Dijon Mustard Rosemary Chicken With Vegetables Guilty No More

Hello foodie friends out there in web space hope all is well.  I've been busy trying to stay warm and staying on my diet.  Its hard to do folks but I've lost a few pounds and have a few more to go to reach where my Doctor wants me to be.  I just can't have any fun anymore because as you get older its harder to hide anything.  Am having to reinvent the wheel when it comes to cooking for me because I can't have dairy and I can't have Wheats.  So am making up recipes as I go.  Tonight I made Rice, which should be brown by the way,  Cabbage with an orange and lemon juiced into the mix and it was very nice flavor to eat.  Then I made boneless chicken breast and added Dijon mustard and Rosemary with Garlic, onions, and peppers added to the mix.  Then I had some left over vegetables that I added to the pot as well.  It was a very nice blend of Dijon and Rosemary to the chicken.  I used Olive Oil to brown the Chicken in.

Dijon Mustard and Rosemary Chicken

2 large boneless Chicken Breast cut in thirds
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 tsp. Onion and Garlic powders, sprinkled onto the chicken
3/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1 Onion cut in half and sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 Red Pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
3 TBSP Olive Oil

Take your cut chicken pieces and dust them with the spices.  Heat your oil in a pan and cook until the vegetables are clear in color which includes the onions and garlic.  Now take the vegetables out of the pan and brown your chicken breast.  Then brush the mustard on the chicken and brown the sides again.  Then return the vegetables to the pan and add the chicken broth and simmer until the chicken is tender.

I hope you enjoy this dish and Happy trails to you until we meet again.  Please stay safe and warm and I look forward very much to spring.  Darn that ground hog.  Come stop by my fan page and like it, "Cooking With MadJon & Friends."

Oscar Picks by Lindsay's Let's see if his right & healthy Cabbage With Dill

Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web land its me again and tonight we will be sending you Oscar picks by my friend Lindsey and he sent me these on the 20th of this month.  This is the Oscar's night.  Along with the picks am going to be sending you a recipe for Dill Cabbage which was very tasty and low in fat.  I have to start a diet based on my blood type and I have to eat more fruits and vegetables and a diet of no meats almost.  Turkey is about the only meat I can eat.  I do eat some Chicken and no dairy products.  So any who so sad but that's how it works sometimes folks.  Any who here is the recipe for Dill Cabbage the easy way.

Dill Cabbage

1 Head Cabbage, cut up and core removed
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 TBSP Oil
2 tsp. Onion & Garlic Powders
2 tsp. Dried Dill
1/2 cup water

Cut up the cabbage and place it in a pan with the oil heated.  Add your salt, pepper, onion & garlic powders.  Add your dill herb and remember to rub the dill as it goes into the pan to release the oils in the dill.  Once it starts cooking add about 1/2 cup of water to the mix and cover and cook until the cabbage is tender.  Stirring while it cooks.

Now here are Lindsay's Oscar picks and Happy Trails to you until we meet again.  Come like my fan page on face book at, Cooking With Madjon & Friends.

Yes I missed it last year because I was working 60 hours a week, and thank goodness that job is long gone and I have my sanity back.  So this year I am happy to reveal who I think will win.  With all my useless Oscar knowledge bursting at the seams, I am happy to present the following:

Best Picture – Boyhood  should win.  Kevin and I saw this on pay per view and it really was a great movie.  The concept of the actors aging 12 years without makeup was surely different and it obviously took a lot of commitments from the actors involved.  I personally think that American Sniper should win.  We saw it in the theatre and in my opinion is the best movie I have ever seen of all time.  It really moved me and told a true story of the effects of war on the person’s there as well as the family back home.  Bradley Cooper was amazing.  Another movie that we saw that should have been nominated was “Unbroken” the Angelina Jolie directed movie.  This movie was gravely overlooked and even Jolie should have been nominated for best director.

Best Actor – Eddie Redmayne will win and considering he has been winning every award leading up to the Oscars he should be a shoo in, plus historically “Biopics” tend to win more than conventional movies.  If Redmayne wins it will be an Oscar and a Tony win for him.  Glad to see Bradley Cooper nominated for the 3^rd year in a row.  We saw Benedict Cumberbatch in “Imitation Game” and is deserving of his nomination.  A spoiler to Redmayne would be Michael Keaton for Birdman. 

