Paula Deen: It Ain’t All About the Cookin’

Paula Deen’s The Deen Family Cookbook
Nothing is more important to Paula Deen than her family, and nothing makes that big family happier than sitting down to a meal together. In Paula Deen’s The Deen Family Cookbook, Paula and the Deens, Hiers, Groovers, and Orts share their recipes and memories.
Paula’s beloved Aunt Peggy makes an Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf that’s as good in sandwiches the next day as it is for dinner. Baby brother Bubba Hiers brings his Beer and Onion Biscuits to the table, and his daughter, Corrie, makes a simple but luscious Lemony, Buttery Baked Fish that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner. (Her Carrot-Pecan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are pretty tasty, too!) Son Jamie makes Huevos Rancheros, perfect for brunch, or try Bobby’s Whole Wheat and Honey Pancakes. Husband Michael Groover knows his way around a grill: try his Company’s Coming Grilled Steak and Veggie Supper for easy entertaining, and finish the evening with his Irish Coffee.
Of course, there was no way The Lady herself was going to let her relatives have all the fun: Paula is, after all, Paula. She shares her recipe for the Ham and Chutney Biscuit Fingers she puts on the table at every family party as well as the Eggplant and Sausage Lasagna that went a long way toward getting the boys to eat their vegetables. And while there’s plenty of butter, bacon, and mayonnaise in these pages, you’ll find some of the lighter recipes that Paula enjoys, too: Seared Scallops with Pineapple-Cucumber Salsa is her first choice for a healthful but romantic supper with Michael, and Oven-Fried Chicken Breasts with Honey-Yogurt Drizzle lets Paula indulge in her favorite foods without guilt and with room for dessert.
With more than 140 recipes and dozens of beautiful color photographs, there’s something here for everyone. So invite over all those aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, and treat them to some home cooking, Deen family style.

The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook
In his enthusiastic introduction, John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, writes: “Authentic Southern food is not about pretension.” Sure enough, this book by the proprietor of The Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Ga., doesn’t put on any airs. A great many recipes unabashedly list prepared foods among the ingredients. As an appetizer, Garlic Cheese Spread includes an eight-ounce package of cream cheese and an eight-ounce jar of Cheez-Whiz. Shrimp or Lobster Bisque contains, in addition to seafood, a can each of condensed tomato soup and condensed mushroom soup. The restaurant’s most popular dessert is Gooey Butter Cakes, which starts with a box of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. Still, some of the recipes attain a high level of regional authenticity: Georgia Cracker Salad is made with crushed saltines, tomato, scallions, hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise; Southern Fried Chicken acquires its crispy coating with a batter of eggs and self-rising flour. Readers concerned about high fat content should skip this book. But those looking for some distinctively American comfort food?and in a mood for some decidedly anti-nouvelle regression?might want to take a peek.

The Lady & Sons, Too!: A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah
For the first time in a gorgeous hardcover, more of the finest Southern recipes from the Food Network star, whose restaurant has been a Savannah staple for decades
In her first cookbook, Paula H. Deen hardly exhausted all of the best meals from her beloved Georgia restaurant, The Lady & Sons. In a sequel that’s just as delicious and brimming with color photographs, she serves up more of the surefire recipes that have kept customers coming back for more.
In her own life, Paula has turned hardship into hope. Losing both her parents by the age of twenty-three, she was left with two babies and a teenage brother to raise. Later, financial troubles in her marriage made her hide from the world. But surmounting her fear, surviving her divorce, and starting her own business with her sons jump-started her life–and created a favorite eating spot for Savannah natives and tourists alike.
Here are more than 315 of her purely Southern recipes, as simple as they are special: from appetizers, including Polynesian Chicken Wings and Tangy Marinated Shrimp, and such main courses as Brandied Prime Rib and Hurry-Up Chicken Pot Pie to desserts as good as Pecan Pudding Cake and Caramel Apple Cheesecake. And The Lady & Sons, Too! also features a weights-and-measures section and recipes from some of Paula’s friends, including author John Berendt’s mom.
In its gorgeous new edition, The Lady & Sons, Too! is more than an indispensable guide to good eating–it’s a lovely keepsake anyone would be delighted to own.

