Cooking With Madjon: Happy Mothers Day to All Mothers Make Apple Spice ...

Cooking With Madjon: Happy Mothers Day to All Mothers Make Apple Spice ...: Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land hope you all had a very nice Mother's Day I know I did.  I went shopping wi...

Happy Mothers Day to All Mothers Make Apple Spice Cake

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land hope you all had a very nice Mother's Day I know I did.  I went shopping with my daughter and granddaughter and I received several very nice gifts including a Bra fitting while we were shopping.  Never had one of those before.  Yesterday we did some filming at the Poultry festival in Leesville, S.C. and had some fun eating and talking about chicken and B.B.Q.   Also had the pleasure of riding a Bull which I'd never done before.  That was exciting and I hope my fans love it when the show airs.  I however didn't stay on along time, hard to hold on with just a rope and nothing else.  Any who everyone got to see me fall off.  Any who let's talk about mother's days my mom is no longer with me in body here on this earth she passed a few years back however I remember some of the things she used to do for us when we were little and one of them was she made the best Coffee Cakes in the whole world and some where around here I have her Applesauce Cake recipe that has been in our family for over a 100 years and I have it in her hand writing and I think its in my large recipe book but any who I remember that I came home from school when I was about seven years old and saw a strange looking Red Headed lady sitting on our couch with a little red headed baby in her arms which all turned out to be my baby sister Imogene and she was just a few days old but what was strange was that my mom's hair seemed to turn red after she had her.  Anyway I didn't know who she was when I came in the door but I knew my mom had to be there because I could smell her wonderful coffee cake cooking.  Strange the things you can remember as a kid or should I say how you remember them.  Imogene was the last sibling to be born in our family there were six of us and when we'd be running around it sounded like hundreds.  There were five girls and one boy and he was so spoiled by my mom when he was little.  Daddy always let him stand next to him in the front seat when we'd go driving on our Sunday afternoons.  That's when gas was cheap and there wasn't a whole lot for us to do on Sundays but get out and view the country sides and sometimes we'd go to the river and my daddy would cook for us on a opened fire.  It tasted pretty good.  We'd travel alot when I was a kid and for breakfast Dad would pull over on the side of the road where we could find a stream and we'd wash up and he would make breakfast on an opened fire in a skillet.  Boy was it good and the smell was worth the wait to eat.  Kind of like camping out but we'd sleep in the car then, we weren't very big and laying on each other didn't seem to bother us and besides if we complained my dad would give us the slap or make us get a hickory switch off the tree and it had better been big enough to use.  Any who it goes on and on with such as life with a man that made lots of money in his life time and running us up and down the road 3 or 4 times a year because he had a wild hair is what my mom used to say.  I don't know how she put up with him, LOL.  She was a saint in my opinion.  Well any who I made up thsi recipe to remind me of my mom who used to make the best Coffee Cakes in the whole world.  She also was one of the strongest women I ever knew.  She was a Wac in WW11 and worked secretly in Germany and was enjured and came home and married my dad on the boat coming back to America and she met him while she was playing poker with the men and daddy walked up behind her and started to tell her how to play poker and my mom told him that she didn't need a man to tell her how to play poker, thank you very much and then the race was on because there was another man very interested in her as well.  Any who Daddy won her heart with that cold black hair and good looking face. There is more to that story when my dad and mom were in boot camp in Ga. they arranged to have a baseball game with the girls, boys against the girls and mom and her whole group had gotten bored and bleached their heads and everyone of them were blonds so my mom was up to bat and my daddy saw here and told his buddy see the blond and his friends said which one they are all blonds and he said the one at bat, am going to marry her and his friend said Allen your crazy you don't even know her but daddy told him no but I will.  True story.  My mom also helped start the Women's WW 11 Momerial at Arlington. You can go in and look her up Jeanne Varney Newby was her name and when she died she how so many awards given to her from governors and the V.A., etc too many to list.  I lived in W.Va. at the time she was working on that.  She helped Veterans fight for their rights against the V.A.  In the 60's she had to have surgery at the V.A. hospital and when she found out their was not a ward for women only she went to work on that in Tulsa, OK  She kept her maiden name and had her own checking accounts at a time when women didn't do that kind of thing.  She and my dad were in business together their whole married lifes.  She handled the money and front office and my dad handle the back office departments.  Their are so many stories about her and people from their generation.   Any who its late and I have a lot to do tomorrow because I'll be at the Taste of Home show in Aiken and also getting ready for a shoot with my friend John Vaughn.  So let's write down a reicpe for this Apple Spice Cake.

