Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Creamed Wild Rice Soup With Chicken and Mushrooms ...

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Creamed Wild Rice Soup With Chicken and Mushrooms ...: Hello to all my foodies friends out there in webland I hope this blog finds you all in good shape and having a great New Year.  Am back from...

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes Diet Turkey Burgers 2013 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land I hope this finds you sharing your love for family and Friends this holiday season.  However if you are alone I say go out and find a friend to cook with and share some laughter hopefully this Christmas.  I know that is not always possible to do depending on your family I know at my house when I was little the environment sometimes was not the best this time of year so when I got grown I decided to make sure my kids had a happy time and felt all kinds of love from me especially this time of year. Not only do I try to let them know I love them but I try to share the love I feel this time of year to others.  Remember the reason for the season. I will not be posting anymore for 2013 so I'll make this a blog for Christmas and the New Year.  Did you know that in the year 1813 what the most popular candy was?  It was Peppermint lifesavers every home had to have peppermint candy for the holidays.   Petite Madeleine's were popular desserts.  In 1813 the Pineapple was introduced in Hawaii.  Pride and Prejudice was first published in the United Kingdom.   Let's see in 1913 some small events were: The 16th amendment to the United States Constitution is raffied, which also means Income Tax.  New York City Grand Central Terminal having been rebuilt, reopens as the largest railroad station.Woodrow Wilson succeeds William Howard Taft as President of the United States.  The Camel cigarette brand is introduced by R.J. Reynolds in the United State, Hench, I'd walk a mile for a camel, not me.  Well I would go into 2013 but you all know what has been happening with that.  No need for a repeat. So for your Christmas dinner let's make some Mashed Potatoes.  You all know to cut your potatoes the same size so they cook the same amount of time.  You heat up your Milk and butter so your potatoes stay nice and hot and whip up easier for you.  Salt and Pepper to taste.   You may also want to add some Sour Cream to the mix.  However some people add a pinch of nutmeg tot hem to enhance the flavour so they say.  Now if you want to lighten up your mix of mashed potatoes, I suggest that you add Buttermilk instead add Sour Cream and Cream and add 1/2 the butter you would normally use.  You will add a little more of the Buttermilk.  It gives it a really nice flavor with  out the calories.  Any who what ever milk you use pour it into the potatoes before you mash them.    I can't seem to find a photo of my Mashed Potatoes but come on people you do know what they look like. hehe.

 

Mashed Potatoes

Season 04

5 pounds Potatoes peeled and diced, cook in salted water

1 stick Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup Milk more if needed to smooth your potatoes

1 Cup Sour Cream

Cook the potatoes in salted water.  Heat your butter and milk on the stove.  Drain your potatoes when tender.  Start beating potatoes and add Salt, pepper and sour cream to the mix.  Slowly beat in your heated butter and milk.  Serve hot and if you want to cut the fat heat 1 ½ cups buttermilk instead of using the butter.

I did find pictures of the Turkey Burgers that I made the other night and my hubby loved them.  Very tasty and I gotta tell ya, that when I owned my cafe everyone came in after the holidays and for about two weeks they were all on diets then it all faded away from memory.  Any who the top foods googled for 2013 for your FYI trend was the word DIET!  Go figure, any who here a diet recipe that you will use over and over again.  By the way season two of the TV show I made Black Bean Burgers that were the BOMB I was told, are they still using the phrase?  Any who the Black bean Burger recipe is on my blogs as well, no picture because at the time I didn't know how to get it on this thing  called a computer. Any who here is your trendy diet Turkey Burgers bought to you by me, Madjon and Cooking is my game.  I also want to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all.  Thanks so much for reading my blog and trying my recipes.  Please email me at madjon51@aol.com or like my facebook fan page ,"Cooking With MadJon & Friends."   Happy trails to you until we meet again.

 

Diet Turkey Burgers

1 pound ground Turkey

1 tsp. Onion & Garlic Powders

1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Egg, beaten

Lite House Poultry Seasoning

Olive Oil for Grilling

 

I used my George Foremen to grille these burgers and FYI I also use it to grill a lot of Chicken Breast, best thing ever to cook them with, the breast stay moist and cook even.  Any who you are the mix all ingredients with the ground turkey meat and foam into patties and grill in a pan or if you are lucky enough to own a George Foremen Grill then use it.  I use about 2 to 3 TBSP of Olive oil to coat the pan with.

 

Texas Style Chex Mex Holiday Cranberries & Nuts Super Bowl Texas Latrine

Texas Style Chex-Mex

• 1 cup butter
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. seasoned salt
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 3 cups corn chex cereal
• 2 cups wheat chex cereal
• 2 cups mixed nuts
• 1 cup small pretzels
• 1 cup garlic flavored bagel chips
• 1 cup pretzel rods
• 6 dashes Hot Sauce
• 2 tsp ground Cumin
• 2 tsp. Mrs. Dashes
• 1 Bag of seasoned Croutons with Garlic
• 1 bag of Dried Cranberries, add after the mix has cooked.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Melt butter in large roasting pan in oven (5 minutes).  Stir in  wet seasonings. Add Dry ingredients meaning spices and mix until coated.  Then you add the cranberries after the mix has cooked and its cooling.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, and store in airtight container.

