Adventures in Gluten (and Sugar) Freedom from a southern blogger chick!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The gluten free Paula Deen?


I am reconsidering my self-appointed nickname of "The Gluten Free Paula Deen."

I guess I didn't realize how many people really, really don't like ol Paula from All-benny Georgia. In fact, if the comments I've been reading about her lately are true, she's becoming almost as unpopular as Rachel (YUM-O) Ray. Don't get me wrong -- I still watch her every night and weekends, too. And I recognize a lot of her recipes, since I own a million cookbooks (ok, a hundred). I guess I secretly wanted Paula to "discover" me and make me her gluten free protege, maybe even having me as a guest on her show.

My reconsideration all started last night when I was reading a post on one of my favorite non-GF food blogs, Serious Eat (www.seriouseats.com). There is a post there called "Paula Deen is trying to kill us" and it refers to a DONUT HAMBURGER.

A hamburger, sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme donuts, with bacon...AND AN EGG on top! What, no cheese? No mayo? ACK!

I enjoyed looking at the comments in the subsequent posts (you'll see parts I, II and III listed there at the link) and got a lot of laughs. My favorite line about Paula's show? "Life is too short to spend a minute watching gomer pyle in drag on tv." I had to add that one to my Facebook quotes, ya'll.

So why DID I call myself the GF Paula Deen in the first place? Goodness knows I'm not rich like she is (though I admire that she made it big after a divorce and brought her family along with her to fame. She's nothing if not generous). And I don't have those dripping diamonds on my fingers and neck (don't want them...don't get me wrong). And I don't chain-smoke Virginia Slims like she does. But I am Southern woman through and through, and I like a good recipe made with mayonnaise and cream of mushroom soup (now GF soup, but still). And I wanted to find the GF recipes for my favorite Southern comfort foods, which she does demo all the time on her shows. I find her savory recipes in general easy to replicate on a GF diet.

But I try not to be a caricature of myself, and that, to me, is what Paula has become. She has gone over the top and it is hard for me, as a Southern woman, to watch her show -- especially Paula's Party. Oh sure, we've got stuff in common. We're both this side of hefty, that's for sure. I am a little (ok, a lot) hammy, I know that. And I do perform for my classes (to keep them awake largely, but they do learn). But I don't want to recommend recipes that are a literal heart attack on a plate. Being GF is about becoming more aware of the content of your foods. Sometimes I worry about the health of poor Paula and Michael.

A donut hamburger, while it might appeal to some (I think I hear my husband salivating down in Tampa) is just plain wrong.
And scary. And maybe a little dangerous.

I dunno. Who else does Southern Comfort food? Tyler Florence, maybe -- he's way cuter and younger than me. I don't know.

But there is ONE THING I do know -- Paula Deen would never make it on a gluten free (or sugar free diet).

Guess I'll think that out. BUT I will leave you with a recipe for today.

Southern fried Cabbage

I bag of coleslaw mix that includes carrot and red cabbage
four-six strips of bacon, chopped (can use turkey bacon)
One onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
Hot sauce and black pepper to taste

In a large WOK or dutch oven (or Big Iron Skillet) with a cover, cook bacon til barely crisp, and add onion and garlic. You should have about 2 T. bacon drippings with real bacon, so add a little olive oil if you don't have fat.
Add the onion and garlic and cook til they begin to lightly brown. Add bag o slaw and cover pan for three minutes or so. The uncover and toss until cabbage is crisp tender and begins to brown. Season generously with a BIG pinch of salt, lots of fresh ground black pepper, and a couple dashes of hot sauce if you can take it.

Good served with chicken, pork, smoked sausage, but especially would be good with some Corned Beef on St. Patty's Day!

Much love, and best dishe....wait. Maybe I won't say that.
Ging

7 comments:

Bill said...

When you get your show, you'll be much more real than ol' Paula. Her accent gets thicker with each season...

Gluten Free Steve said...