Apple Spice Cake

Pre-heat oven to 350 dgrees and grease a Bundt Cake pan.

2 Sticks Butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose Flour
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla 1/2 cups Buttermilk
2 Apples, peeled,diced
3 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp All-Spice
1/8 tsp Ginger
1 cup chopped Taosted Pecans

Cream buuter,sugar, and vanilla together.  Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, and  baking soda together.  Add the beaten eggs and beat until well blended.  Add the cinnamon, ginger, and all-spice to the mix.  Add the flour and buttermilk alittle at a time until they are all mixed into the batter. Toss in the apples and toasted pecans.  You want the pecans toasted because it helsp release the oils in the nuts and adds very much to the flovor of your cake.  Bake this cake for at least an hour and ten minutes or until done.  All oven are different when ti comes to cooking you are teh best judge for your oven.

I hope you enjoy this cake and that all the mothers had a wonderful day.  Come like my fan page on facebook , Cooking With MadJon and Friends.  Watch the tV show at aikenstandard.tv and watch You Tube MadJon.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.

Yea No Rain Today Garden Planted Wedding finished Making Chicken Spinach Marsala

 OK hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land its me again MadJon wishing you all some happy cooking.  I've been busy with of all things today the dentist, gotta love them.  Take care of the teeth and remember to floss.   Since I wrote to you all last I have managed 3 catering jobs, 3 shoots, and was sick for a week.  Am better now.  I finished planting our garden in the rain yesterday and it was cold.  I planted the last of our flowers and garlic, yum yum nothing better then fresh garlic and the flowers are suppose to keep the moths from laying eggs on our squash, let's hope it works.  I'll keep you posted.  Am going to add some cardboard and some natural material between the rolls to keep down the weeds, I don't want any poison's on my vegetables.   Each year our soil gets better by adding more of the Chicken Poop and we are composting all that we have that is raw material except am not going to use the newspapers.  I'll let my girlfriend use them in her garden I just think they are to heavy for our dirt.  I want soil that crumbles in my hands.  I do however need to add some of those things called worms!  Any who our garden is growing right along even if the sun hasn't been shining on us here in South Carolina lately.  I managed to do a live Radio Talk show last week with Renee and Doug on WNRR 1380 AM dail and am looking forward to being invited back.  We are going to talk me about that thing called food and cooking, love it love it.  Renee will make an appearance on the show tomorrow with me and we are going to be cooking her mothers recipes, Pound Cake and a Chicken Casserole that her mom has made for years.  Am going to be making some Green Beans roasted in the oven with Bacon on top, yum yum. I can't wait and I love having guest on with me.  It however does take about 3 hours to do a shoot so its not like you just walk in and do a show.  First I shoot at my home and I clean for the shoot, then go to the store, plan the menu's, pick the guest,  prep, and do dishes all in the same shoot.  However my guest do help me with the dishes and I love letting them do the cooking and love it when they say oh I can't cook but they can there is a Chef hidden in everyone.  I love the interview parts and I love to watch their faces would they taste the finale product.  I had desserts for about 100 people for my first catering job, and I turned that into a show.  Then for the next three days I cooked for the wedding and it was dinner for about 166 guest.  I prepared everything on the Brides list that she wanted.  They hardly had time to eat much of it but the guest seemed enjoyed it.  The wedding cake I made was a Lemon cake with Lemon Icing, it was yum yum.  Her menu included a Wedding Salad, with Feta cheese, Candied Pecans, Mandarin Oranges, fresh Strawberries with my Balsamic Vinegar Dressing.  She asked for my Pulled Pork and Potatoes Salad.  Two kinds of Chicken Marsala, Spinach and Mushrooms.  Then I made Mimi Cheesecakes, mixtures of Fruits and Cheeses, and my Buffalo Chick Spring Rolls with also some Vegetable Spring Rolls.  Plenty of food for everyone.  Any who it was my pleasure to serve everyone at the wedding.  Please do me a favor and go like my fan page on face book at https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon  and watch the TV shows at www.aikenstandard.tv email me with any questions about recipes or cooking at madjon51@aol.com.  I also wanted to thank Rex and all the girls who helped me with this wedding from set-ups to helping cook and the cupcakes and Icing.