Hello to all my foodies friends out there in web land, I hope all is well.  This recipe I made up for the Aiken Home Show for the VIP room and am just now getting it into recipe foam to share with you.  This is a great recipe that you can use over the holidays or at a Super Bowl Party and the play off games.  That is if you are into

that kind of thing.  I don't watch football mush and when I go to a bowl game I

usually just check out the foods and talk to people about how they made their dishes.  I remember my parents yelling at the TV when they would watch their team the "Dallas Cowboys" and I think my mom yelled louder then anyone else in the room.  Now my mother-in-law is the one yelling at the Texans, I guess things never change!  However when it came to food and cooking my parents always went first class all the way and whatever a guest wanted at our house they got.  My dad was a big steak man and when I left home I swear I'd never eat a steak again.  My hubby's grandparents gave us a half a beef while we were in college and I made that butcher cut all the meat into Hamburger meat and when Nancy went to pick up the order the butcher said to her," are you the nut that had me cut all this beef into hamburger" and Nancy said that she turned white and said I hope am not the nut!  She said that she could not believe that I had the butcher do that but I explained to her that for one thing I didn't care for steak and that I had to make that Beef last for almost a year, which is what it did.  My hubby only made 55.00 a week in college and we had to pay rent and electric bills.  I don't think we had a phone back then.  So we ate a whole lot of Chile and Mexican food, which my hubby still likes to this day, Frito pie was one of my favorites with a Blue Ribbon Beer!  Come on it was cheap back then! My brother came to see us and he was in the Army and when he came into the apartment he said," my God Eileen you live in a Latrine!"  Yea, I remember that I could see holes in the bottom of the metal shower floor and the water ran out.  Any way I had to give Chris a very fast bath the water didn't last long.  Well now I can say the water stays in my shower now. That's also the apartment that had been newly painted and I was cooking Pinto Beans in my new pressure cooker and the nozzle flew off and the beans all went though the little hole on the pressure cooker, what a mess I had to clean up in the kitchen ceiling, I never let that happen again, pressure was to high on the gage.  Any who I hope you all give this little recipe a try and come follow me on this blog and also come like my fan page on face book,"Cooking With MadJon & Friends.  Come join me on penterest and linkedIn.  Watch the TV show at aikenstandard.tv or .com, happy trails to you until we meet again.  Eileen Hutson, madjon51@aol.com with any questions.  Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

History of Chex Mex

Bag of commercially-prepared Chex Mix

Commercial Chex Mix

Chex Mix is a type of snack mix that includes Chex breakfast cereal (sold by General Mills) as a major component. There are commercially sold pre-made varieties of Chex Mix, as well as many recipes (often printed on Chex cereal boxes) for homemade Chex Mix. Though contents vary, the mixes generally include an assortment of Chex cereals, chips, hard breadsticks, pretzels, nuts or crackers

History[edit]

Chex cereal was introduced in 1937 by Ralston Purina.^[1] By 1952, recipes for "Chex party mix" appeared on boxes of Chex cereal. However, it was not until 1985 that pre-packaged products were introduced commercially by Ralston Purina and the trademarks registered to it.^[2] Chex party mix became popular as a holiday treat when purportedly in 1955, the wife of a Ralston executive in St. Louis served the snack at a holiday function. ^[3] However Chex party mix was not a unique idea: it was one of many popular "TV mixes" – snacks which could be consumed without interrupting television watching – which appeared in the 1950s with the introduction of television. For example, a 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook includes a recipe for a snack mix made with Kix cereal.^[4]
In August 1996, General Mills acquired the Chex product line from Ralston Purina along with other brands.

Christmas Caramel Pecan Pie Recipe With John Vaughn & Brooke Lundy

Well hello again to all my foodie friends out there in web land I hope all is well.  I don't know about you but I've been busy for the last couple of months which is a good thing to be.  I love it that way and the most thing I love is passing my love for you though food.  Any who I had the pleasure last Sunday to make a stop at the Wilcox Inn here in Aiken and visited my friend John Vaughn while he used his golden fingers to romance a full house but this time he had a great vocal lead named Brooke Lundy using her golden vocals to tunes like "Santa Baby" and lots of other Christmas tunes and oldies that am very fond of.  She had the audience waiting on every note to hear what she'd be singing next. They also enlightened us with a brief history on some of the tunes like, who wrote them and where they were written.  A few were written by song writers relatives who lived in the Aiken area.  John and Brooke will be at the Wilcox again this Sunday evening, playing and singing between the hours of 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. and I think you should go hear this wonderful duo preform, it will be for your enlightenment and help bring you fully into the Christmas spirit not to mention bringing back some fond memories to you as it did for me.. Please go and hear this wonderful talented team right here in Aiken where we can now call us the little New York of Broadway.  Thanks John for giving me a head's up about hearing you both at the Wilcox.  We are going to talk about making you a great tasty Christmas Caramel Pecan Pie.   One of the best things I find out about making this pie is that they now make baking caramels in little pellets so your not unwrapping 30 caramel candies which I always thought was a pain in the butt.  Also the pellets melt easier for blending.  Any who I hope you enjoy this recipe along with John and Brooke playing and singing along.  Any who happy trails to you until we meet again.  Go let my fan page on face book at "Cooking With MadJon & Friends".  Come join me on tweeter at @madjon51. Bona Y'all and Merry Christmas and Happy holidays to us all.

