Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Summer Salads Garden Apple Dumplings Government Ne...

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Summer Salads Garden Apple Dumplings Government Ne...: Hello foodies out there in web land I hope your summer is going well.  We been busy with getting our grand-daughter ready for the col...

Summer Salads Garden Apple Dumplings Government News

Hello foodies out there in web land I hope your summer is going well.  We been busy with getting our grand-daughter ready for the college tour.  Yea for her am so proud of her and she worked hard to get to where she is now.  Congrat's Maddie.  Any who I've been trying to get some weight off with smaller portions and watching what am eating  Salads are a great thing to eat in the summer because they help keep you cool and helps keeps some of the weight down.  I like to make salads and I also like to make up recipes for dressings.  Rule of thumb is its 1/4 vinegar and 3/4 cup oil.  I always add my spices mixed into the vinegar before I add the oil to the mix that way the spices get mixed thoroughly   I also like to add a protein with my salad to make it more filling and last longer for you.  I use cranberries or fresh fruits when ever I can.  Salads are like a personal thing to me, you can mix whatever your little heart deserves to make and it will come out very tasty for you.  We like pasta salads a lot around my house as well  I do try and pair my foods like I use corn and Black Beans as well in my salads.  Any way you eat a Salad is OK with me.  Am going to be giving you a dressing recipe to try.  I gotta tell you today I was running and fell broke my toes it looks like and my arm is feeling tight as well and my palm of my hand is wounded so am going to go lye back down in a little bit if you don't mind.  Any who the Apple Dumplings we made on one of the TV shows and they are so easy to make.

Dressing

Dressing: Cooking Sherrie                                        ¼ cup Oil                                                              ¾ cup Seasoned Salt                                            1.5 tsp Black Pepper                                             to taste Sugar                                                          2 TBSP Onion and Garlic Powder                          1 tsp each Fresh Basil                                                 6 leafs cut small

Apple Dumplings

2 Apples peeled Corded

2 TBSP Butter

4 TBSP Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 package ready made pie crust

mix the sugar, cinnamon, melted butter together.  cut the apple in half and cut the crust in four rings.  Pour half apples with the brown sugar mix and place on the pie crust and wrap.  Cook in a pre- heated oven at 375 degrees until the dumplings are nice and brown serve hot or cold.  I like them with Ice Cream on top.

 Come watch the tv show at aikenstandard.tv, come like my fan page on face book, Cooking With MadJon & Friends  Send me a message about any food's that you may have a question about.  As to the Government I just want to say stop the party line stuff and President Obama please lead us in a fashion that we deserve and you deserve.  As to the IRS missing E-mails I do think its odd that her e-mails went missing and so did six other people that she sent them too.  Just come forward and tell the truth it will set you free and just maybe we will forgive you and move on.  Its called being a good leader  Happy trails to us all and I do hope my body heals FAST!  Bon'a Y'all.

Buttermilk Bread Father's Day Friday the 13th & Graduation

Hello foodie friends out there in this thing called Web Land.  I know I have a lot to cover from the title but I've been busy.  First lets give you the recipe for the Buttermilk Bread in case that's all your interested in on this blog.  I made this recipe for bridge night the other day and I used my bread machine its easier on me, however there is no need, you can just do the the old fashioned way.

If you bread comes out right it should look like the last picture.  One more thing if you don't have all te ingredients of a recipe then don't make it the recipe gets blamed and not the cook if the dish isn't what you like.  However when I make this recipe I added a egg to the mix but you don't have too use a egg.

