Simply Me: Madjon Review

Simply Me: Madjon Review: Review for Madjon    I love to cook and try new foods!  I also love having my family over and giving them great foods to try.  I'm alw...

Halloween Meatloaf Master Chef Casting Call Busy Busy!

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web Land and Happy Halloween to you all.  I've had a very busy month hope you have as well.  First of all I want to say my prayers are with all the people who were in the path of Sandy my heart and prayers are with each and everyone of you.  I hope your clean up is very fast and your get the heat on there in W.V. and I saw the pictures and it was so pretty but very cold and I hope you have plenty of wood to keep you warm.  This month has been very busy with travel to the Nashville area and all.  I went to two casting calls and one I can talk about because its a up and running show.  The other casting call the show has not aired as yet.  Any who I went to Nashville with a friend and we went to the casting call for the Master Chef Show and it was very interesting, however am considered a chef not a ordinary cook right from the kitchen.  I made up a recipe for what I called a Key Lime Cake Torte and served it with fresh Mango and Key Lime Pudding and the taster ate my dish three times.  He said that I really had two dishes there instead of one.  He told me that I could serve the pudding with Vodka on the side or mixed in as a new dessert.   Any who they line you up in a tasting room and first the taster goes though and talks about your dish and then the interviewer comes by and ask you questions about what you do etc.  Well she asked me three times about owning a cafe and that I got paid to do the cooking and I had to say yes not to mention that I also had a TV cooking show so any who I wasn't picked, however it was fun and interesting to see how that part works.  If you have a dish or would like to learn about becoming a chef you should go try out for the show.  I went so that I could get my disc from the show in their hands and try to get my name out there, sort of speck. I got to go to eat at the Big River and the food was GREAT!  I got to hear some of the up and coming country music artist not the mention the view of countryside.  I was so excited about all of it.  I was like a kid in a candy jar.  It bought me back to my roots.  I loved every second of it.  At the second casting I met and made some new friends in the Atlanta area and got my products into their hands.  I also sent out my products into some blogger hands which I will let you know about later.  I thank them very much for testing out MadJon's Salsa, Me Me's Pasta Gravy, and Me Me's Cake Syrups.  As far as Halloween goes I wrote an article on it for the newspaper called ,"Ghoulish Delights For A Frightful Night".  Living On The Go on October 24th www.aikenstandard.com.  Witch Finger Cookies and a Hand Meat Loaf.  Yum Yum to all you eat this frightful Night. Am going to add the meat Loaf recipe here for you and its very easy to make and taste good too!  Also have a safe and Happy Halloween.

Hand Meat Loaf

1 pound ground Beef
1 Egg
1 cup Crackers, crushed
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tsp. Mrs's Dash
1 tsp. Onion and Garlic Powder
1/2 diced Onion
1/4 cup Heinz 57 Sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
1 tsp. yellow Mustard
1/2 Onion for palm of hand
1 Red Bell Pepper for fingernails
Extra ketchup for blood

Mix all ingredients and place on flat sheet.  Place the onion on the end for the hand bone and shape the meat into a hand and add your fingernails and ketchup for the decorating.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to one hour.  Cook uncovered.

Hope you have a wonderful end of October and also hope you try the recipe.  Please come lie my fan Page on face book called Cooking With MadJon and Friends.  Watch my TV show on the web.  Email me with recipes and if you own a ipad please go buy my new e-cookbook called MadJon Holiday on itunes though Apple, download it.  My email address is madjon51@aol.com come and talk recipes with me.  Happy Trail to you and your until we meet again.  Eileen F. Hutson, MadJon.

Gettin Cold Need Comfort Foods Vegetable Soup & Newby Family

Well hello again to all my foodie friends out there in web land, I hope everything is well.  I've been really busy with being the TV host of the ASTV 95 '"Cooking With MadJon and Friends".  I have a ball cooking and making up recipes.  The last john I did was with my friend John Vaughn who is very talented in the music industry.  He composes his won music and its wonderful.  His working on a healing recording now.  I believe his just about finished with it.  Can't wait to hear it and buy it.  Any who I have also been out of town this month to the great state of Tennessee, that is where my father's family is from.  My dad was born in Spring City right a the month of the mountain called Newby Branch which is now a park named after my family.  It rest on top of the mountain.  They owned that from back in the early 20's or 30's I think.  Not sure of the times.  This winter my sister's and cousin Perry are going to take a trip up their and nose around.  Can't wait for that trip.  While we were in Spring City we visited my grandpa Newby's farm that they used to own and it is still owned by the same family that bought it years ago from my grandmother after my grandpa died.  She sold it for like 1600.00, I hate that she did that because it sits right at the feet of a mountain and its so pretty and peaceful.  They let us go up to the cemetery that sits on a hill and it has graves from the revolutionary and Civil wars in it.  It was so interesting to see the grave stones standing.  We also saw a pot and a copper coil for making White Lightening, I did take a picture of it before they came out to meet us.  Yes that is still made in them there hills.  While we were there the man said that he remembers the name Flora Mae on the deed so they are the family that bought the land from my grandma.  While we were there I learned about Hattie's store across from the railroad tracks and I saw the one room school house they the kids all went to bare feet and all.  I learned about a uncle called one-legged George who my dad was named after.  He road a horse and he and his brother lived on the land on the hill as well.  They said that he worked for the railroad and shot somebody and buried him on the land.  Not sure how true that is but from what I've heard he was a real mean man and always had a gun.  While we were at the family cemetery we ran into a lost cuzz of ours from the Thurman side of the family,.  Perry is named after his great grandfather.  It is one of the most beautiful places I've seen and we ate lunch at the cemetery.  Peaceful lunch anyway.  Its fun to go back and see how your parents and grandparents lived.  My sisters and I did walk away with some antique barbed wire from the fench with their permission of coarse.  Any who the reason we all went back home was to say good-bye to our cousin who died last week. Andra Newby,  RIP.   He was a nice man and left four kids.  So sad!  While we were home we stayed at Perry and Patsy Newby's house and shes a wonderful comfort food cook.  She made us Buttermilk Corn Bread, Pinto Beans, and greens from the garden.  Loved it all and ate it all.  Had to go get weighed at the Doctor on Monday when I got back and gained 2 1/2 pounds on just the few days we were there, I enjoyed it.  Any who let's give you my recipe for some homemade Vegetable Soup.

Vegetable Soup

1/2 Stick Butter
1 Onion, diced
4 gloves Garlic, diced
2 cartons Chicken Broth
2 tsp. Onion and Garlic powder
2 Bay Leafs
2 Chicken Bouillion Cubes
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 Pototoes, peeled and diced
1 Large Bage of Mixed frozenVegetables
1/2 Head Shredded Cabbage
Dried Parsley
1 TBSP dried Basil
1 Large can Diced Tomatoes, 28 ozs.

Melt the butter in a pan for the soup.  Next add the onions and garlic.  Cook till the onions are clear in color.  Then add the broth, bouillions, spices and bring to a simmer.  Then add the potatoes, mixed vegetables, cabbage, and anything else that is listed, hehe like the tomatoes.  Simmer for about 45 minutes and serve with some of your own Buttermilk Corn Bread.

Hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as my family does.  Wish me luck I have two cast calls this weekend for Masterchef and Supermartet Show.  Please come and like my fan page on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon and go view my e-cookbook on itunes called MadJon Holiday and buy it to make some memories of your own.  Happy Trails to you and yours until we meet again, Eileen F. Hutson, MadJon.

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...