Christmas Caramel Pecan Pie

1 Cup Light or Dark Karo Corn Syrup
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 T. Melted Butter
1 Cup Caramel baking Pellets
1/4 Cup Cream
1.5 cups Pecans

1 pre- made pie crust 9"

Mix the first 4 ingredients together.  Toss in the pecans and mix.  Then melt the butter, caramel, and cream together till they are blended.  Mix the caramel sauce with the first 4 ingredients.  Pour into the pie crust.  Bake pie in a pre-heated oven on 325 degrees for about 50 minutes or until the middle of the pie reaches a temp of 200 degrees F.  Cool pie and serve with your favorite topper.  I like to add a chocolate sauce with mine.

Much Requested Corn Bread Dressing Recipe Happy Thanksgiving

Hello to all my foodies friends out there in web land Happy Thanksgiving to you all this 2013.  Am going to keep this very short tonight.  Just wanted you to know how grateful I'm to be able to be with my family and friends this season.  I live on an airport and last night we had a plane crash which killed the pilot and my prayers go out to his family and friends who will be missing him very much this Thanksgiving.  I also want to thank the families of the pilot because he landed that plane into the woods instead of hitting a house along our street.  As we know out here he was an instructor so I know in my heart that is what he meant to do is to save lives but not his own.  To me he is a hero and God Bless him.  That said am ending this blog with great big hugs for his family.

Several of you have asked for this recipe so am sending it your way now. 

Corn Bread Dressing

1 pan cooked Corn Bread

1 recipe cooked Biscuits

8 Boiled Eggs

2 Bunches Green Onions Chopped

2 32 oz. Chicken Broth

1 Onion, diced

4 Stalks Celery, diced

1 stick Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tsp. dried Sage

4 Chicken Bouillons

2 tsp. Onion Powder

Sauté diced onions and celery in the butter.   Pour the chicken broth into the pan with the sauté vegetables.  To the broth you add the salt, pepper, sage, bouillons cubes, and onion powder.  Drop in the green onions and simmer about 5 minutes.  Break up the corn bread and biscuits in a large boil.  Salt and pepper again.  Chop the eggs and add them to the bread mix.  Pour your broth into the bread mix and stir till it is moist.  Grease a pan and pour your dressing into the baking dish and cover with foil.  Place dressing into a pore- heated oven at 375 degrees and bake it for about 45 minutes, remove the foil and stir the dressing and then bake it again for about 35 more minutes or until the dressing is nice and brown.  Serve hot.

 

 

Article Pumpkins Link Cranberry Sauce It's What's For Eats

http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20131120/AIK0405/131129973/0/SEARCH&slId=1 Hello to all my foodies friends out there in web land I hope all is well.  Well I've been busy with catering for friends of coarse I consider all my customers my family and friends.  If you are in the USA or living abroad this Thanksgiving I hope that you can introduce some friends with you how we celebrate our Thanksgiving season and why we celebrate it.  The pilgrims celebrated living though another year in this country and can you imagine being a pilgrim in the 1600's in the new America's so far away from your homeland.  How thankful they must have been for all that they had.  They had to relay on the Indians to help them adopt sort- of-speak.  Am sure they were very grateful for any help I know that I would be.  Have you thought about what is a Cranberry?  It comes from an evergreen dwarf shrubs. They grow in the Northern hemisphere.  Cranberries are used for juices, sauce, jam, died cranberry, and of coarse served as Cranberry Sauce for our traditional American and Canadian Thanksgivings.  Its called a Super fruit because of its Anti-oxidants. I use died cranberries in my signature salads and also in baking breads.  I just did a show on, "The Watchmen Channel", Club 36  and we made Turkey Panini using my left over turkey and dressing so I added some fresh cranberry sauce in the mix.  I also did a catering job and stuffed cranberries with apples and raisins and wrapped the Chicken breast with Bacon, that was a big hit.  I also poured my Apple Wine Sauce on top of the breast while they roasted, they said it was yummy.  Any who I want you to know that this Thanksgivng am very happy to be Loved by my family and am thankful I still have my healthcare.  Now that's another story.  Please come and like my fan page on Face Book Cooking With MadJon & Friends. I'd like 5 more likes to reach 1000.  Watch the cooking show on aikenstandard.tv or com.  I have a few You Tubes up that you may watch.  My email address is madjon51@aol.com for any recipes you'd like to send me or comments to leave.  Go like my article on the link I left on top of the page.  Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.  Happy trails until we meet again.  Eileen Hutson, MadJon.

Cranberry Sauce

1 small bag fresh Cranberries
1 Cup Orange Juice
1 Cup Sugar
 3 T. Orange Liqueur
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Place all ingriedents into a pan and simmer until the berries pop and get tender.  Let the sauce get thick. You may also process the berries if you wish before cooking.

