Sugar Free Chocolate Pecan Sandie Trifle With Strawberry

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land its MadJon again writing from a not know place.= called Trenton, SC.  I don't know how busy you have been but school started and then there are football games, catering and finishing up the third season of playing host to the Cooking With MadJon and Friends TV show.  Its been a interesting year with more guest on our show.  I've had more guest with products here in S.C. like Lee's Seasonings and Ron Moore with his healing Salts.  We only have about 4 or 5 more shoots to do for specials like for the Holiday season and cooking at the S.C. State fair.  Which there will be SCSFA members at the fair selling all their products.  The products are all made with produce from the great state of S.C. and there are like about 350 members in our group.  That is how I sell MadJon's Salsa, Me Me's Pasta Gravy, and Me Me's Cake Syrups.  The cake syrups serve to add moistness to the cakes as well as flavor.  Let's see do you want to know how I got started with making products and ending up with my own TV show.  Well the story is I make a mean pasta gravy and salsa that my family and friends loved so like all kids they thought I needed more to do with my life because my grands were in school and my hubby was working, the kids all had jobs getting on with life and they thought I had too much time on my hands and they can't have that, noooo.  So they said mom we think you could sell your pasta gravy and salsa so I got it tested and got the bar codes, etc.    However I needed a place to make the product, sell the product, and test the product.  So a place opened up and I decided I'd see if anyone would buy my food after all my grandfather was a chef on my mom's side and I was taught a few things and like the saying goes the Apple doesn't fall to far from the tree.  Let's see, i had the passion, love for people, and now let's see if I had the skills.  I opened the cafe and started testing out recipes on my customers and they would always say my compliments to the chef and then ask to meet me.  My mom was from the North and my dad was from the South, they both were wonderful cooks.  My mom cooked a lot of Italian foods that her dad made and my dad made all the southern foods and the HOT southwestern dishes that he loved.  He learned to cook the dishes for us though our travels that we took across this great country of ours.  We were always on the move from the East coast to the West coast, north and south.  We had housekeepers that would clean and cook for us and I used to watch the cook when we lived in Texas make the hot sauce that my dad when eat when he came home with the re fried beans she'd cook for us.  She'd put the tomatoes right on the burner and I'd watch her roast the vegetables for the sauce right in front of my eyes and the peeling when just crackle, I loved it but boy was it HOT.   We lived on route 66 out west up and down the road we'd go, I have a ton of stories to tell you there.  Any Who am getting off the subject.  Back to the products.  The cake syrup came from a idea I had when I was a kid and we'd run out of syrups at our house after all their were six kids and they ate like pigs.  You'd have to be the first to eat the food when they bright it home.  Any who I was making a coconut cake one day and I didn't like what they told me to use so I made syrup to pour on the cake after it was cooked and it made it moist and added flavor.  So now I make the syrups in different flavors and add it to all my cakes.  The names for the products come from my grandchildren, the first three letters of each of their names and combined them. It just happens to be french, it means Beef and Spice among some other meanings but am sticking to this meaning.  OK so now you know something about the products that I sell.  The TV show came after I had won about 30 awards for the cafe and one award for my hundred dollar apple pie.  Any who lets talk about the dish am writing about today.  My friend has a sugar problem and we play bridge once a week and of coarse we eat.  So am trying to help him out.  I hope you enjoy the recipe and give it a try.  You can use Greek vanilla yogurt with this dish instead of pudding however am using skim milk for this recipe today. Oh, I meant to tell you that the Strawberry has about 200 seeds on it and its the only fruit that carries its seeds on the outside.

Chocolate Pudding Pecan Sandie Trifle With Strawberry (Sugar Free)

1 Box Sugar Free Pecan Sandie's, Crushed
1 Box Large Jell-O Chocolate Pudding, Instant
1 8 oz. Sugar Free Cool Whip
Skim Milk
Fresh Strawberry's, sliced in half
(Banana's or crushed Pineapple, drained) optional

Mix the milk with the jell-o according to package directions.  In the bowl add some halved strawberry's on the bottom of dish.  Add some crushed pecan Sande's and top with some pudding.  Add some cool whip and repeat the process until pudding and Sandie's are all gone with the fruit.  If you wish you may add some pineapple, drained and some bananas to the mix.  Easy recipe.  Serves at least eight.