Best Actress – What a wonderful year for actresses.  There were so many great performances that it’s unfortunate that there can only be 5 nominees.  This is Julianne Moore’s year to win.  This is her 5^th nomination and will win.  I haven’t seen the movie “Sweet Alice” but understand it’s her best work of all time.  The first movie that I saw her in and her first nomination was 1997’s “Boogie Nights”.  I have been a fan for years.  Good luck Julianne.  No spoiler in this one it is Julieanne’s year to win.  A few actresses in the past won on their 5^th try such as:  Susan Hayward, Susan Sarandon, Shirley McClain, and Elizabeth Taylor.     What company to be in…… We saw Reese Witherspoon and Rosemund Pike and they were great.  I was disappointed that Amy Adams didn’t get nominated for Big Eyes.  She is my favorite actress currently. 

Best Supporting Actor – This year will be one sure winner and that is JK Simmons for “Whiplash”.  This is his first nomination.  Great actors in this category though.  Robert Duvall in his 7^th nomination which goes back to 1972 for the Godfather, Edward Norton in his 3^rd nomination, Mark Ruffalo in his 2^nd and of course Ethan Hawk in his 2^nd.  All were great.

Best Supporting Actress – Patricia Arquette will win for “Boyhood”.  She was great.  We saw everyone except Emma Stone.  Laura Dern  (2^nd nomination) was great in Wild as Reese Witherspoon’s mother.  Keira Knightly was amazing and this is her 2^nd nomination, and of course the marvelous Meryl up for her 19^th nomination and counting. She looked great in blue hair.

Best Director – Such controversy this year.  Politics played a part as it always does and sad that it does.  Clint Eastwood wasn’t nominated for American Sniper because of his Republican views in an all democratic academy.  The woman that directed Selma was overlooked because she purposely left out the fact that President Lyndon Johnson was a major player in getting the Civil Rights Act passed and she didn’t portray that in the movie and the mostly white academy didn’t like that.  Hey this is how the academy works.  Plus the director for Selma predicted this would happen.  Plus since Oprah is tied to this movie I think that had a negative effect.  I think Oprah’s flame has gone out.  I still think Angelina Jolie should have been nominated.  But the winner will be Richard Linklater for Boyhood.  Should be a slam dunk.

Best Original Song will go to the movie Selma.   One movie that I saw and absolutely hated and couldn’t understand what the hype was, is the “Grand Budapest Hotel”.     

I love the history of Oscar.  Do you know who came up with the word Oscar?  It really is called an Academy Award.  When Bette Davis won in 1935 for Dangerous, she went up the podium and looked at the statuette and said the award looked like her uncle Oscar.  From that moment it kind of stuck.  Speaking of the 10 time Academy Award nominee (twice a winner), Ms. Bette Davis is still in the record books for the most nominations in a row.  She was nominated from 1938 – 1942 (five years in a row) which has never been duplicated since. 

1938 – Jezebel

1939 – Dark Victory

1940 – The Letter

1941 – The Little Foxes

1942 – Now Voyager

Some have come close such as 4 nominations in a row:  Marlon Brando 1950-1954, Al Pacino 1972-1975, Elizabeth Taylor 1957-1960.  I know I need to get a life.  Lol

In closing I have an Oscar story for you.  Again it involves the great Bette Davis.  In 1962 Bette Davis had a huge comeback movie in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane”.  Well in her 50’s and considered at the end of her movie career, she surprised everyone with a knock out performance.  Her 10^th and last Oscar nomination.  She paired up in this movie with her long-time foe Joan Crawford.  Neither actress liked the other and Davis always felt that Crawford was a B actress.  In the movie Davis slowly tortures Crawford (which I am sure she loved).  Davis was getting all the attention for her performance and when the Oscar nominations came out and Davis was nominated and not Crawford, Ms. Crawford went on the war path to sabotage Davis’s chance for winning.  It all started by Crawford telling the press how mean Davis was to her.  Crawford said she was a good actress and deserved to be nominated along with Davis.  Then Davis had enough and went to the press saying that “yes Crawford is a good actress as she has 3 nominations to her name”, “but I am a great actress with 10 nominations to my name, get over it”. 