How to Cook a Bagged Thanksgiving Turkey with Apple Wine Sauce

Hello to all my foodie friends out in web land hope all is well.  Madjon here and today we are going to talk about bagging a roasted turkey for one of your holiday meals.  Personally I like Turkey, roasted and fried.  I like the crispness of the turkey when it's fried and I use a rub on it before I fry it.  I have a blog on making a fried turkey you should go visit it.   Any who am shooting with the Watchmen Channel 49 out of North Augusta today and we will be cooking up some Turkey Panini Sandwiches with fresh cranberry sauce and dressing served on Sour Dough Bread.  It's one of the recipes in my MadJon Holiday e-cookbook for ipads.  You know I don't know when they started serving Turkey as a Thanksgiving Day food.  The pilgrims started a very good holiday I think way back in the 1600's.  Am very thankful that they came to this country and were brave enough to make a living here.  You know the Native American Indians helped out the pilgrims by introducing new foods and ways to live in this country for that am very thankful as well.  After all I'm half Native American Indian.  I could get into how the Indians lost there lands to the white man as they were called.  My grandmother lived on a reservation in Oklahoma and married my grandfather on a river boat in Tennessee.  There is Native American Indian on both sides of my family.  Both grandmothers had Indian blood in them.  Any who that's a story for another day.  Let's get you a couple more recipes and make sure that you watch the show on TV or on the web.  Please contact me at madjon51@aol.com with any questions about these recipes or a recipe that you may need some help with.  Watch my tv shows at aikenstandard.tv or aikenstandard.com.  Bona Y'all and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  Happy trails to you until we meet again. 

Roast Turkey With Wine Apple Sauce

1 roasting bag with a small hole cut into the top
1 12 to 15 pound Turkey, patted dry
1 stick Butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 T.  Onion Powder
1 T. Dried Rosemary
3 Apples cut and cored
3 sticks Celery cut in 3" lengths
1 bunch green onions

Mix butter and all dry ingredients together and rub on the inside and outside of the turkey.  Stuff the apples and celery with the green onions into the turkey and on the sides of the turkey after you place it into the roasting bag.  Pour the wine sauce over the turkey. Cut a small hole on the top of the bag to release the air while cooking.  Place turkey in a pre-heated oven for till it reaches a temp of about 170 degrees or until done.  It takes ab9ut 20 minutes of cooking time per pound.

Apple Wine Sauce

1 cup white wine
3 T. Butter
1/2 jar Apple Jelly
1 tsp. Onion Powder

Place all ingredients in a pan and simmer until it is reduced, pour over the turkey.  Cool and cook with turkey.

Been Rated With Asparagus Casserole Yum Yum

Hello Foodies MadJon here.

Just wanted to let you know I've been rated as a chef and am very excited about it.  I wanted to say thanks to all my fans and customers out there in food land. Am happy with  this one.    I earned five stars.                       

Your Friend                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Eileen was to much fun to work with. She prepared awesome dishes for my event and it was totally affordable. Eileen is an excellent and creative chef, her presentation was elegant and perfect for my guest."

11/10/2013

 

Am also going to share a recipe with you to make.  You can also use this for other green veggies like Broccoli.  Enjoy and have a very Happy fall day and Sunday to you and your families.  Watch the show at aikenstandard.tv, Cooking With Madjon & Friends. Come like my fan page on face book and come follow me on my blog.   Happy Trails to you until we meet again.

 

Asparagus Casserole

 

1 pound Asparagus, stems removed and cut in 2" lengths

1/2 stick Butter, melted

1/2 Onion, diced

3 TBSP Flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp Onion & Garlic Powders

2 cups Milk

2 cups White Cheese, shredded

Frenches Fried Onion's 1 can

 

Melt the butter on low in a pan and add your diced onions, cook till they are clear in color.  Add the flour, salt, onion, garlic powders, and pepper to the mix.  Slowly pour in your milk and stir until it comes to a simmer.  Add your cheese and blend till the sauce is smooth.  Place the asparagus in a pan that has been greased with butter and pour the sauce over the asparagus.  Place casserole into a pre-heated oven on 350 degrees and bake till the sauce is bubbly and top it with the fried onions and as a option you may toss about 1/2 cup cheese on top as well.  Cook another 5 to 8 minutes uncovered.  Serves between 6-8 servings.  Bon'a Y'all.

 

 

 

 

Grands Coconut Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cookies

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land I hope you are doing just fine on this nice fall evening.  I've been busy with grand kids this week and doctor's appointment's and am happy to say we did not lose our health insurance but my heart goes out to everyone else who did.  I want to say how sorry I'm and I hope it will get fixed soon for everyone concerned.  Any who am here to talk about Obama Care.  Am  here to talk about this recipe I made up today for my grands who were home from school.  Making cookies is something I did with my kids and its something I do for my grands to enjoy along with their Pa Pa.  Trying to make memories though foods, that's how I remember my aunts and grandma in the kitchen baking and doing the women thing while the men were in the fields working.  My family would bake all kinds of cakes and pies, fruit pies and cream pies and I loved the crust made with fresh Lard.  Nothing better then to bake with fresh Lard however I don't bake that way but I have girlfriends who still use it.  They go to the butcher and pick up the fresh lard and it is so white it looks like snow. You know I used to think it was our daughter that ate all the cookies in the house but I found out after the kids left home that it has been my hubby who was the cookie monster all the time and he let Terri, our daughter take the blame, shame on him.   Such is life I guess however our daughter still likes cookies a lot.   Another thing is he can eat all the cookies in the house and still lose five pounds, go figure!  Oh well am into exercising now and trying really hard not to eat cookies but I must confess I ate a couple while they were still warm with some milk.  While my grands were here today I decided to try and bake a different kind of Chocolate Chip Cookie so I added Cream Cheese to it and it had to bake longer and it came out crispy not a chewy cookie.  My grand daughter is the taster in her house and I knew if she ate one cookie then it was a good recipe but she ate three cookies and then took some more home so I'd call these a great cookie..  Any who go make some memories at your house with kids or just the one you love.  Please let me know what you think of these cookies and if you would like me to put up a recipe for you.  My email address is madjon51@aol.com and you may watch the shows at aikenstandard.tv or com.  Come like my fan page on face book Cooking With MadJon & Friends. Last but not lest share me and come follow me on this thing called a blog, please.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 Sticks Butter, softened
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 beaten Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Flour, all-purpose
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Coconut
1/2 cup chopped Nuts ( Optional)

