Claustrophobiac in Biloxi Welcome Spring Roasted Avocado & Asparagus Salad

Well hello to all my foodies friends out there in web land I hope all is well with you and yours.  Am sitting here in the great state of Texas again with my hubby waiting for his surgery.  So we have been visiting with relatives, cooking and eating a lot.  His surgery is going to next Tuesday the 28th so I will keep our fingers crossed, right now he has a fever and acting like his has a cold.  I hope not.  Any who on our way down here we stopped in Biloxi to gamble and westayed at a new hotel and the elevator works only witht he room key however if you didin't know how to read you'd be in trouble.   We get on the elevator and my hubby pushing the 5th floor and instead of stopping it just keeps going to the top of the building however the doors won't open and then he hits it again and now we end up at the bottom.  I'm claustrophobiac and I start yelling at him do something!  So we get to the 9th floor and the door opens and I jump out of the elevator and he says get back in here and I said no am taking the stairs and he says I have it figured out now you has to insert the key and I said I'll see you on the 5th floor.  No way was I getting back on that thing without knowing how it works, however by the time we went gambling it was all OK.  So I go gamble and my hubby goes back to the room and after I had lost all my money I go back to the room and my key will not work to get into the room.  So I try a few times and can not figure it out so I go to the desk clerk and he runs it under a machine then he says it will work now so off I go and get back into that elevater that doesn't work for me and go to my room and the key is not working.  I go back down stairs and the clerk comes back with me and he trys and the key is still not working.  He says you hubby has put the door lock on and that is why its not working.  So the rest is history.  However for your FYI I was stuck in a elevator in Atlanta at the mart and that was a trip.  By the time we got off of that trip the three people that were on it with me had just about taken all their clothes off.  It was so hot in there but that's another story.  This recipe am going to give you was in Southern Living  however I changed it some what.  I didn't like the Lemon Pepper they had used for their recipe along with a couple other changes I made.  So I just want you to cool the Asparagus before you top your salad.

Roasted Asparagus Avocado Salad

1.5 Lbs. of fresh Asparagus, stem ends removed
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped
1 Fresh Lemon
1 tsp. Salt
cracked Pepper to taste
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vineagar
1 Garlic clove, minced
1 Cup halfed Cherry Tomatoe's
1/2 cup chopped Red Bell Pepper
1/4 Cup Chopped Red Onion
1 head Bibb Lettace, torn into bite-size pieces
1 Avocado
1 packet Trivia
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Garlic Powder

Pre heat your oven to 425 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet.  Clean and snap the tough end stems of your asparagus.  Place in a bowl.  To that you mix 1.5 Tbsp. of olive oil, 1/2 salt, 1 TBSP. Basil chopped, cracked pepper, and Juice of a 1/2 Lemon, no seeds.  Pour over the asparagus and mix.  Place on cookie sheet and roast in a pre-heated oven at 425 degrees for about 13 minutes.  When they are cooking remove from pan and let cool for about 12 minutes.
Now you are redy to make your salad and mix your dressing which is: Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, garlic, rest of the olive oil, basil,  1/2 tsp. salt, trivia sugar packet, onion and garlic powder, and the lemon juice.  Set aside.  Now take the toss the halfed tomatoes, onion and bell pepper mixture with about a couple TBSP. of balsamic mix and set aside.  The place the lettuce on a large plate, top it with the asparaus, and some of the tomatoe's that have been tossed with the dressing and add your sliced avocado to theplate and pour the rest of your tomatoe's on the sides and pour the rest of the dressing mix on top and sides of the salad plate.  Bona Y'all.

Hope that you enjoy this first spring salad and please come like my fan page on facebook "Cooking With MadJon and Friends".  Come watch and get recipes from ASTV 95, http://www.aikenstandard.com/.  Happy Trails to you until we meet again.  Eileen F. Hutson, MadJon.

The Month Of Love Chocolate Make "Johnny Hoosier Cake" Yummmmmm!

Well, hello to all you foodies out there in Web Land, I hope this month you have found the love of your life or at least keeping the love of your life.  Me I still have the same old one I had over alot of years now and I mean a whole lot of them.  I've had him so long that he doesn't try to remember Valentine's Day which is to bad for him because nothing is worse then having a wife that is just alittle unhappy with a charge card in her hand.  I will buy what Iwant.  He just has never been very romantic and that's the way it goes.  Anywho today wasn't the best day for my family because our daughter ended her love and has started with a new life.  Sad but sometimes its best to just move on and pick up the pieces of your broken life and make the best of what she has and maybe she has learned a thing or two along the way.  Anywho besides this being the month of Love it is also the month for Chocolate which is not only good to eat but it is also good for your heart.  At least that is what am told.  Chocolate is one of my favorite things to eat and cook with.  Today I ahve a cake that I have been making since we lived in Morris, Ill.  Along time ago and its one of our son's favorite cakes as well.  Its easy to make and serves alot of poeple.  So any who I hope that you give this recipe a try.