MadJon's Chicken Marsala

1 pound Chicken Breast, cut and pounded very thin
1 Cup Flour, to coat the chicken in
Salt Pepper to taste
1.5 tsp Onion and Garlic Powders
1 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp Italian Seasonings
1 package Shallots, chopped
4 cloves Gaelic minced
Olive Oil
!/2 stick Butter
2 Chicken Bouillons
2 cups Chicken Broth
1 Cup Cream
1 cup White Wine

Pound you Chicken and cut in serving sizes.  Mix flour, salt-pepper, onion-garlic powders, thyme, and Italian spices together.  Coat the chicken pieces with the flour, reserve the flour left overs.  Brown the chicken with the butter and olive oil.  Remove from pan and add some more olive oil, about 3 TBSP and brown the shallots and garlic until caramelized in the pan, add the wine an stir.  Then add the reserved flour into the pan with the bouillons and chicken broth.  Cook until simmering.  Then add the chicken back into the pan and simmer about 10 minutes and add the cream.  If you wish to add the Spinach saute the spinach with some olive oil, salt, pepper, onion and garlic power lightly and cook for a couple of minutes and add it to your chicken.  Serve with your pasta and top with cheese if you wish..

I hope that you enjoy this recipe and let me know how it turns out for you.  Happy trails to you until we meet again, Bona' y'all.
Pasta, 1 pound cooked and tossed with Olive Oil and Butter, salted to taste

Cooking With Madjon: Spring Time Are You Ready For Lemon Asparagus Sal...

Cooking With Madjon: Spring Time Are You Ready For Lemon Asparagus Sal...: Hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web land its MadJon again writing to say Happy spring to you all.  There is nothing better to ...

Spring Time Are You Ready For Lemon Asparagus Salad

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in Web land its MadJon again writing to say Happy spring to you all.  There is nothing better to eat in the Spring then Asparagus and with my Lemon Salad Dressing that will light up your taste buds with the freshness of spring.  I know I've been off of here for a while and am sorry for that.  I've been busy with catering jobs and this week I've been with the sickness of that thing called sinus, head, and nose problems not to mention my chest!!!  Love it.  I have not had this problem for years and now it seems to want to take me over and now is not a good time because I have a wedding to cater on May 3rd so no rest for the wary as they say.  I made this recipe up while I was cooking for the D.C. hoodies as they are called!  The Lemon dressing I used in my restuarant and my customers loved it.  I will now pass that formula on to you all to enjoy.  Asparagus is not only a healty and tasty vegetable to devore but there are lots of different ways for you to prepare it.  It may be roasted, steamed, fried with batter, B.B.Q.pickled in a jar  and eaten raw. Any who I like to eat it anyway you cook it.  You do know to snap the bottom ends off to take away the tough parts of the stems.  Leaving that soft and tasty part of the vegetable.  It is also a vegetable that does not take a whole lot of cooking time or prep time.  As to the greens you may mix any fresh and raw vegetables with your greens or even fruits thrown in there.  I have read that if you mix fruits with greens it may cause you that gas feeling, oh well take a pill if you wish or just pass it along sort of speak.  I also tossed in some raosted Pine Nuts in this mix very tasty a I may add.  I also use  alot of taosted Sunflower seeds in my salads.  Hey, I also like to add salt to my Salad dressings and did you know that Salt is a noun, the means needed to support life. Salt also brings out the flavors in foods, sometimes when you make a dish, all it needs is a litel more Salt to bring out the flavors.  No to much please and I liek Sea Salts and Himalayan Salts.  Any who are you ready for some good eats with greens and the wonderful vegeable that is called Asparagus.  Please let me know if you liek this recipe at madjon51@aol.com and come like my fan page on Face Book https://www.facebook.com/CookingwithMadjon you just gotta love social media.  Also please share my cooking blog and join me on LinkedIn Eileen Hutson.