Beat the butter, cheese, eggs, vanilla together till they are well blended. Mix the flour with the salt and baking soda.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients till they are well blended.  Add the coconut, chips and nut.  Mix well.  Place mix on cookie sheets using a spoon and place cookies about 2" apart. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done.  Remove from cookies sheets right after they come out of the oven.

Aiken Home Show Fans and some Savory Halloween Pumpkin Dip Yum Yum

 

Savory Pumpkin Dip

 

1 can pure Pumpkin

 

1 Onion, diced

4 Cloves Garlic, minced

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

3 TBSP Sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1 Bay Leaf

1 tsp. Mrs's Dashes

1 Packet Ranch Dressing Dip

2 TBSP Sherry

1 cup Sour Cream

 1 cup Half and half

1 cup Cheddar Cheese

3 tbsp Butter

1 cup French Fried Onions

2 diced Green Onions

 

Heat the butter in a pan on low heat.  Add the onion and garlic, cook till clear in color.  Then add the pumpkin and all the spices.  Then add the sour cream, half and half and cheese.  Stir in the ranch dressing packet and sugar to the mix and blend well on low heat.  Add the Sherry to the pot and stir, stir, stir.  Cool your mixture down and now you are ready to plate.  This by the way would make a great Halloween treat for your guest.  Place dip in a bowl and top with the onions and fried french onions.  Serve with some Bread cubes toasted or pita chips.

 

Hello to my foodies friends out in web land its MadJon again and want to say Happy Halloween to each of you.  I hope you have loads of fun.  This recipe was made up for the Aiken Home show last weekend and they wanted a Christmas theme to go along with Sears so this was the pick of the season. You know a lot of the fans that came by said they had never tasted a Savory Pumpkin Dip, they had always had a Sweet type of dip made from pumpkin.  When I started looking at recipes that is what I say as well so I decided that a savory dip would be just what the doctor ordered.  So off to my test kitchen I went and ended up with this recipe which by the way I had tons of ladies asking for it while I was there little did they know I had to go back and remember what I did to make the recipe.  So I hope that you all enjoy this dip though the holidays.  Let em know what you think and please email me at madjon51@aol.com and watch the TV show at aikenstandard.tv. If you are a fan of face book please come like my fan page at Cooking With MadJon & Friends.  I wanted to say thanks to all the fans who stopped by and vendors to say Hi and taste the foods I made.  On the menu was the Pumpkin dip, Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Pecans.  Lasagna Bites made with Me Me's Pasta Gravy, Christmas Cranberry Sauce served over Cream Cheese and I threw in some MadJon's Salsa over cream cheese as well.  We served Cookies and Cherry Pecan Brownie Mini Bites that I made up.  Fun was had by all for everyone in the VIP with the Aiken Standard.  I also wanted to thank the nice lady at the Cold Creek booth that said her kids enjoy watching the TV show and enjoy learning how to do some cooking.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.

 

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN with John Vaughn's piano at the cotswolds diamond ju...

Trip to OBX Szechuan Noodles

MadJon's Szechuan Noodles

1 pound Cooked Noodles
1 pound ground Pork or Turkey meat
1 Onion diced
4 cloves Garlic minced
2 TBSP Oil
3 Green Onions diced
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Black Pepper ...
1 tsp. Onion & Garlic Powders
2 tsp. Chili Oil
1 tsp crushed Red Peppers
1 TBSP Sugar
2 TBSP Corn Starch
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Oyster Sauce
2 tsp. Sesame Oil
1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
1/2 cup to 1 cup Chicken Broth or water

Brown the onions and garlic in the oil and cook until they are clear in color. Brown the meat with the onions, garlic, add your spices, sugar and sesame oil to the mix. Add the corn starch and mix it till it is well blended. Then add the green onions, sherry, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Stir and then add the broth to the mix and cook until your sauce is thick. If you wish you may fry some rice noodles to place on the top of your cooked noodles for some extra texture to your dish. I top mine with diced green onions and this serves 6 to 8 servings. I usually serve ti up with my Pineapple Cole Slaw. Cook noodles according to package directions. If you have any questions about this dish just message me. Thx, MadJon.See More

  