Johnny Hoosier Cake

Cake:

2 Cups all purpose Flour
2 Cups Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Oil
1 stick Butter
3 TBSP. Cocoa
2 Eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp. Soda
2 tsp. Vanilla

Mix flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together till blended.   Heat the butter, water and oil on the stove until it is all blended and add your vanilla last to the mix.  Then pour the hot mixture into the cake mix.  Then to that add the buttermilk and beaten eggs.  Pour into a greased oblong cake pan.  Then bake in a pre heated oven for about 30-35 minutes.  Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Icing:
1 stick butter
6 TBSP. Buttermilk
3 TBSP. Cocoa
1 Tsp. Vanilla
3 Cups Powdered Sugar

Heat butter with buttermilk till the butter is melted.  Then to that you add the vanilla, cocoa, and mix, then add the sugar and mix till well blended.  Then pour on top of the cake when it comes out of the oven.  You may add some chopped nuts if you wish.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as my family has for years.  Am sorry its taken me so long to blog but i have been busy with my daughter and grands moving back in with us and also am working on a E-Cookbook and we are working on a few more volumes to sell.  Am really looking forward to having you all try them.  Come visit my fan page on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/CookingwithMadjon and visit our TV show at http://www.aikenstandard.com/ ASRV 95, "Cooking With Madjon and Friends."  E-mail me at madjon51@aol.com and forward some recipes, I always love hearing from you all.  Forward some recipes for me to try.  Have a good month eatting all that chocolate.  Bona Y'all.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Eileen Hutson, MadJon.

Imo's Superbowl Party Cranberrry B.B.Q. Sauce Meat Balls GREAT

Well hello there again to all you foodies out there in web land.  I hope this finds you all getting ready for the big weekend of Superbowl parties that you will be attending.  I always enjoy the betting, food and the people watching.   This year will be no different for me then the others except for the foods that I make.  I always rout for the underdog like the cartoon character with his cape flying thought the air with the song Underdog, Underdog.  Like it!  Any who this year it is the  Superbowl XLVI.  I think that the food that is sold is greater then it is during the holidays or at least it seems that way.  We went one year to the Heaths house and he made roasted oysters and they were great!   Another year it was a pot luck, which my hubby really loves the pot luck dinners.  This year am not sure what we are doing but I do know one thing that I will be making Imo's Superbowl B.B.Q. Balls.  If there is a ball to be made I make it.  Any who this year its the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, I know that Houston really wanted the Texans in on the Superbowl this year but it wasn't in the cards.  I loved watching the play-offs this year everyone did a fine job.  However there can only be two teams playing.  I see by the point spread that the oddsmaker is picking the patriot's as the winners but I say its who ever has the hearts to win over the other ones.  I hope am reading the point spread right.  Any who it should be a interesting game and a happy time for all.

Imo's Superbowl Cranberry B.B.Q. Meat Balls

2 Pounds Ground Hamburger Meat
2 Eggs Beaten
1/2 Cup Diced Onions
1.5 tsp. Onion Powder
1.5 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 TBSP Parsley, Dried
1 TBSP Lite-Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mrs's Dashes 1.5 tsp.
1/2  Cup Ketchup
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs

Mix meat with the beaten eggs and blend well.  To that you add the diced onions, garlic and onion powders.
Then add to the meat mixture the parsley, soy sauce, salt and pepper, ketchup, mrs's dashes, and bread crumbs.  Roll meat into about 1" balls and boil in oven until brown and turn once.  It should be about 5 minutes on both sides.  Now its time to make your sauce:

B.B.Q. Sauce

1 can Cranberry whole sauce
1 Jar Chili Sauce
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
2 tsp. lite soy sauce
1 tsp. Onion and Garlic Powder
1 tsp. perpared yellow mustard
Hot Sauce, a few dashes
1/2 Cup Ketchup
1 tsp. Lemon Juice
Mix the sauce, chili sauce, sugar and soy sauce on stove top until well blended.  To that you add the onion and garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, lemon juice and hot sauce.  Cook until it comes to a simmer and remove from stove top.  When the meatballs are fully cooked pour the sauce over the meatballs and give them a lite toss.  Serve warm.

I hope that you enjoy your Superbowl and your Superbowl Meat Balls.  Please give me a email and pass on a few recipes for me to try on the TV show.  Write me at madjon51@aol.com and watch the TV show Cooking With MadJon and Friends at http://www.aikenstandard.com/ ASTV 95.  Visit my fan page on facebook and like it please.  Happy trails to you until we meet again,  Bona Y'all.