I hope you enjoy this dish its very easy to make and your guest will love it.  Please come like my fan page at https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon and please follow me.  Also if you have a ipad please come and view my new MadJon Holiday e-cookbook on itunes.  The recipes have been well tested.  Yum Yum.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again.  Any questions my e-mail is madjon51@aol.com, send recipes if you wish or if you have any questions please feel free to ask.  I love hearing from you all.  Eileen F Hutson, MadJon.

RADIO SHOW, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st

RADIO SHOW, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st Cooking With MadJon And Friends

Cream Cheese and Sugar Free Cheesecake Bring it on.

Well hello again to all you foodies out there in web land, hope all is well.  I don't know about you but I've been busy finishing up my third season as the host of the,"Cooking With MadJon and Friends Show" for ASTV 95.  I hope your day has been going great!  Mine started out with my morning walk and then my friend Chris and I went to check out the Herbs in my garden and ran into a not so friendly Copperhead.  Which we took care of with my hoe.  He was a rather a larger Copperhead and was coming at us out of the garden. Chris grabbed the hoe and took care of the problem rather fast.  Poor snake but I don't want Copperheads in my garden, it isn't safe for them or me!  Any who that is how my day started, now my day is ending with you.  Am sorry its taken some time to get back to the blog but I have busy in this life.  I've had several friends ask for this recipe so am going to be putting it up tonight for all to see and share.  You know that Cream cheese is American made and was invented around 1880.  Now we have alot of uses for Cream Cheese in our cooking and its not just for desserts anymore.  I put it in my pastry's, desserts, and spreads.  I've used it in my sauces as well.  Here in America we use Cream Cheese for one of the best desserts around Cheese Cake.  In France they use Neufchatel Cheese with Gelatin to make their Cheese Cakes, which makes them Light and Airy. In Italy they use Ricotta Cheese for their Cheese Cakes. The Greeks use a combination of Cheese's like Muzthra, Feta and Farmers cheese's. I think as far as the texture goes I prefer our good old NY Cheese Cake style.  Any who whatever cheese you like to use is the cheese that you should use.  Any Who I hope you enjoy this recipe and give it a whirl.

Sugar Free Cheese Cake

Crust
No Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookies, I used Murrells, 1 package
Melted Butter, 2 TBSP.

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and melt the butter and add it to the crushed Pecan Shortbread's.  Press it into your cheesecake pan and bake for about 10 Min's. in pre-heated oven.  Cool.

Filling
3  8 oz. 1/3 less fat Packages softened Cream Cheese
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 Cups Sugar Free Sweetener
4 Eggs
2 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 TBSP Lemon Juice

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar, sweetener, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice.  Pour mixture into the pan and cook in a pre-heated oven on 325 degrees for about 1 hour or until done.  Cook in a hot bath which means cover the bottom of the pan with foil and place the cake in a pan with about 1/2" water in the bottom of it.  I use a rimmed cookie sheet. Cool Cheese Cake for about 12 hours before serving.

Topping

1 package fresh Strawberries
1 small package Strawberry Sugar Free Jell-o
1/2 Cup Sugar Free Sweetener
3 TBSP Corn Starch
1 1/4 cups Hot Water

Place the jell-o, water, cornstarch, and sweetener into a pan on the stove and cook it till it is clear in color not cloudy.  Set aside and cool. If your sauce is not thick enough for you just heat it again and add another tablespoon of corn starch to the mix.  Slice your strawberries and mix it with the cooled topping . Serve on top of Cheese cake when it has cooled for at least 12 hours.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the recipe and if you have any questions my email address is madjon51@aol.com.  Please visit my fan page and like it at https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon.  I also have a new Holiday Cook book out on itunes called MadJon Holiday for your ipads and it would alos make a great gift.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again, MadJon.  Eileen Hutson.


                     
                                            

Cooking With Madjon: Coconut Cream Pie Muffins Great Labor Day Dessert

Cooking With Madjon: Coconut Cream Pie Muffins Great Labor Day Dessert: Hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web Land its MadJon again posting on some very tasty dessert.  I got the idea to make these f...