Hello foodies out there in web land thought I'd give you the recipe first this time.  We went to the Outer Banks for a few days last week and loved it.  We saw a few light houses and climbed one, what a view that gives you.  There are several Light houses in South Carolina and in that area there are 5 and 4 of them are really easy to get to but one is very hard to view unless you do it by air.  I was told that you needed a four wheel drive to get across the beach to see it.  We toured the  Whale head in Corolla and they knew how to live.  The home was beautiful.  We fished and caught dinner one night, we fished from a pier and when we'd pull up the fish it looked really small from the top.  They looked like bait fish.  Had a lot of fun and ate some great Crab Cakes, just as good as Maryland's famous crab cakes.  Our hubby's flew the plane to OBX and my girlfriend and I drive to the outer banks, however it doesn't pay to drive sometimes because I got caught in a speed trap and my gage is off by about 6 miles per hour and I got a big fat ticket for $216.00.  Thirty dollars for the fine and  $188.00 for court cost can you believe that.  Small towns I guess that's how they get some of your money.  They pulled over five cars in like five minutes.  They clocked me he said. Nice Sunday drive well North Carolina will not be seeing me for awhile again.  Any who Happy trails to you uniil we meet again.  Please go watch my TV show Cooking With MadJon and Friends on aikenstandard.tv and come like my fan page on FB at Cooking With Madjon & Friends.

 

Depression Era Foods Article Mock Apple Pie Best Comfort foods

Depression Era Foods and Stories from The Past

 

Recently I had the pleasure of hosting my show with Margaret and she was born in 1925, so she does remember some of the foods that her mom made during that time.  She remembers Roosevelt saying that he would put a Chicken in every pot.  Her mother was a chef and her dad just liked plain old food, as she called it.  He added Ketchup to everything he ate.  Her dad was a mechanic and her mom worked in the airplane factory plant during WWII like Rosie the Riveter.  The year was 1929, the crash of the stock market and our banks.  This was the beginning of the great depression, which lasted in this country until the beginning of WW11.  There were like 25 percent of Americans out of work and I don’t know what number of family members that went hungry from that era.   Thousands of them.  However Margaret’s dad made sure there was plenty of food on the table like chicken, fruits and vegetables.  Her mom would make Chicken Fricassee and she remembers her making creamed peas over toast, and adding canned tuna with it.  She remembers the Vegetable Gardens in front yards and neighbors sharing and working their gardens.  People canned their bounties that they grew in the gardens.  Some families ate better then others, depending on whether they had a job or not.  My mom was born in 1925 as well, and my grandfather was a chef and ran a speakeasy, which they lived on top of, before the Italians moved in, and burned him out.  So he went to work as a mechanic.  She said she could remember going to bed hungry and watching the soup lines and men away from their families trying to find work where they could.   She said she remembers eating a lot of spinach and when she grew up she said that she would never eat spinach again.  That part stayed with her.  If anything had spinach in it, she wouldn’t eat it.  My father lived in Tennessee on a farm with 15 siblings.  They grew their own food and traded for goods at market.  They would cook mush with chicken in it; we call that Polenta today.  They would hunt on the mountain for extra meat.  They didn’t have money, but they had whole milk and made there own butter in a churn.  My granddad would sell a hog at market to buy shoes for the kids in the winter and by the time spring came, they wore shoes with cardboard soles.  They went barefoot in the warm months and maybe that is where the term bare foot and pregnant came from?  My grand mother wore my grand dads worn out shoes because she didn’t have a pair of shoes herself until my mom bought them for her.  She would grow a garden and put up creamed corn, cabbage, sauerkraut, and make mocked Apple Pie, which is a recipe that really came from the chuck wagons that used crackers for the pie.  This pie really does look and taste like fresh Apple Pie but there is not an Apple to be found in it.  I interviewed some friends, Midge and Denny Seymour, while I was in DC. Midge says that her background is Italian and her dad was a head of the Ninth Ward in Chicago and that she never wanted for anything during the depression.  They lived in the Ward with all her Italian family around them.  She said that they had chicken and pasta, all home made with her spaghetti sauce. She would watch them make all the homemade breads.  Sounds like it was wonderful for her.  She made me want to be there with her.  I do have a funny story to tell you about Midge. When she would make her spaghetti sauce she would have to put it in the back of her station wagon after she made it to keep her kids from taking their breads and dipping it into the pot and eating half the pot before she got her dinner ready.  Then there is Denny who has a different story. He remembers eating a lot of organs like the tongue, kidneys, sweetbreads, liver, and onions.  He ate lots of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches.  He also remembers the vegetable gardens.  He also remembers Al Capone and that he was like the Robin Hood of that time.  I have a friend, George who says that his Uncle worked for a hotel in town and that he used to be the runner for Al Capone. His uncle loved the running part because he got big tips from Mr. Capone, however the hotel told him since he was getting big tips from Mr. Capone then he could basically get paid from him.  His tips were bigger then his salary. Whatever Al took he always shared part of with the people, but I know he did keep some for himself.  My Aunt Ene says that they lived on a farm in Hockley, Texas, and that they always had food to eat because they raised their own foods and meats.  They would share the meats with other families.  They canned a lot and ate pickled tongue.  She didn’t have money but had a lot of hand me downs to wear.  She says that she still enjoys a good hand me down.  My mother-in-law remembers eating scrambled eggs with calf brains and that is a dish that my dad loved as well.  I used to watch him make it as a kid, but I never let that dish pass though my month.  My mother-in-law remembers getting just an orange and nuts for Christmas and that made them very happy.  I want you to give these recipes a try from the depression era and there are a lot of them.  My favorites are the Rice and Bread Puddings.  I hope you have enjoyed this article on depression foods and remember how lucky we are to be living in this great nation of ours and hearing some of these stories. I think of how lucky we still are and how far we have come.  Some of the folks I interviewed feel like we are a spoiled nation and that we have too much.  They feel like they had the best generation and lived in the best of times.  However they also remember their parents saying I just don’t know what this generation is coming to!  My mother and father said the same thing.  I laugh about it the same way my parents laughed at theirs.  I believe that the best times are ahead of us and that our young will show us the way to their future, and it will be a brighter, smarter and safer generation.  However that said, I wish them luck with all their cooking adventures and go to the Apple store and buy my first cookbook, MadJon Holiday at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/madjon-holiday/id520208369?mt=8 and make some holiday memories of their own.  Email me at madjon51@aol.com with any storiess and recipes from a era gone by and I wish you Happy trails to you until we meet again.