You are MUCH better then Paula Dean. I'm not a huge fan of hers, but she does use A LOT of butter. How bad can she be? ;-)

Anonymous said...
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Kate said...

I'm sorry - did you say you have A recipe that calls for MAYO AND Cream of Mushroom?

Seriously - I cannot for the life of me process what kind of food/recipe that might be, Ging! LOL

You MUST share this idea -it's foreign to my Northern tastebuds to combine those two items. LOL

Hope you are well - I've missed ya! :)

celticjig said...

Deep fried butter anyone? I already considered you the Gluten Free Paula Deen and I think you should take that as a compliment! The Paula's Party show has to go though. Perhaps we need to find a GF Tyler Florence to do a GF 911! I call him cutie boy Tyler when my darling cutie boy BF isn't in the room!

Runnamuck Farm said...

OK so this post is over a year old, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents worth in, then give you a couple of my recipes that have mayo AND COM soup...both are great comfort food, but neither are GF.

First, the comment:
I saw Paula Deen on some talk show or other, and her response to a question asked about how she can in good conscience give us recipes that include all that butter and carbs and fat, etc was:

"Ya'll, I'll just say I'm your cook...not your doctor!"

I love it! She's not our conscience, she's just out there to teach us how to cook GENUINE food, the way she learned to do it, and in my opinion, it's a lost art. Bad for us, yup...but moderation and modification are our own responsibility.

I can't watch Paula's Party, either... it's just TOO Paula-y, but bless her heart, the woman is amazing!

OK, the mayo/COM soup recipes (just the way I do them, I have no idea how much of what):

1:
Cooked broccoli with onions
Cooked, deboned, cut up chicken
mayo
sour cream
cream of shroom soup

Some cooked rice if ya have it.
Mix it up, add cheddar cheese on top and bake.

One more:

Fry and crumble and drain some bulk pork sausage (I like sage best)
fry a lot of shredded cabbage and chopped onion in butter added to the pan with the sausage.
add cream of shroom soup and some milk and some mayo (mixed up before you add it to the pan)
add uncooked Stove Top stuffing
add grated cheddar cheese to the top.
Either cover and simmer a bit on the stove, or put it all in a casserole dish and bake it a bit.

Hugs,
Paula (nope, not THE Paula...just a Paula)

Runnamuck Farm said...

OK so this post is over a year old, but I thought I'd put iin my 2cents worth, then give you a couple of my recipes that have mayo AND COM soup...both are great comfort food, but neither are GF.

First, the comment:

I saw Paula Deen on some talk show or other, and her response to a question asked about how she can in good conscience give us recipes that include all that butter and carbs and fat, etc was:

"Ya'll, I'll just say I'm your cook...not your doctor!"

I love it! She is not our conscience, she's just out there to teach us how to cook GENUINE food, the way she learned. In my opinion, that is a lost art. Bad for those of us who overindulge, ABSOLUTELY...but moderation and modification are our own responsibility.

I can't watch Paula's Party, either... it's just TOO Paula-y, but bless her heart, the woman is amazing!

OK, the mayo/COM soup recipes (just the way I do them, I have no idea how much of what):

1:
Cooked broccoli with onions
Cooked, deboned, cut up chicken
mayo
sour cream or cream cheese
cream of shroom soup
Some cooked rice if ya want.
Mix it up, add cheddar cheese tot he top, then crumbled up Ritz crackers to the top and melt some butter over it and bake.

One more:

Fry and crumble and drain some bulk pork sausage (I like sage best)
fry a lot of shredded cabbage and chopped onion in butter added to the pan with the sausage.
add cream of shroom soup and some milk and some mayo (mixed up before you add it to the pan)
add uncooked Stove Top stuffing
add chunked Velveeta and stir to melt.
Add grated cheddar to the top.

Either cover and simmer a bit on the stove, or put it all in a casserole dish and bake it a bit.

Hugs,
Paula (nope, not THE Paula...just a Paula)