Paula Deen’s Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe Journal
ey there, y’all!
My favorite recipes came direct from my momma and grandmommas. I just love goin’ through all the recipe cards they passed on to me and readin’ their handwritten notes; it makes me remember our good times in the kitchen, gathered round the table. Sometimes, though, I need a little remindin’ when it comes to writin’ down my own recipes and recollections, so I’ve put together this darlin’ little journal to get me (and you) started recordin’. I know I never forget a meal, but I also know that Jamie and Bobby aren’t always listenin’ to what I’m tellin’ ‘em.
So for you and the boys, I’ve included some tried-and-true recipes and some of my hard-learned tricks for gettin’ out of culinary scrapes — and Lord, honey, have there been a few. Whether it is a real disaster — the boss and his wife are comin’ over and the kitchen is full of smoke (no shame in servin’ some takeout) — or just an everyday bump in the road — your husband didn’t hear the buzzer, and the cake got a little dry in the oven (let some sugar water soak into those layers, and no one will know the difference) — I’ve got your answer. Just get cookin’ and let loose: nothin’ makes memories like the smell of home-cooked meals. Jot down your ingredients and your musings, cut out a recipe card or two to share with friends, keep track of who came to dinner, who liked what, and who laughed the loudest; remember the good times and learn from the bad. Like I always say, there’s not much in life you can’t learn in the kitchen.

Christmas with Paula Deen: Recipes and Stories from My Favorite Holiday
“I’ve gone through all my books and put together this collection of my most treasured recipes and memories for the holiday season to share with you…You’ll find a few new dishes, a sprinkling of new holiday stories, and some family pictures you might not have seen before.”
There’s no holiday Paula Deen loves better than Christmas, when she opens her home to family and friends, and traditions old and new make the days merry and bright. Filled with Paula’s trademark Southern charm and happy reminiscences of Yuletide seasons past, Christmas with Paula Deen is a collection of beloved holiday recipes and stories interspersed with cherished family photographs. Included are Paula’s most requested homemade gifts of food; a collection of cookies sure to become your family’s favorites; easy dishes for a Christmas breakfast or brunch that will let you enjoy the food and your guests; impressive fare for Christmas dinner and holiday entertaining and, of course, spectacular cakes, puddings, pies, and other sweet things.
“So Merry Christmas, y’all, and best dishes and best wishes from me and my family to yours.”

Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life
Fans of Food Network star Paula Deen enjoy her unpretentious Southern-gal persona as much as her easy, what’s-not-to-like recipes. As a writer of four other cookbooks, including The Lady & Sons Just Desserts, restaurant owner, and purveyor of her own product line, she’s also something of an entrepreneur. In Paul Deen Celebrates! she offers 170-plus recipes arranged by menus for traditional holidays and other, sometimes whimsical celebrations like Elvis’s Birthday and Movie-Watching Pizza Party in Bed. The recipes, which are often Southern-rich, range from the more traditional, such as Shrimp Etouffé, Muffuletta Sandwiches, and Macaroni Salad, to the innovative, including Collard Green Wantons, Grilled Chicken Pita, and Scallop and Bacon Pizza. Her sweets include the likes of Old Fashioned Banana Pudding, Gooey Toffee Butter Cake and Margarita Mousse. Offered also are decorating tips, and “Paula’s Pearls of Wisdom” like “treasure today’s moment’s because they will tomorrow’s memories.”
Deen’s dishes couldn’t be more approachable and will doubtlessly inspire many holiday menus. Readers should know, however, that she regularly calls for convenience products like cake mixes and canned soups, whose use (by now something of an American tradition in itself) can do little to make homemade food taste as good as it otherwise might. Paula Deen Celebrates! should, however, excite Deen’s many fans, who, along with the attractive formulas, receive lots of “back-story” on the author’s own celebrations, life, and mostly good times.