 

Mock Apple Pie                       

2 cups water                                                    

 

                       

1 cup white sugar

                               

2 tsp. cream of tartar  

 

30 buttery Ritz Crackers

 

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

 

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

 

2  ready made Pie Crust for a 9" Pie

 

 

1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

 

1/2 Cup packed Brown Sugar

 

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

 

1/3 Butter, mwlted

 

 

 

 

 

            

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the water, sugar and cream of tartar; nutmeg, cinnamon and bring to boil.
3. Drop in whole crackers and boil for 5 minutes. Pour mixture into pie shell.
4. Mix together the crushed crackers, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter; sprinkle over pie filling.
5. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the pie is golden brown.

                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                

          

                     

Tear Down The Barricade's Mr. President and then make Beer Stew

Hello to all my foodies friends out in Web Land its Madjon again coming to you from the great state of South Carolina.  Boy what a busy Nine days our country has had with shut downs, tour Buses being delayed by gunpoint at Yellowstone.  Our Government not paying benefits to our fallen soldier's families and the WW11 veterans being turned away or barricaded out of the WW11 memorial in D.C.  Then the closing of the Normandy National Park as well, by the way I didn't know that our president ruled in France as well,  with veterans being locked out.  You know veterans the ones who fought for our freedoms that we are suppose to have in the good old USA.  Freedom, what a word, its definition is: The condition of being politically free or the state of not being in confinement or servitude.  What is the definition of servitude: its a noun, and it means a state of subjugation to an owner or master.  Is that the state our country is in now or where we are headed?  I don't know about you but am not use to someone telling me what to do and how to do it.  Am so tried of hearing that we are to do this and we are to do that!  I know by writing this blog I could be subject to persecution,meaning, excruciating punishment though certain agencies within our government.  When a citizen of a state or country fears persecution or is punished in anyway for saying what they think or speaks out against a government then you are no longer living in a free country. Has our country come to this?  How sad.  Lets take the health care act Pol after pol shows that most American,76 percent,  do not want this health care bill and yet our government made it a law anyway and besides that i keep hearing our Representatives say, well its the law you can't change it, that's not true. Slavery was a law at one time and it was changed.  One way to stop the Health Care Act is to not pay for it as citizens then it will be defunded. Its cheaper for you to pay the fines. Our government should be fair about this and bring it before the people to vote on it, state by state, why should you force us to obey laws that we disagree with. We are no longer a government for the people or by the people we are a government for the government as we stand today.  Also let's talk about the closing of all our National Parks and even Private Parks. Now the Definition of private is: belonging or confined to a particular person or group as opposed to the public or the government: private property.  Mr. President you closed the parks and private lands, and who pays for them, we the people do, not Mr. President.  If it were all about not having money then sir you would have let them open The Smoky National Park but no you said it wasn't fair to the other parks.  Sir I know that it is true because I called the Mayors office and talked to them and they said that had calls from all over the United States. So I say to you Mr' President stop messing with your citizens your fight is with the Republicans not the citizens of these United State of America, which by the way used to be the land of the free and home of the brave.  However with the IRS on citizens backs because of their believes does not make us a free country anymore, when your citizens are afraid to speak their minds then we are not longer a free nation.  I hope each and every citizens in this country, no matter what your political believes are still want a free America.  You need to let your voice to heard even if the White House is not taking calls at the moment.  My mother, Jeanne V. Newby, always said mark my words,that if you don't watch it they will take you over without firing a shot.  Both my parents fought and were injured during WW11 and am writing this because that is what she would have wanted me to do.  It may not even be read but at least I wrote it.  So am calling on you Mr' President to tear down your barricade's that you have had our government build and leave the citizens of these United States alone.  I believe this could appear to be called abuse of power. Tear down your barricade's and let the people back into there house Mr. President.  If you choose to let us back into our house, then maybe you can work on putting us all back together so that we are one nation under God and not a divided nation.  I say God Bless you Mr. President and God Bless the United States of America.

