Paula Deen....holy lard-a-mole!

does the title not say it all?

i was watching a paula deen episode tonite while doing hw lol and noticed just HOW much of the stuff she makes is deep fried!! i dont watch the food chanel a lot and honestly it grossed me out. :/

first she made collard green wontons in which she first cooked the collards in olive oil and a whole stick of butter. then she puts them in the wontons, deep fries them, and serves them on a bed of you guessed it...more deep fried collard greens!

then she goes on to make deep fried halibut sandwiches on huge rolls with globs of mayo mustard sauce.

as if that wasnt bad enough, the last thing she made was deep fried cheesecake. covered in powdered sugar, chocolate, and whipped cream. wow.

now i do think that indulging on unhealthy desserts and such once in a while is perfectly healthy and fine, and that its not like the food is gonna bite you back...but honestly maybe she could trim it down a little?

haha just felt like sharing that :)

I LOVED Two Fat Ladies! It was broadcast on PBS (which still broadcasts BBC & other overseas programs), but I don't think they've shown it in ... maybe a decade? Too bad! They were awesome!!

Paula happens to be on when I decide to do laundry ;) I totally love her. She reminds me of my grandma, who went through tubs of crisco and several slabs of bacon in a week, smoked like a chimney and is still alive not only to tell the tale, but also to keep up her pigs and garden. Crazy.

I also think she is COMPLETELY awesome for starting her own business & becomming as successful as she has. Just because she makes a doughnut sandwich doesn't mean you have to. It's the old FCC adage: if you don't like it, turn the channel. She doesn't advertise her recipes as healthy, she advertises them as delicious. I haven't tried any simply because I'm a budget chef, but I'm sure they are fabulous.

Maybe she doesn't want to trim down. Maybe she likes herself the way she is (I know, unheard of.) She obviously loves to cook & has made a killing at it. I think it's awesome.

I totally get the "bad example" thing; like the glorified anorexic models featured in every advertisements/television show (which are branded)/music video that isn't on the food network.

Or people smoking and drinking in movies, or people driving super fast in movies. I don't know, where does it end?

I think Paula Deen is a better example than Ana McRexison. Emeril too. At least they are able to enjoy life.

Maybe I like them better because on Food Network I'm a normal person who loves food & loves to cook, and according to every other channel I need to take pills to lose 15lbs, be embarrassed if I have a pimple and behave like a dramatic, jealousy fueled big breasted toothpick.

p.s. deep fried wontons = YUM!!! deep fried okra = YUMMIER!!!

hahaha no i will agree she is entertaining and very bubbly and fun. i just think its gross that everything is deep fried.

dont get me wrong im not totally trying to hate on paula! :)

ps- gi jane i was just cracking up thinking about the child catcher on chitty chitty bang bang trying to seduce the kids bahaha

Holy gut buster!  If a regular slice of traditional lasagna has around 700 calories, then how many calories are in a slice of Paula's deep fried lasagna?  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen /deep-fried-lasagna-recipe/index.html

My arteries are getting clogged just reading the cheese portion of this recipe!

I'll tell ya' this, I wouldn't want to use the restroom after Paula's done with it!    Use THAT imagery the next time you watch her deep fry something!

Original Post by kaufmkk:

 

I'll tell ya' this, I wouldn't want to use the restroom after Paula's done with it!    Use THAT imagery the next time you watch her deep fry something!

 I hate you forever for putting those visuals in my head.

Original Post by yummy_kitty:

Original Post by kaufmkk:

 

I'll tell ya' this, I wouldn't want to use the restroom after Paula's done with it!    Use THAT imagery the next time you watch her deep fry something!

 I hate you forever for putting those visuals in my head.

If that disturbs you, then be sure to check out the link that trhawley shared with us (post #17).  They kind of go together.  Hee hee!!!

Original Post by trhawley:

Paula moons her audience.

Lmfao.

I loved Two Fat Ladies too!! They were pre-Food Network, totally old-school. I would never want to make anything they made, not just for the health factor but also because often what they made was some bizarre Enlish concoction that involved kidneys and such. And lots of lard. But, they were such fun to watch, and fun for the gross-out, kinda like the original Iron Chef!

Paula Deen is sweet, but I don't really enjoy watching her cook. It's boring and there's too many contrived y'alls and honestly I realize her sons are the sun and moon to her but I don't give a rat's behind and it seemed like she was always talking about them or having them guest every time I saw the show. Boring, no usable recipes...so now I just keep flippin right past.

i absolutely HATE paula dean, i think her food is gag worthy, unhealthy, has too much butter cheese and deepfryedness goin on, and i find her incredibly annoying.  I would NEVER eat anything she made...i like flavor not butter...which is the only flavoring she uses.