It became clear that Crawford was sinking very low.  Davis had won the Golden Globe, the LA and NY Film Critics Award and was already planning her eventual 3^rd Oscar win and planning the after Oscar party and press statements.  She was that much of a shoo in for the win.  A validation that she was the greatest of her generation.  Crawford then sent letters to Academy members discrediting the movie and wouldn’t take part in promoting the movie.  Crawford then went to the other best actress nominees, Anne Bancroft, Katherine Hepburn, Lee Remick and Geraldine Page and offered to pick up their Oscar at the podium should they not be available to go.  This was underhanded.  Katherine Hepburn who never attended the awards told Crawford that she wouldn’t be there, but wanted the presenter (Maximillian Schell the previous year’s best actor winner) for that category to just accept for her.  Lee Remick and Geraldine Page were going to be there, however Anne Bancroft told her that she was busy on Broadway in NY and could not be there should she win.  Being young and not knowing what Crawford was doing, she told Ms. Crawford that if she won she could accept for her.  Then Crawford started rallying the academy members to vote for Bancroft for the Miracle Worker.  So on Oscar night the highly anticipated award for best actress was being read by Schell (last year’s best actor Oscar winner).  And the winner is:  “Anne Bancroft for the Miracle Worker”.  Bette Davis was stunned as Joan Crawford got out of her seat and paraded right by Bette Davis and went up on stage to accept the award for Anne.  She even told the audience that she was glad Anne had won.  So apparently the academy had enough of the Crawford and Davis feud and just went with the 2^nd choice.  But in the end Davis had the last laugh as this rejuvenated her career and also paved the way for a very successful TV movie career winning Emmy awards for made for TV movies and Crawford died a broken woman.

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Super Bowl 49 Pico de Gallo Cheese Dip Recipe

Cooking With Madjon aikenstandard.tv: Super Bowl 49 Pico de Gallo Cheese Dip Recipe: Hello to all my foodie friends out there on the web.  Hope all is well with you and yours.  While I was in Texas my niece Stacey came in wit...

Super Bowl 49 Pico de Gallo Cheese Dip Recipe

Hello to all my foodie friends out there on the web.  Hope all is well with you and yours.  While I was in Texas my niece Stacey came in with a new Cheese-dip which I thought was very tasty.  Its very easy as well.  I thought you couldn't have Super Bowl party without this dish to serve your party goers, after all they need something to go along with all the drinking that they will be doing.   As to the Super Bowl last year I said the Sea Hawks would win and they did take the 48th bowl.  I think that they will win again as long as the Footballs are equal.  Enjoy these easy dishes to make and I say: Happy trails to you until we meet again.

Pico de Gallo Cheese Dip

1 Loaf Velveeta Cheese

1 container fresh Pico de Gallo

2/3-3/4 cup Chicken Broth

Cut up your cheese and place it in a pan, add the chicken broth, and Pico de gallo and let the cheese melt on low and serve with your favorite chips.  I like the Blue ones.  Bon'a Y'all.

Pot Roast Beef With Carrots & Cointreau

Hello to all you foodies out there in web land, I hope you are all staying warm.  I hope your not in the way of that big snow storm that is hitting the East coast.  Pot Roast is what recipe I will be passing on to you all to try and I think its a great comfort food that warms your belly as well as your soul.  My mom would make pot roast every Sunday at our house and she called it Yankee Pot Roast.  She would Sear it with flour coated on the outside with Garlic, Onions and sear it on all sides of the meat until it was nice and brown.  Then she'd make a gravy out of the drippings, throw it in a pot with Celery, Carrots, and Onions, toss some Salt and Pepper on it and bake it for about 3 hours or so on about 350 degrees.  It was wonderful and tasty. Something that left happy memories for us when we were home.  Any who I hope you enjoy this recipe I made up while I was in Texas visiting family.

Roast Beef With Carrots & Cointreau

1 Roast 4 to 5 pounds

3 TBLS Oil

1/2 cup flour

 salt & pepper to taste

1 TBLS Garlic & Onion Powders

2 tsp Thyme

Mix the flour with the salt, pepper, garlic, onion powders, and thyme.  Rub the mix all over the roast.  Heat the oil in a pan and to that you add 1/2 cup chopped onion and 6 cloves of garlic. Then add the floured roast and sear the meat on all sides until it is nice and brown.  Grease a roasting pan with a lid and add the browned roast into the pan.  then add:

3 ribs chopped celery, 1/2 onion, diced, 8 carrots cleaned and skinned.

1 can of French Onion Soup

1/2 cup water

1 package cleaned mushrooms.

Now take the drippings from your searing pan and add 1 cup of your cointreau and simmer until it is all mixed and the pan feels smooth on the bottom, pour the rue over the roast.  Cover your pan and roast in a pre- heated oven at 350 degrees for about 3 and a half hours.  this may also be cooked in a slow cooker or crock pot, however if you cook the roast in a slow cooker then place your vegetables on the bottom and your roast on the top.  Also cooking time for the roast will be about 6 to 7 hours in a slow cooker. 

Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you have any questions please write me at madjon51@aol.com.  Please visit my page on face book, "Cooking With MadJon & Friends".  Happy trails to you until we meet again.