 

 

Beer Stew

1 pound of Beef Stew or pork

cut into small cubes and dusted with salt, pepper, onion, garlic powders and browned in oil on both sides.  Place in a heated crock pot.

3 carrots, cut and peeled

Potatoes, 2 each, diced

1 Onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 dark Beers

Place all of these ingredients into your crock pot

add:

2 Bay Leafs

3 Beef Bouillons

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 can of water

 

toss this all into the pot and cook until the meat is tender and the juice is thickened.  Bona Y'all.

Come like my fan page on face book at "Cooking With MadJon and Friends".  Watch the cooking show at aikenstandard.tv.  Happy trails until we met again.

 

 

MadJon's Indirect Heat Article In Aiken Standard Newspaper

COOKING WITH MADJON: How to cook chicken with indirect heat

• By Eileen Hutson
• Posted: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 5:10 p.m.

• 
  

Photo by Frankie Guzman Barbecue chicken, grilled vegetables and grilled red potatoes were all cooked using indirect grilling.

It’s the end of season for of “Cooking with MadJon and Friends” on ASTV 95. For one of the last shows I chose to show you how to do some indirect grilling or heat for barbecue chicken and fresh vegetables.

Indirect grilling is where the heat source is not in direct contact with the meat. Oftentimes the indirect source is completely from the grill, like a smoker grill, where a firebox is used to start a wood fire. Then the hot coals continue to provide heat for slow cooking of your meat.

Extra Photos

• photo by Frankie Guzman Eileen Hutson prepares potatoes for indirect grilling.
• 
• 
• 

My brother-in-law, Chef Vern has an Orion cooker, and not only is it an indirect heat cooker, but it is convection, as well. It has two separate heat sources which cause the heat to spin, pulling the smoke from the wood chips and moisture from the liquid tray into the meat. This will speed up the conventional indirect smoker by almost half and adds moisture without the use of a spray bottle.

Now what I used for these recipes was my gas grill. I lit both burners and let it heat up to about 350 degrees; then I cut one of the heat sources off and cooked my chicken and vegetables with just the one burner on.

This makes the best chicken, ribs or pork loin. It keeps the meat moist, full of flavor, making the outside of the meat have a nice crispy texture to it.

In this recipe for the show I added a barbecue sauce onto the chicken while it was in the last half hour of cooking. You should cut the chicken in half, pat it dry on both sides, dust it with your spices, and, remember, when you add the salt, make sure not to add too much; you can always add more salt later.

Also, clean your racks while your grill is hot with a nice wire brush. It is so easy to clean the racks while they are hot.

I placed the meat directly on the racks instead of adding a pan to cook the chicken in, however, if you are cooking a pork loin, I’d suggest that you use a pan to catch the drippings so that you can make a sauce with a beer or wine mixture for your meat.

Another trick for your meat to help keep it moist is to let it rest about 20 minutes before you carve it. The rest time helps keep your juices in your meat.

Now for the cooking the vegetables. Spray the inside of your foil pans before adding the vegetables to keep them from sticking while cooking. Place your pans on the upper racks of your grill.

Mix your olive oils or butters with the vegetables to get a nice coating on them to help keep them tender, and it will help add moisture to your vegetables while they cook. You want your vegetables looking nice and moist and not tough and dry.

Add whatever spices fit your palate, because we all have different tastes when it comes to our foods.

I hope you have a great grilling experience with these few hints I’ve given you. Drop me an email at madjon51@aol.com with any questions that you may have.

I always enjoy hearing from you and hearing about you trying my recipes.

Bon appetit, y’all.

Eileen Hutson is a local professional cook who stars in the ASTV show “Cooking with MadJon and Friends.” Visit her blog at cookingwithmadjon.blogspot.com.

Indirect heat barbecue chicken

1 chicken, cut in half

Salt and pepper to taste

Garlic and onion powders

Smoked paprika

1 cup barbecue sauce

Cut your chicken in half and dry it on both sides of the meat. Dust it with salt, pepper, onion, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Make sure you give it a good coating on both sides of the meat. Place it on side of the grill that you cut off, bone side down so your skin is on top. This process will take about 2 hours to cook the chicken. Coat the chicken with barbecue sauce while it’s still cooking for the last 30 minutes. With poultry, make sure that the chicken is done, meaning no blood is flowing. The desired temperature reached for doneness of chicken should be 165 degrees.

Grilled vegetables

3 yellow squash, diced

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of dried basil

Diced all of the vegetables and toss with the salt, pepper and minced garlic. Add in your dried basil and mix. Add the olive oil and mix. Spray a foil pan then pour your vegetables in and cover with foil. Make sure you poke some small holes in the top of the foil so the smoke from the grill can get in. Grill your vegetables for about 20 minutes and stir it once or twice while it is cooking.

Grilled Red Potatoes

6 cubed red potatoes

1 onion, sliced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. each of onion and garlic powders

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp. dried rosemary

½ stick butter, melted

Grease your foil pan. Take your potatoes and mix them with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, fresh garlic and rosemary. Melt the butter, toss it with the potato mix and pour the mixture into the foil pan. Make sure you poke the holes in top of the foil cover to let the smoke into the mix. Let it grill on about 350 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes. You can also add some corn and cooked bacon to the mix.