But who said its a bad thing to be big?? obviously she is perfectly fine with the way she looks and eats and if thats how she lives i think she should be applauded for it.  To hell with those ***** comments on im so fat im gonna just eat a carrot for dinner and complaining about how ur legs jiggle just a tad as you poke them and complaining about being one more pound than you want to be...shes comfortable with herself and that right there is true beauty. 

I LOVE Paula...and her boys! I think she is adorable. I think I've only made one of her recipes (blueberry dumplings), but I can still enjoy her show! It's like Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), her stuff is often loaded with sugar, butter, and cream, but there are a lot of idea you can get on the food network and then make a healthier version.

Paula went from being an extreme agoraphobic (sp?) to being an incredibly succesful restaurant owner, and TV personality, and she loves herself as she is. I think she should be admired for what she has accomplished. If you don't want to cook with a stick of butter...don't! But stop criticizing someone for doing so! Not everyone in the USA is fat and eating something on occassion that is a bit less then healthy isn't going to kill anyone. And deep fried lasagna really isn't any worse than a burger and fries...or two slices of thick crust pizza...or the millions of other things we ALL have ingested in our lifetimes.

It's so easy to point a finger at others rather than take responsibility for ourselves. In that veign I say, "You go Paula! You make me laugh and you are a true joy to watch."

i just saw an episode where paula deen DEEP FRIED MAC AND CHEESE WITH BACON!!!!

and then took white bread, butter, peanut butter, honey, and bananas, fried it up, and dip it in sugar and cinnamon. insane....

Original Post by lalabanana:

Paula Deen Sit N' Eat Diet

I think she's highly entertaining even if some of her cooking makes me reel and laugh and my heart ache just watching. She reminds me of another cookery programme that used to be on in the UK (sadly, one of the two ladies died) called Two Fat Ladies. I don't know if that is ever broadcast in the US but I think it may be.

The two chefs within TFL, Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright, often got totally slated for the amounts of lard and butter, cream, etc, that they'd use in their food - but MAN did it look good. They did also cook dishes you could easily replicate and with variety even if the ingredients were very much of the full-fat kind.

I like a chef with personality. Cooks like Anthony Worrall Thompson and James Martin bore me because they're so flat. Give me Gordon Ramsey, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the Two Fat Ladies et al any day. >>

I love TFL! My dad just got their dvd. lol It used to be on Food Network but during the really really early days. It was one of the best shows they have had.

Paula Deen is awesome. Yes, the food she makes is unhealthy. It's fried, it contains unholy amounts of butter. Never at any time has she said that these foods are everyday, in heavy rotation, normal foods. They are meant to be once-in-a-while treats.

I have to admit that I'm biased though. Being a Southern girl, we eat a lot of fried foods and a lot of butter. But we also have access to fresh vegetables and healthier choices. I'm guessing that she doesn't eat like she does on her show everyday. (What she allows the camera to film her eating is probably all she has of the prepared dish.) If she did eat that stuff everday, then I'm surprised she isn't bigger.

Also, some of her shows give me ideas for food that I can eat and enjoy. While most of her dishes would not fit into the diet of someone watching their weight, they can often be adapted into healthier versions.

Original Post by lalabanana:

Paula Deen Sit N' Eat Diet

I think she's highly entertaining even if some of her cooking makes me reel and laugh and my heart ache just watching. She reminds me of another cookery programme that used to be on in the UK (sadly, one of the two ladies died) called Two Fat Ladies. I don't know if that is ever broadcast in the US but I think it may be.

The two chefs within TFL, Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright, often got totally slated for the amounts of lard and butter, cream, etc, that they'd use in their food - but MAN did it look good. They did also cook dishes you could easily replicate and with variety even if the ingredients were very much of the full-fat kind.

I like a chef with personality. Cooks like Anthony Worrall Thompson and James Martin bore me because they're so flat. Give me Gordon Ramsey, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the Two Fat Ladies et al any day. >>

I love TFL! My dad just got their dvd. lol It used to be on Food Network but during the really really early days. It was one of the best shows they have had.

Paula Deen is awesome. Yes, the food she makes is unhealthy. It's fried, it contains unholy amounts of butter. Never at any time has she said that these foods are everyday, in heavy rotation, normal foods. They are meant to be once-in-a-while treats.