Buttermilk Bread

Buttermilk 1 1/2 cups
Butter 3 Tbs
Sugar 3 Tbs
Salt 1 tsp
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Flour 3 1/2 cups
Instant Yeast 2 tsp
Egg optional

Place all ingredients in your bread machine. Close your lid and hit crust desired and Rapid cycle. Let loaf cool before cutting. Some people say to use King Arthur Flour or bread flour I use regular flour.  No problem just sift the dry ingredients my friends.  Enjoy.  I like the bread hot with Butter

This is a picture of me and my hubby and it is fathers day so I say Happy Father's Day to him and thanks for giving me my children.  However am really the one who gave them to him, His act only took few seconds, it lasted nine months plus for me, like all their lives being a mom.  Its easier for men I think.  The only one its not easy for are the men with out wives and they are playing both fields.    Any who my dad was a nice man when he wasn't drinking to much and then all hell broke lose so I can only say Happy Fathers Day to him only we lost him at the age of 57.  That's another story!  He did the best he could with what he knew or had been though with his parents.  Crazy world we live in sometimes for some of us.  He never freely said I love you to any of us, so am really not missing him to much now.  Its been a long time without him but I know his generation was a lot different then now but living with him as a child was not boring, that's for sure.  He made lots of money, did feed us and scared the hell out of us a lot.  He took all over this here Untied States and sometimes in the middle of the night.  He was a womanizer so that got him in trouble some!  Any who Happy Father's Day to you all.  Our grand daughter graduated and will be a college women in the fall.  Am so excited for her and she keeps changing her flavors of the month as well.  Am glad for that the boys come and go  Its fun to try on different hats she needs to so she'll know when she finds one that fits her.  Not any time soon I don't think but you never know.  Let's talk about Friday the 13th that's a story or folklore that I could write and read on for years.  There are different story's out there about why we have a Friday the 13th you could read The Da Vinci Code.  It suggest the mystery is about the "Sophie", is the "Holy Grail" and that's what the knights Templar found.  I don't know what the Pope or church was trying to hide?  Is it a mystery or really a superstition?   What was the secret that got the knights killed and they were able to blackmail the church.  It started our banking system way back in the 1300's from what I've read.  Any who I'd like to know what they found for sure wouldn't you? Well you can check it out on the web.  However if you are superstitious don't drive on Friday the 13th.  The English did a study for a few years with drivers on that day and found it isn't safer to drive on Friday the 13th.  Hospital visits were up from car wrecks and there are less drivers on the roads that day.  INTERESTING DON'T YOU THINK?

Any who please try this recipe and e-mail me at madjon51@aol.com with any questions about recipes.  Come like my fan page on face book at, Cooking With MadJon & Friends/.  Watch the cooking show at aikenstandard.tv.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Cajun Chicken Pasta D-Day & Dad

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Cajun Chicken Pasta D-Day & Dad: Hello to all you foodies out there, hope all is well on this Summer Day in 2014.  I know its warm outside and I have a Chicken dish here tha...

Cajun Chicken Pasta D-Day & Dad

Hello to all you foodies out there, hope all is well on this Summer Day in 2014.  I know its warm outside and I have a Chicken dish here that if you like warm it will match the weather.  I know that D-Day date has passed however I've been busy with our grand-daughter and today we leave again for Charleston for two more test.  So forgive me for the late blog.  Any who my sister wrote a poem about my dad which am going to share it with you now and it goes:

Imogene Newby K. Clark

1. He was a southern boy from Tennessee
   Stepped off a mountain and traveled overseas
   Just 17, as he readied himself for a fight
   For Freedom, Peace and Tranquility
   Airborne from the blue sky
   A paratrooper, he was an 82nd , all the way
   As with the elite he soared
   His goal
   To serve and protect
   To give what it took ...
   Until the job was done
   At night there would be no rest
   Lying with the dead there seem no peace for the living
   Wondering if this could be some of Hell
   Death engorges , still bullets fly
   The Gerrys call us
   "The Devil's in Baggy Pants

Our dad was a Paratrooper with the 82nd and he served in Africa as well Italy.  He was injured on D-Day and he lost one lung and his hearing on that day.  He survived by placing dead bodies on top of him at Normandy until he heard friendly voices and knew it was safe to come out.  Special forces is what he was and also trained with the 101th from what I understand.  He was all over Europe and our mom was considered 100 percent disabled and she served as a Wac and worked decoding messages with a team of women under her. She was injured in 1944 as well as our dad and came back on the same medical ship.  That's how they officially met.  She was playing poker with the guys and dad was trying to tell her what move to make and she told him she could do it herself.  There is more to this story but am short on time today., Thanks to all who have served to keep our world free. Any who here is a recipe that you will enjoy I made it for catering and bridge

