooking with Style Brighten up the dinner table with Fiestaware. This colorful china includes all kinds of serving pieces, drinking glasses, pitchers, teapots, bakeware and more that it perfect for everyday use. With the holidays coming up, take a look at the colorful American Christmas Tree Fiestaware. Serving holiday dinners on this china will make a memorable meal. Texas Cooking's Fiestaware Store now has special pages on the recently 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 See if you can pick the correct location of the mysterious Texas phenomenon in our spooky October 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 Cooking with Texas' Own Dr Pepper by Patricia Mitchell When the Texas Cooking newsletter included a recipe for Coca-Cola Cake several months ago, I could not help wondering if there was a classic recipe using Dr Pepper. After all, Dr Pepper is an original Texas product, having been invented at a Waco drug store in 1885. Classic Recipe: French Onion Soup You don't have to wait for a special occasion to make this excellent soup, but it will impress your dinner guests. You don't have to wait for "prime" onion season either. Regular old yellow onions will produce a fine result. 3 tablespoons butter 1-1/2 pounds yellow onions, thinly sliced (about 4 large onions) 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 teaspoon sweet paprika 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 6 cups canned beef broth (if using cubes, granules or concentrate, use half beef and half chicken) 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper, to taste 4 Slices French bread, dried until crisp in a 250°F oven for 30 minutes 1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese 4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese Heat the butter in a large heavy saucepan. Add the onions, cover and cook over very low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the brown sugar. Stir until the onions are well browned. Stir in the paprika and flour. Add the broth, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, over gentle heat for 30 minutes. Preheat the broiler. Ladle the soup into four ovenproof soup bowls. Place on a baking sheet. Put a round of French bread in each bowl. Mix the cheese and sprinkle over the surface. Place 4 inches from the broiler flame and cook for 4 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned. Makes 4 servings. You can find this and over 400 more recipes in Grandma's Cookbook. 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! October T-Shirt Contest Winners Ben B. of Grand Prairie, Texas Sherry C. of Plymouth, Michigan Angela F. of Boston, Massachusetts John H. of Pueblo, Colorado Charlene L. of Shreveport, Louisiana Michael M. of Austin, Texas Sammie S. of Ann Arbor, Michigan Ernesto S. of San Antonio, Texas Suzanne T. of Knoxville, Tennessee Jessica W. of South Bend, Indiana 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.