Lemon Aparagus Salad

Dressing:

1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1 tsp. Onion Powder
2 TBSP Sugar
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
Black Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Olive Oil

Mix the first 6 ingredients together and then add your oil and shake like crazy.

1 Bunch Asparagus
Salt and Pepper to taste
Onion and Garlic Powders, for dusting
Dried Rosemary, maybe 2 tsp.
Olive Oil, about 3 TBSP
Salad Greens, mixed
Whatever frutis and vegetables of your choice

Remove the stem bottoms on the asparagus and wash it.  Then dust the asparagus with, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, and Rosemary, give it a toss.  Then toss it with the olive oil.  Then steam the asparaus for about 3 minutes, cool it down and its ready to place on top of your greens and vegetables.  Pour some of your salad dressing on top of the greens and toss it lightly and you are ready to serve.

Please enjoy this salad and if you want to take out the sugar just add 2 Slenda packets to the mix.  Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Bona Y'all.

Cooking With Madjon: Washington D.C. Tidel Basin 2013 Cherry Blossom Fe...

Cooking With Madjon: Washington D.C. Tidel Basin 2013 Cherry Blossom Fe...: Well hello to all you foodie friends out there in Web land I hope all is well.  I've been like on a small vacation and now its time to g...

Washington D.C. Tidel Basin 2013 Cherry Blossom Festival and Cherry Pie

Well hello to all you foodie friends out there in Web land I hope all is well.  I've been like on a small vacation and now its time to get back to work.  I was going to do some writing yesterday but with the bombing in Boston I just didn't feel like it.  I send my prayers to all the victims in Boston and I hope they all recover very fast without much pain.  I also am so sorry for the loss of life's and my heart goes out to the ones that died and their families.  I hope that they soon find out who caused such a cowardly act and take care of them and expose them as the cowards that they are.  Any who that said, we are here to talk about the Cherry Blossoms in D.C.  Did you know that people come from all over the world to see the beauty that I got to witness last week.  We were there at the peak of the blooms.  They were just breathtaking to view.  People were taking so many photographs and everyone enjoying the beauty around them..I will be sharing some of the pictures I took while I was there.  This year marks the 101st anniversary for the gift of trees from Japan to the Untied States.  In 1912 Japan sent us about 3,020 Cherry Trees of several different varieties, which were planted in different areas of Washington DC and some of the trees that are there are from these plantings.  I also noticed that they have panted new trees to replace the older ones for feature generations.  I hope you get a chance to visit D.C. while the festival is going on.  It felt like a fresh start and welcome to spring.  You know the trees do not bear fruit , only the blooms.

I stayed with our son there and I was asked to cook with my Pasta Gravy so I made Turkey Meatballs for them and then we also made the Cherry Pie.  That was an ordeal because there were no Cherries to be found at their store.  So I used dried Cherries and they seemed to work out just fine and  I had help from a couple friends who live in the the Hood as they call it. So I hope you enjoy this recipe and please give it a try,.

Cherry Blossom Pie

Crust:  Makes 2 crust
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick Butter plus 2 TBSP shortening, softened
1 tsp. Salt
3 TBSP Sugar
4-6 TBSP iced Water

Blend the sugar and salt with the flour.  Soften the butter and blend it with the flour and blend in the shortening.  Slowly add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough foams a ball.  Cut it in half and roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.  Place one crust into a pie pan and bake for about 8 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees.

Cherry Pie Filling:

2 packages dried Cherries
1 cup Sugar
3 TBSP Corn Starch
1 small box Cherry Jello
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2 TBSP Butter
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
2 Cups Water

Mix the sugar, cherries, and cornstarch in a pan.  Then pour in the box of jello, cinnamon,  and mix until well blended. Slowly add the water.  Then add the lemon juice.  Cook slowly until thickened.  Add the butter and mix.  Cool a little before pouring the filling onto the crust.  Top the pie with the other crust and brush with some egg white.  Bakes until golden brown on about 375 degrees in a pre-heated oven.
I hope you enjoy this recipe and go see the Cherry Blossoms when in bloom.  Please go and like my fan page on Face Book, Cooking With MadJon and Friends.  visit our show on the web, www.aikenstandard.com ASTV 95. Write me at madjon51@aol.com with any questions about any reicpes.  Happy trails to you until we meet again., MadJon.