I have to admit that I'm biased though. Being a Southern girl, we eat a lot of fried foods and a lot of butter. But we also have access to fresh vegetables and healthier choices. I'm guessing that she doesn't eat like she does on her show everyday. (What she allows the camera to film her eating is probably all she has of the prepared dish.) If she did eat that stuff everday, then I'm surprised she isn't bigger.

Also, some of her shows give me ideas for food that I can eat and enjoy. While most of her dishes would not fit into the diet of someone watching their weight, they can often be adapted into healthier versions.

"as if that wasnt bad enough, the last thing she made was deep fried cheesecake. covered in powdered sugar, chocolate, and whipped cream. wow."

omg I need to find her recipe. Ive been looking for a deep fried cheesecake recipe. aha yea paula dean cookes butter with a little bit of food.

me and my b'f tease his mom cause she pretty much cooks like paula dean.

Honestly, she seems like such a sweet person but...

Her food is totally crap. I mean come on. I get using a little extra butter sometimes or a little extra sugar, but seriously. How can you digest that? Her blood sugar must be whacked.

Really. I love a little bit of cake, brownies, or some pastry every couple of months but it's just her food has no flavor. Sugar is not a flavor, salt, and butter also not flavors.

Doesnt Southern cooking come from the days when America enslaved people from Africa and also the Native Americans? So shouldn't the food be heavily spiced? I thought they couldnt afford a lot of butter, cream, and the like. So isnt Paula Dean's cooking actually just an exaggeration of what Americans think Southern cooking is?

She is a real nice women, but she's getting paid not only to show this stuff.

Also, quick add-in, but is Southern cooking really what we see now? Or in the last fifty years has it grown past what is orginally was? Did it grow with the fast foods birth?

Original Post by jesusgirl1:

I LOVE Paula...and her boys! I think she is adorable. I think I've only made one of her recipes (blueberry dumplings), but I can still enjoy her show! It's like Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), her stuff is often loaded with sugar, butter, and cream, but there are a lot of idea you can get on the food network and then make a healthier version.

Paula went from being an extreme agoraphobic (sp?) to being an incredibly succesful restaurant owner, and TV personality, and she loves herself as she is. I think she should be admired for what she has accomplished. If you don't want to cook with a stick of butter...don't! But stop criticizing someone for doing so! Not everyone in the USA is fat and eating something on occassion that is a bit less then healthy isn't going to kill anyone. And deep fried lasagna really isn't any worse than a burger and fries...or two slices of thick crust pizza...or the millions of other things we ALL have ingested in our lifetimes.

It's so easy to point a finger at others rather than take responsibility for ourselves. In that veign I say, "You go Paula! You make me laugh and you are a true joy to watch."

 sorry if anyone feels offended by this topic!!

im not saying that being bigger or using butter and sugar and the likes isnt okay i just think its funny that she uses so much! i find it very entertaining and think she most deffinitly seems like a really sweet person...almost like a nice grandma or something lol. anyway i have nothing against paula/her weight/show i just thought her cooking methods were interesting.

I'm actually watching Paula's Party right now, the topic of this one's "Everything's Better With Butter" it's SOOO ridiculous. I love her though!

Sorry if this might ruin her for people, but ever since I took notice of how many bloody times she says "And now I gonna add...." I haven't been able to watch her without being completely distracted by it! I don't think she says it less than 50 times a show....

....."and now I'm gonna add...."

Original Post by thrineb:

I'm actually watching Paula's Party right now, the topic of this one's "Everything's Better With Butter" it's SOOO ridiculous. I love her though!

 I just watched that too. She was literally putting a pound of butter in her food and was even just eating it straight. That just made me feel sick. I dont think butter was meant to be used as the main ingredient in a dish.

You'd have to remember that Paula is from a different generation, from before the transfat, satfat phobia that we all have now. 

I have a lot of respect for that woman, no matter how she cooks or whether or not I'd eat it...she's made a wonderful life for herself and her family, starting as a single mom with $250 selling sandwiches out of her home.  And yes, she did suffer from agoraphobia, scared to death to leave her home...her boys actually took her cart and sold the sandwiches at local offices. 

Would I eat her food?  I would.  I do.  I have several of her cookbooks, and they have more realistic recipes in them than her deep fried everything recipes that end up on her show.  Admittedly, today I would work the recipe a bit here and there to make it more healthy, but I have to hand it to Paula Deen... she's accomplished more with her life than I have...

I agree, I have a lot of respect for her too, she's like the grandma I never had! Hahah, but I too, would eat her food. The show all about butter was insane though, she was putting a pound of butter just into one recipe! Most of the things she makes though, on her normal show isn't so bad. Just hearing her voice puts a smile on my face!