Cajun Chicken Pasta

3 Boneless Chicken Breast, cut in cubes
3 TBSP Corn Starch
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 TBSP Cajun Seasoning Mix
1 tsp. Onion & Garlic Powder
3 TBSP Butter, melted
3 TBSP Oil
3 cloves minced Garlic
2 tsp dried Basil
1 whole Red Bell Pepper
1 Red Onion cut in slices
3 Green Onions chopped
4 Roma Tomatoes cut in slices
1 Jalapeno diced
2 chicken Bouillons
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 cup White Wine
1 cup Cream
1 pond cooked Pasta
Parmesan Cheese

Mix the chicken with cornstarch, salt, pepper, Cajun mix spice, and onion, garlic powders. Heat the butter oil, add the minced garlic in there.  Brown the chicken in the oil mix and remove from pan.  Then add the vegetables in the pan and cook until they are clear in color/. Add the spices and herbs.  Chicken Bouillon, chicken broth, wine, and cream.  Cook until juice  is thick or reduced.  Add the chicken back into the pan. Cook your pasta according to package directions, top the pasta with the chicken mix and top with Parmesan cheese. Cheyenne Pepper may be dusted lightly into mix if you want it a little hotter to taste.

Happy trail to you until we meet again.  Email me with any questions at madjon51@aol.com.  Watch the TV shows at aikenstandard.tv.  Come follow my blog, twiit me at @madjon51 or like my fan page on Facebook

at Cooking With MadJon & Friends.

Earthy Lye Soap & Grandma & Southern Fried Pork Chops My Cuz Perry

Well hello to all my foodies friends out there in web land I hope all is well with you this fine Spring Day, at least that's what the media is still calling it.  I think spring passed us here in South Carolina right on by.  I've been busy with taking my grand daughter to doctors and such.  Now we are headed to Charleston Next week to get a second opinion as we should do when it comes to surgery's.  Let's hope it all turns out just right for her and us.  Any who I had a chance to talk to my cuz there in Tennessee when I went down for his brother's funeral.  Sad, I hate when that happens as we all do, I hope.  Any who whenever I go see my relatives I always enjoy the stories that they have to share of them growing up with our grand parents and they were lucky to have known our grandfather John, he was full blooded Irish and all man.  He did like his whiskey as most of the Irish I met do.  Any who he told me a story about his brother Pat, he was the oldest grandson of the Newby clan however that said they still don't know if my grand father is a Newby or a troupe.   As his mother my grant-grandmother was never married from what I understand and am not sure if she told them the truth as to who our grandfather came from which clan I mean  Yea it seems the Troupes still aren't happy with the Newby's and I even think some of them are my cousins at least that what am told when I've met a couple of the kin  in Spring City Tennessee, that's where my daddy was born anyway and that's where our farm was and still is but grandma sold it to another family when grandpa died and that family still owns the farm..  The name on the deed is Flora Mae Newby. We went up there last summer and would you believe there was a still right by the side of a house but it wasn't connected and my sister Imogene knew what it was but not me, silly thing that I'am.  Imo said, Eileen you don't even know what that is do you?  She just shook her head.  Oh well, and when the man and two women came out to see who we were the gentleman had a 45 strapped to his side with no shirt on.  That was a pretty site!  Perry said you girls go on down on the road and let me handle this so he told him what we were doing there and asked if we could see the cemetery up the hill. Perry told them that our kin used to live on the farm and that's when we found out the deed name.  I wrote a blog on this last year and Perry told us about a Uncle that road a horse, worked for the railroad, was a drunk, had one arm, and was know to have killed some man and buried him in the family cemetery.  Perry also said he was mean and so did our mother.  Any who am going on and on and am not even talked about the Lye Soap that Perry remembers our grandma making.. She made it out of Oak Ash because that's where the Lye came from to make the soap.  Back then they made there own Lye out of hard woods, rain water, and kept it in a barrow.  He said they would cook it and pour it into a cast iron oblong pan and when it cooled they cut it. Am sure they used some kind of Fat like Lard mixed into it.  He said that that soap would clean anything and that grandma used to boil the sheets in pots with a few flecks of the soap and they would come out white white and smelled so good.  He loved sleeping on the sheets after they were cleaned.  He said that the soap left you skin nice and soft.  He loved it.  I do remember grandma doing that with aunt Flossie whenever Id spend some time with them over the summer.. I remember my grandma's long hair that we'd brush out for her every night and she would braid it and in the morning she'd put it in a bun at the back of her head.   Here's an article on making the soap which I thought was interesting.