The Lady & Sons Just Desserts: More Than 120 Sweet Temptations from Savannah’s Favorite Restaurant
Warmly effusive and dear yet gritty, Paula H. Deen seems mythically Southern. But this cooking luminary, proprietor of Savannah, Georgia’s Lady & Sons restaurant, is the real thing. The Lady & Sons Just Desserts, her all-sweets follow-up to The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too!, celebrates the Southern sweet tooth with 120 recipes, including traditional formulas for the likes of Brown Sugar Pound Cake and Lemon Chess Pie as well as best-loved restaurant innovations like Turtle Cake, Lemon Curd Pudding, and Gooey Butter Cake. (“These are very, very rich,” Deen advises, “and a little goes a long way–even for piggies like me!”) Lovers of the restaurant–which grew to prominence from $200 and lots of determination–as well as those seeking easy-to-fix temptations should put this book to happy use.
Among its wide-ranging recipes, Desserts offers Carolyn’s Jell-O Cheesecake, Lauren’s Chocolate Drizzle Pie, and Hidden Mint Cookies–recipes based on cake mixes and other convenience foods. These creditable sweets are of course work saving, but are perhaps better viewed as solidly characteristic of their time and place. Equally particular are candies like Mamma’s Divinity and Uncle Bubba’s Benne Candy, and “other sweet things,” as Deen dubs them, such as Banana Split Brownie Pizza, Easy Homemade Oreo Ice Cream, and Fresh Apples with Butterscotch Dip. With asides by Deen family members, including son Jamie’s “Food Is Love” (“I am right this minute 20 pounds over-loved,” he writes), useful tips (Deen provides an “emergency” recipe for sweetened condensed milk), and plenty of piquant anecdote (after Deen had rattled on endlessly to her grandmother about her intention to open a restaurant, the older woman paused and replied, “Paula, have you lost you damned mind?”), the spiral-bound book is not only full of delectable eating, it’s lots of fun.

Rachael Ray’s Book of 10: More Than 300 Recipes to Cook Every Day
Rachael’s top 10 lists of 30-minute meals. For more than a decade, Rachael Ray has wowed you with her flavorful dishes on TV. And she has written one incredible collection after collection of delicious 30-minute meals. Her latest cookbook includes her most-requested recipes from fans like you and her family faves. Rachael Ray’s Book of 10 is jam-packed with thirty top 10 lists of recipes in all your favorite categories. Leave it to Rachael to make a book that is easy to use and fun, too! There’s a chapter on Burgers with 10 Figure-Friendly Faves, 10 of John’s Faves, and 10 Gut-Busters. She has lists of Date Night/Fake Outs for you and your special someone, Seafood for a Steal, and Potluck Picks. You will find a list of 10 for whatever you are making for dinner—Family Faves, Great Rollovers, Kids’ Picks, and many more. There are even 10 variations on Surf ‘n’ Turf! Looking to show off? Try Spinach-Stuffed Steaks with Sautéed Cremini Mushrooms. How about a veggie sammie? Rachael includes Grilled Eggplant Roll-Ups and Mushroom Veggie Sloppy Sandwiches. What’s great for the grill? Baby Lamb Chops with Artichoke and Tarragon Dip or try a Grilled Flank Steak Sandwich with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette–Dressed Arugula and Pears. Rachael has a recipe for you for every simple dinner, family meal, and special occasion. There are endless ideas here for what to put on the table.

Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book: Her Biggest Ever Collection of All-New 30-Minute Meals Plus Kosher Meals, Meals for One, Veggie Dinners, Holiday Favorites, and Much More!
In the 10 years since she served up her first 30-minute meal–and thousands of delectable dinners later–Rachael Ray has learned just about all there is to know about getting a great tasting meal on the table in a hurry, whether it is one of her patented 30-minute miracles or something just a tad more involved for a special gathering. Rachael’s Big Orange Book is the ultimate resource for busy cooks. Need kitchen inspiration? It’s all here and it’s all new–and bigger than ever! Just one for dinner tonight? Forget the cold cereal. Rach has a chapter of recipes that make dining on your own a thoroughly civilized occasion, with great meals that won’t leave you with a fridge full of leftovers. Vegetarians on the guest list? No problem! Choose from dozens of meat-free meals that are every bit as satisfying as your tried-and-true standards and savory enough to please the carnivores in your crowd. Observing a Kosher menu? Check out the selection of menus just for Kosher cooks, all ready in less than, you guessed it, 30 minutes. There’s even a mother lode of burger recipes for fans of the bun—so many options you could make a different burger every day for a full month! In addition to her latest 30-minute creations, Rachael has put together an array of menus and recipes for easy entertaining, from quick snacks to serve for game night and easy hors d’oeuvres, to soup-to-nuts menus for her favorite holidays and special occasions. Whip up a pasta buffet for a special mom on Mother’s Day, please a crowd with a super-simple Oscar party menu, and give thanks for not one but four fantastic menus that keep holiday stress to a minimum by getting you out of the kitchen in record time. Best of all, these recipes have all the huge flavors you’ve come to expect from Rachael, with something to please every taste–and every food budget. You’ll even find the treasured family recipes that Rachael and her husband, John, have enjoyed for years; see if they don’t become beloved family traditions in your home as well. Whether this is your first introduction to cooking the 30-minute way or you are a long-time convert, you’ll find irresistible new recipes here to make the most of every second you spend in the kitchen.