Coconut Cream Pie Muffins Great Labor Day Dessert

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web Land its MadJon again posting on some very tasty dessert.  I got the idea to make these from a group on face book that I belong too called Outrageous Foodies and I just love the group.  I saw a birds nest dish from grated potatoes and to me it reminded me of shredded coconut.  So I went to the taste kitchen and made up this recipe.  You know that coconut came to this country in the late 1800's and a man named Franklin Baker from Pa started shredding and producing the coconut here in the United States for our household use.  Am so glad that he did because coconut is one of my favorite flavors to eat.  They have it in candy, puddings, fresh coconut Milk, coconut oil, cakes, cookies, and even drinks.  I love it in anything!  When we were kids in Miami we'd sit under the palms and the nut would drop and we'd remove the outer shell and place 3 holes on the end of the coconut and drink the milk.  Then we'd get out hammers and break the nut and eat out the meat.  It was great to just go along the sidewalks and pick up the coconuts to eat.  It took us awhile to open them but we used whatever means we needed to get into that juicy white meat. Their were six kids in my family and my Uncle Jack had 16 kids so it was hard to keep a coconut free on our streets.  Any who I hope you give a try.

Shell

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin pan.

Mix together:

2 cups shredded Coconut
1/2 cup sugar
2 TBSP Corn Starch
2 TBSP melted Butter

Shape into the muffin pans to make a nest and then bake in the oven for about 10 minutes and remove from oven.

Filling:

1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/4 cup Corn Starch
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 Egg Yolks, beaten, reserve egg whites
pinch of Salt
4 Cups Whole Milk
1 cup Shredded Coconut

Mix together and pour into muffin pan.  Cook for about 40 minutes or until done.

Topping
Beat the egg whites with 3 TBSP sugar, add  tsp. Vanilla, and a pinch of Cream Of Tarter.  Beat eggs till they are stiff and top the pies with it and sprinkle coconut on top and bake in a pre-heated oven until brown.  Rest for about 10 minutes and loosen the sides with a butter knife to remove.

I hope you enjoy these pie muffins and when they cool is the best time to eat them.  Please visit my Cooking With MadJon and Friends on face book and I also have a new cookbook out on itunes called MadJon Holidays for you ipads.  Write me with your comments at madjon51@aol.com.  Happy Labor day weekend and happy trails to you until we meet again.  MadJon.

Summers End Bounty From Our Garden Stuffed Italian Fried Okra

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land.  Madjon here and I hope all is well and that you enjoyed your summer.  The kids are back to school here in South Carolina.  Labor Day holiday is in just a few days.  Maybe you all can make some of this wonderful Okra for your holiday cooking menu.  We have had a lot of the bounty from our garden again this year.  The Okra plants must be a good five to six feet tall this year.  That's what Chicken Poop does for a garden.  Any who I was introduced to this wonderful vegetable called Okra early on in my life, being that my dad was a big mountain man from Tennessee.  He is the one that did most of the Southern cooking at our house.  Okra was high on his list of foods to have us eat along with the pinto beans, greens and yes that wonderful Buttermilk Corn Bread that he used to cook.  Sometimes I'd sit and watch him eat the corn bread hot with cold Buttermilk poured on top.  I could never understand how he could eat such a combination of food!  My pallet just couldn't get past the sour in the buttermilk.  Any who my mom would drink buttermilk for a upset tummies, as she called it.  Any way am suppose to be talking Okra.  You know all you northerners are missing out on not eating Okra because its slime, heck that's the whole fun of eating it.  Did you know that Okra is a natural thickener and high in fiber.  Its been around for centuries and was bought here by the slaves from Africa.  It has been used to make rope and the seeds have been dried and used for coffee.   You can boil it, bread and fry it, stew it with bacon,  Roast it, stuff it and even dry it and use it for chip dipping.
Now I have not even listed half the uses for this wonderful vegetable.  There are a lot of uses for it in Indian recipes.  Any who this is just one way that I enjoy using the Okra.  Last year I stuffed it with Feta Cheese and Jalapeno peppers.
This year I made it an Italian way browned on some olive oil.  So I hope you all give this recipe a try, shall you.

1 doz. okra, cleaned, slit okra and seeds removed
Salt and Pepper Okra to taste

Filling

Three Italian Blend Cheese's 1 Cup
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Dried Italian Seasonings
Mix all ingredients and fill your Okra pods.