In making soap the first ingredient required was a liquid solution of potash commonly called lye.

The lye solution was obtained by placing wood ashes in a bottomless barrel set on a stone slab with a groove and a lip carved in it. The stone in turn rested on a pile of rocks. To prevent the ashes from getting in the solution a layer of straw and small sticks was placed in the barrel then the ashes were put on top. The lye was produced by slowly pouring water over the ashes until a brownish liquid oozed out the bottom of the barrel. This solution of potash lye was collected by allowing it to flow into the groove around the stone slab and drip down into a clay vessel at the lip of the groove.

Some colonists used an ash hopper for the making of lye instead of the barrel method. The ash hopper, was kept in a shed to protect the ashes from being leached unintentionally by a rain fall. Ashes were added periodically and water was poured over at intervals to insure a continuous supply of lye. The lye dripped into a collecting vessel located beneath the hopper.

The hardest part was in determining if the lye was of the correct strength, as we have said. In order to learn this, the soap maker floated either a potato or an egg in the lye. If the object floated with a specified amount of its surface above the lye solution, the lye was declared fit for soap making. Most of the colonists felt that lye of the correct strength would float a potato or an egg with an area the size of a ninepence (about the size of a modern quarter) above the surface. To make a weak lye stronger, the solution could either be boiled down more or the lye solution could be poured through a new batch of ashes. To make a solution weaker, water was added.

From Colonial Soap Making: Its History and Techniques -- The Soap Factory
http://www.alcasoft.com/soapfact/history.html

"When a fresh egg floats with a nickel-sized to quarter-sized area above the surface, the liquor is ready for soap making." -- Homestead mailing list.
Nickel = 2 cm diameter
Quarter = 2.5 cm diameter

At the turn of the last century lye was obtained by leaching water through wood ashes. At best, the concentration of potassium hydroxide in the resulting lye water was always questionable. My grandmother said that she could tell if the lye water was the right strength by using the wing feather pulled from her favorite goose. 

Being that my grandma was a great Southern cook one of the dishes that they would make was Fried Pork Chops and here is a recipe for you to try that I made up last week to finish this blog with.  I say bon'a to you all.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Follow me on Face book at Cooking With MadJon & Friends.  Follow me on twitter at @madjon51 and send me a recipe or two to try.  If you have any questions about any recipes I'd be happy to help you with.  If you live in the CSRA area contact me for catering at madjon51@aol.com. 

Fried Pork Chops

1 cup Flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 cup Corn Meal
Oil to fry pork chops in a pan, I use a Cast Iron Skillet
4 thick Pork Chops
1 cup Buttermilk

Heat your oil in a skillet.  Mix the salt, pepper, cornmeal, and flour together. Dredge the pork chops in the buttermilk then into the meal mix and fry until brown on both sides.  Then for a really tender pork chop bake the chops in a pre-heated oven on about 375 degrees for about 15 additional minutes. This really makes them tender.  Do try this recipe you will like it.  Thx Y'all.