Stuffed Tomatoes Parmesan cheese

Hello to all my foodie friends out in web land hope all is well.  I've  been busy today with playing  bridge and serving up some beer cheese soup and was it tasty.  All my guest sat around in their coats  because my hubby doesn't let me change the thermostats.  They said the next time its my turn we'd go to Ellen's mom's house its really warm there.  My hubby said for guest  I could turn it up a couple degrees, what a guy.  That's how you save money at our house you do have to start someplace.  His not the only one saving money by turning down the heat so does his sister.  We were playing games with their parents and they were sitting there with their jackets on to stay warm poor things we joked about it.   It's not like anyone in this group can't afford to pay a bill they just choose to use their money on fun things they like to do or their just hot I suppose that could be the reason.  Any who while I was there my sister in law wanted to make some tomatoes soup which I blogged the recipe already and I made a beef roast and stuffed tomatoes that she bought from the farmers market in NASA which by the way is wonderful to visit there were some great winter vegetables to buy.  We had the best of beets and I think we picked up four different greens that she sautée with olive oil and garlic.  Rhonda cooked collard greens for the first time she was waiting for me to get back from the ranch and she couldn't wait to cook them so I text-ed her though it and Blaise loved them.  They were very tasty indeed, it was a great way to use the left over Ham she had from Christmas.  Ham Hocks are a good seasoning to use for Collards with onions and garlic, yum, yum.  You have to remember to remove the spine on collards because that's what gives then the bitter taste and add a little sugar to the cooking process.

Stuffed Tomatoes

5 to 6 small Tomatoes cut in half and seeds removed

1/2 Cup melted Butter

1/2 cup graded Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Mayo or Salad Dressing

1 tsp. Onion and Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tsp. Italian Seasonings

1 cup Panko crumbs

Parmesan cheese for topping

Melt the butter and add it to the panko crumbs.  Then add the mayo, salt and pepper, onion and garlic, mix till it is well blended.  Then add the Italian seasonings and graded Parmesan cheese.   Then cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds.  Salt and Pepper the tomatoes to taste.  Fill the tomato shells with the panko mix and place on a greased ribbed pan, top with some more Parmesan cheese  and bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees until the tomatoes are tender and the crust is brown.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and please leave a comment or questions I love hearing from you all.  If your shy my email address is madjon51@aol.com.  Please keep your houses warm if you can afford the heat and use your fireplaces.  Come follow me on face book, twitter me, or Instagram me with your favorite foodie picture.  Happy trails to you until we meet again and Happy Cooking Y'all.

Cold Outside Let's Make some Easy Creamed Tomato Soup

Well Hello to all my foodie friends out there in web-land and a Happy New Year to us all.  I've been in Texas for a couple of weeks visiting family and eating my way from the Texas border all across the state of Texas and we didn't stop eating until we got back to the South Carolina border.  Funny how that works and I loved every bite of it!  We ate anything from Seafood to Tex-Mex and it was all good tasting stuff.  It made my tongue want to lick my belly as good food should.  While we were there I was reading some of the words that we are not suppose to use in 2015 and would you believe some non-thinker thinks it a good idea to cut the word Foodie out of our vocabulary however I think that the non-thinker just doesn't like to eat, maybe there taster is off or they never had one to start with.  Any who Foodie is a word that will stick to my tongue though the next 2015 or until I can think of another word to replace it.  Tonight we are going to talk about Tomato Soup and there are just a few recipes that you can make with lots of different spices that you can use but I suggest you use spices that are likable to your palette.  I make grilled Cheese Sandwiches to pair with this soup.  Any who I hope that 2015 finds you Happy and Healthy and rich.  Give this recipe a try and if you have any questions please feel free to email me at madjon51@aol.com

Tomato Soup Creamed

1/2 stick Butter

1 Onion diced

5 cloves Garlic, Minced

3 ribs Celery diced

2 tsp. Sweet Basil

1 tsp. onion & garlic Powder

3 TBSP flour

2 Bay Leafs

 Melt the butter in a large pan and add the onions, celery, garlic, onion & garlic powders, bay leafs, cook until the onions are clear in color, add the flour and mix well.

Add to the rouge 

1 28 oz crushed Tomatoes

2 cans of roasted Tomatoes, diced

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups Half and Half

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

2 TBSP Sugar

Blend all ingredients and bring to a simmer then cook on low heat until thickened. White cheese to sprinkle on top of soup before serving.  Cook soup on low for about half an hour.

Happy Trails to you until we meet again.  Come like my face book page, Cooking With MadJon & Friends.  Bona Y'all.