Breading
1 Cup Corn Meal
1/2 Cup Flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 Egg, Beaten

Mix all ingredents and heat about 1" of oil in a pan and roll the filled okra in the egg and then roll it in the dry mix.  Place into the oil and cook to a golden brown on both sides.  Remember to turn your pods and don't fry it on to high a heat.

I hope you give this recipe a try and write me with any comments, I always like to hear from you all.  Come like my fan page https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon and visit itunes to buy my holiday e-book called MadJon Holiday.  Also come watch the TV show at www.aikenstandard.com ASTV 95.  Happy trails to you and yours until we meet again.  MadJon.  Recipes are always welcome.

Texas Beef Standing Rib Roast Go Houston Texans!

Well hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web Land, I hope all is well.  I have spent the last month on the road in D.C. and to the Houston area.  That is where we are from.  My father -in-law has just been told that he has Alzheimer's and we had to help talk him into moving, selling his home and on top of that telling him he can't drive anymore.  What a horrible thing to have to do to some body.  He felt like we were kicking him out of his house.  Poor thing! So my hubby will be going back and forth to Houston for the next few months.  Any who let's do some talking about this wonderful cut of meat called a Standing Rib Roast. As you may know Texas is well know for their Beef and this is what we call a Standing Rib Roast which is a cut of meat from the primal rib section and is a very tender and pricey piece of meat.  My sister-in-law bought it before we arrived not knowing how to cook it.  This roast had five ribs which means that you could serve about 10 people.  It was maybe total weight of 5 pounds.  You can figure that each rib will feed two people.  When you are picking a roast make sure its a nice deep red color not brown.  If the meat is brown then it is too old and it cost to much for you to waste your money on old meat, sort of speak.  You can go to your butcher and get him to cut you one or talk to the butcher at your store and Rhonda bought this one from H.E.B. and I must say that it was a good cut of Beef.   Your roast should be cooked standing up and with Dry Heat.  It should be salted and seasoned with spices and I like to rub my spices into the meat.  You are also going to do what is called searing the meat in a very hot pan with oil in it.  Searing meat caramelizes and browns the meat which adds color and flavors to the meat.  Any who you are going to slit the meat with a knive tip and go in about two inches deep and then you are going to add a garlic glove placed inside the slit.  Your going to do that about 8 times and I put it all over the roast.  Then I rub it with Salt, Pepper, oven and Garlic powders and sear the meat on all side until it is nice and brown.  Then you are going to add some red wine and beef broth to the drippings and add it to the bottom of your roasting pan.  I use a sided cookie sheet so the roast is exposed to the dry heat.  That will give it a nice and brown color as well.  Any Who am ready to give you a recipe on our Texas Standing Rib Roast, go Houston Texans, whcih are my mother-in-laws favorite football team.

Texas Standing Rib Roast

4-5 Pound Standing Rib Roast
6 to 8 cloves fresh Garlic

Slit the rost with the knive and place the cleaned garlic into the slits

Salt and Pepper to taste, sprinkled onto roast
Onion and Garlic Powder, sprinkled onto roast

Rub the spices on the roast with fingers, the best thing God gave you to work with.
1/2 cup Dijon Mustard
6 basil leaves, fresh
1 stick Oregano, fresh
1 stick Rosemary leaves

Finely chop the herbs and add them to the Dijon Mustard.  Rub the mustard all over your roast with your fingers.

3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Heat the oil in a pan and sear your meat on all sides.


Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and place roast into your pan after it is seared.  Then to the drippings in the pan you add about 2 cups red wine and 1 cup Beef Broth.  Stir the pan and pour it into your roasting pan with the roast.  Then you bake the roast for 20 minutes on 450 degrees and then turn down your oven to 350 degrees and bake your roast for 18 minutes per pound or until it reaches a temp of 145 to 150 degrees.  Remove your roast and let it rest for about 15 more minutes before carving.  Take the drippings from your pan and heat it with about 1 more cup of red wine and 1 more cup of beef broth. Cook till reduced.  This is a great sauce with lots of flavoring.

I hope you enjoy this recipe we shall did.  Come visit my fan page on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon and also go to www.aikenstandard.com ASTV 95 and watch my TV shows.  Also I have a new cookbook just released MadJon Holiday though itunes.  Please email me with your comments or questions about recipes at madjon51@aol.com.  Bona Y'all and Happy Trail to you until we meet again.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!