Yum-o! The Family Cookbook
No one has helped more families find time to fit home-cooked meals into their daily routines than Rachael Ray. Now with the help of Yum-o!, the organization she founded to help kids and adults develop a healthier relationship to food and cooking, she has put together the ultimate family cookbook, which includes recipes that both kids and their parents will love cooking–and eating–together! Rachael knows that every family wants to make the best possible food choices–and get the very most out of their food-budget dollars. The recipes here feature more whole grains, use less fat, and make the most of fresh fruits and vegetables so they are as good for you as they are delish, and they’re all quintessential Rachael–fun and creative. You’ll also find notes on how to get even very young kids involved in the cooking process; great ideas for everything from breakfast to the lunchbox to dinner; wholesome snacks; and loads of new double-duty dinners that let you cook once, then eat twice or more. With lots of full-color photos and tons of helpful tips for making mealtime the very best part of the day, Yum-o! is a must-have for every busy family.

Rachael Ray: Just In Time
In this irresistible collection Rachael continues to work her 30-minute magic with nearly 100 awesomely delicious brand-new recipes. From pasta to pizzas, soups to sammies, and chicken, fish, and meat, you’ll find a 30-minute-meal to suit every appetite. But what if you don’t have even 30 minutes? No worries, Rachael has you covered with her quickest-ever 15-minute meals. Why order pizza when you can have Provencal Tuna Melts, Italian Surf ‘n Turf Salad- even a fabulous paella- on the table in just 15 minutes? You’ll never reach for the take-out menus again when super speedy Pea and Parsley Soup with Canadian Bacon and Skillet Tamale Pie are the delicious alternatives. And what about those days when you want to slow things down a bit? Rachael’s got the perfect recipes for those times, too. Her 60-minute meals like Paprika Chicken Stew with Potato Pierogies, Chicken, Corn and Tomatillo Lasagna, and Swordfish Rolls with Spaghetti Squash don’t require any more effort from the cook, but they tale advantage of a little extra time in the oven or simmering on the stove to develop those great, deep flavors we all crave on lazy days. Among these dishes are some of Rachael’s “Double Duty Dinners,” recipes that you cook once, serve twice, but look and taste so different that no one will be the wiser (such as Chicken in Creamy Mushroom Sauce with Chive Egg Noodles in which the base magically morphs into Tarragon-Tomato Chicken and Bread Soup another night).

Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds
If you’re like Rachael Ray, mealtime is a time to hang out and reconnect with family and friends. That means you could be making a late dinner for you and your sweetie one night and making brunch for your entire family the next day. No matter how many people join the party, Rachael firmly believes that cooking should be fun, easy–and done in 30 minutes or less. Transforming recipes for four into recipes for two or eight can be a tricky guessing game. If you use twice the amount of chicken will you have to cook it twice as long? Is it possible to make a satisfying pot of soup for two without having to eat leftovers for a week? What’s the best–and most economical–way to feed a crowd of eight? With Rachael Ray: 2, 4, 6, 8 there’s no need to guess, because Rachael has designed right-sized menus for every occasion, with perfect meals for two, four, six, or eight. For date night you don’t want tons of food, so Rachael’s Croque Madame sandwich with a Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette salad and a killer vodka cocktail strike just the right note. For family dinners, double dates, or those who love leftovers, Rachael whips up classic meals for four like Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza or Grilled Shrimp with Chorizo Skewers. For poker night with your buddies, Rachael knows exactly which ingredients stretch into a 30-minute meal for six, like Uptown Sweet and Spicy Sausage Hoagies. Throwing a dinner party is a pleasure when you’re armed with stress-free meals for eight like Italian Chicken Pot Pie and Boozy Berries and Biscuits. With complete menus for family dinners as well as easy and impressive meals for entertaining plus lots of super simple desserts that taste like a million, no matter what the occasion, the perfect meal for your crowd is never more 30 minutes away.

Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals: What to Keep on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever 30-Minute Meals
Ray has made quite a name for herself on The Food Network, where she hosts four shows, and in a baker’s dozen of cookbooks mostly dedicated to easy-to-prepare cuisine. To love this book is to love the author’s quirks, like calling extra virgin olive oil “EVOO” and hearty soups “stoups.” But her recipes are tasty, simple and often sophisticated enough to turn even doubters into fans. This cookbook, the author’s 11th, is dedicated to quick after-work meals and is separated into chapters called “Meals for the Exhausted,” “Meals for the Not Too Tired” and “Bring it On! (But Be Gentle).” A meal for the pretty much awake, Smoked Paprika Chicken with Egg Noodles and Buttered Warm Radishes, is the sort of thick, nourishing plate a person craves when the thermometer drops. Pasta in a Creamy Artichoke and Saffron Sauce is luxurious with its sauce of saffron, heavy cream and parmigiano. The chicken and chorizo burritos called Dinner, Wrapped Up are cheesy, filling kid-pleasers, even if the accompanying text can be wince-inducing (“it’s a way-cool mega-rrito, dude!”). But what’s most remarkable about these dishes is that they take less than an hour to prepare-often a lot less-but they taste like they took all day. For busy, exhausted cooks, that’s worth all the quirkiness in the world.Kids rock! says Rachael, and it seems the feeling is mutual.

Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids
Young people number among her biggest fans. For them she has created a fabulous collection of age-specific recipes with a high cool factor.

‘wichcraft: Craft a Sandwich into a Meal–And a Meal into a Sandwich

Think Like a Chef
Cookbooks by chefs can be daunting. They’re apt to include tricky restaurant recipes, or, alternately, watered-down “translations.” Tom Colicchio, chef at Manhattan’s top-rated Gramercy Tavern, has a better way. Think like a chef, he advises, and you tap into food preparation creativity–the ability to forgo recipes, when you wish, for spontaneous kitchen invention. In a series of innovative chapters that explore cooking fundamentals, culinary themes and variations, and “plug-in” component preparations, Colicchio provides a cooking “anatomy” for gaining kitchen mastery. The book’s 100-plus recipes are offered not as ends in themselves (though they stand as delicious examples of Colicchio’s simple yet sophisticated style), but as illustrative keys to the culinary processes.
How does it work? Beginning with a chapter that reviews basic cooking techniques, and includes exemplary stock- and sauce-making formulas, the book then presents a series of “studies,” building-block recipes like Roasted Tomatoes, followed by simple-to-sophisticated variations, such as Roasted-Tomato Risotto. A chapter called “Trilogies” explores clusters of three-ingredient recipes–duck, root vegetables, and apples is one ingredient grouping–that show how various techniques, applied to the same ingredients, yield various exciting dishes. “Component Cooking,” which focuses on vegetables (Colicchio’s major source of inspiration), provides recipes like Corn and Potato Pancakes to be used for assembling a “plate.” Concluding the book is “Favorites,” a selection of Colicchio’s specialties that range from My Favorite Chicken Soup to Poached Foie Gras, a taste bonus that also stimulates the cooking imagination. Illustrated with more than 100 color photos, and including a wide range of tips, Think Like a Chef succeeds at helping readers see through a chef’s eyes–and in so doing to visualize cooking with fresh insight. –Arthur Boehm –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Craft of Cooking: Notes and Recipes from a Restaurant Kitchen
Curing duck breasts and hanging them like hams in your refrigerator for three weeks may not be your particular pail of blueberries. Or brining a whole, 30-pound piglet as a precursor for making porchetta. But how about grilling a hangar steak and slathering it with a bordelaise sauce? Mind you, this is a sauce that calls for a bottle of dry red wine and three quarts of veal stock as well as the requisite vegetables. But that’s the point here: the best imaginable ingredients and a lot of focused work leading to a sublimely simple outcome. Simple in this case being an ultimate grilled steak experience. The kind of experience dished up at Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Craft. Craft of Cooking is Colicchio’s way of making that same experience available in your own home.
The author of Think Like a Chef is betting that if he shows you what he does in a commercial kitchen, it will have an impact on your home cooking. Because what he does in his kitchen is what he likes to eat at home. It’s not about speed, and it’s not about convenience. It’s about making food taste great without fanfare or pretension. The book breaks out in major ingredient sections, meat, fish, vegetables, and the like. Subsections in meat, for example, include charcuterie, roasting and grilling, and braising. Some of the recipes, like the one for baby lamb, are simply too big for the home kitchen. But Colicchio wants you to see what he’s up to. He wants you to think about it. There are long asides about various products–the hangar steak, mesclun, beurre fondue–called ingredient portraits. And there are notes that detail how all the elements of a restaurant from prep to wine service fit together.
For anyone who simply loves to read delicious recipes, this is an elegant book. For those home cooks with some experience–skilled amateurs–Craft of Cooking is a challenge as well as a portal to a whole new realm of fine cuisine.