George IV's Favorite Guacamole

From Paula Deen's The Deen Family Cookbook, again, a prized gift of a book from a very sweet and dear friend.

Here's the "story" Paula puts in front of the recipe. I like these almost as much as the recipes themselves.

George Ort is my Aunt Peggy's oldest. He was always smart growing up, and because I was five years older, I thought he was quite a little know-it-all. I remember once when I was sixteen and didn't know squat except how to dress for a date and do my cheer, we had a little incident in the car.
You, see, I had this old convertible. It was my first car that my daddy had given me, and for some reason I had George, his brother, Paul, and my brother in the car with me and I wasn't happy about it. Well, when little George in his smart way said, "I could drive this car better than you, " I turned around and said, "You think so, you little smart alleck?" Then I pulled over and said, "Okay, drive it, big boy."
Oh, my God! He got behind that wheel and he was all over the road and up on the curb and remember just dying laughing. Back then things were so innocent, you know---you would never to that today. But that was the beauty of the small town, I just laughed and laughed and said, "Obviously you can't drive as good as I can." I remember the two younger boys just screaming! They just knew we would be killed. I was full of devilment back then. So I got back behind the wheel and never did tell none of the adults what I had done.
Well, now George is a successful executive and his wife, Kelley, is one of those perfect mothers and wives. I've never seen her without makeup, and I've never seen her without the perfect meal on the table. She's just one of those girls that you aspire to be like, and she's a fabulous cook. And now, it turns out, so are her teenage sons, George IV and T.J. Don't you just love it when good things run in the family?

Kelley says: George IV perfected this recipe after watching a friend demonstrate how easy it is to make this super-fresh dip. He went on to win the "guacamole throw-down" contest at a recent Super Bowl party.

Makes 1 Quart guacamole.

5 ripe Avocados, pitted and peeled (I used 2 of the larger Florida variety Avocaodos)
1 Large tomato, chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
3 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Jalepeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
Tortilla chips, for dipping, or lettuce, for salad

Mash the avocados in a large bowl. Stir in the tomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice and zest, garlic, jalapeno, and salt. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour to bring out the flavor. Serve with tortilla chips or on top of lettuce as a salad.

This is hands down one of the best guacamole recipes I've ever tried. I didn't add a picture, simply because guacamole looks like guacamole...it's green, mushy and got chunks of tomato and onion going on. I think I've found the recipe I shall use from here on out. I swear, I'm an avocado freak to begin with, this is a given, but I could sit and just eat this as a sort of avocado thick soup. The chips are merely a vessel to get the guac to my mouth, hahahaha.

Some parts of my avocados weren't ripe enough for my tastes, so I took what I call my "motorboat", or stick blender and used it to mash up the avocados, smoothing out some and chunking up some still.

Paula's Brussels Sprouts

Ok, first off, I must apologize as these little morsels did not sit around long enough to get a camera near them, much less get pictures. This gives you a hint as to our review, right? This "recipe" is so simple and basic that I hesitate to call it an actual recipe, I would think it more of a cooking method, but anyhow, here's the details.

From: Paula Deen's The Deen Family Cookbook, a cookbook I recently recieved as a gift from a very dear friend.

Oven-Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Lots O' Butter

Honey, even Brussels sprouts get sexy when you know how to butter them up! A lot of people say they don't like Brussels sprouts, but I think they've just never tasted them slathered with butter roasted until crisp around the edges like these. And if this recipe doesn't change their minds, let me tell you, nothing will.

Serves 4

1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted (I used about 3 1/2 T)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the Brussels sprouts with the butter, salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender and golden. Serve hot.


These are truly delicious and yet so very simple. The smell is that of fresh buttered popcorn when you open the oven door. Butter is a divine smell anyhow.

Hey Everyone!

We're on a temporary holding pattern. Darling Hubby is recovering from some oral surgery and unable to eat anything with much texture for the next week or so. So, until he can be my guinea pig again, I shall have to hold off on trying new dishes. Sorry for the hold up!

Bologna or Baloney Cake

Not a recipe from any Paula Deen book, but we were watching Sweet Home Alabama the other night and the "daddy" ordered the "momma" to get the baloney cake outta the fridge to serve to the future mother in law and it got me to thinking what went into it. I HAD to make it.

Bologna Cake

1 lb. Bologna, sliced (I used Oscar Mayer)

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

2 Tbs. grated onion (it turned to onion mush for me, but what can I do?)

1 Tbs. worstershire sauce ( I KNOW that ain't spelled right and the silly spell check on here won't give me the right word, so I am not gonna worry too much about it, you all know what I mean, right?)

Mix cream cheese, onion and worst. sauce till smooth.

Place a slice of bologna on the plate, smear some "frosting" on it, add another slice of bologna, smear again, until all bologna slices are used up, then "frost" the rest of the cake with the remaining "frosting".

Chill well in the fridge, slice thinly and serve with crackers.

As you can tell it looks cute. I could see putting decorative veggies on top for a party or something. This is super fast and easy and could be put together the day before the big football game too, you know!

We haven't actually tasted it yet, it has to chill a while and we just ate dinner so we're not the slightest bit hungry, but I did lick my finger when I was done. The "frosting" is quite tasty and knowing how bologna tastes, I think it's a good match.

So there, another SOUTHERN recipe for you, even if it ain't a Ms. Deen exclusive, tee-hee!

Here we have "Chicken Georgia" cooking in the frying pan.

This is really a GREAT dish.

Chicken Georgia
serves 4-6
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) butter
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 Cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 Tbs. minced shallots
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 oz. grated mozzarella cheese.

Melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and shallots and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes on each side, or until tender. Transfer chicken to platter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Top with mushroom mixture. Cover and let stand 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Mona's Notes: Didn't have grated mozzarella so I used shredded and I just eyeballed it and sprinkled the chicken liberally. I almost gave up finding any shallots until I finally found a small bag of them by the onions in the produce section of the supermarket. I went ahead and used all of them in the pack, knowing I wouldn't find another use for them and they'd go bad.

This was by far the most delicious of the dishes we tried yesterday. So very simple and quick really! I cut the breast halves in half just to make them easier to handle. VERY much a repeat performance for us. The chicken was so moist and tender and the mushrooms were so rich and flavorful and the shallots imparted this wonderfully garlicky/oniony combo that just made our mouths very happy!!!

Below, is the finished..SOUTHERN style supper. At 12:00 we have the Vidalia Onion Pie...from about 2-5 o' clock we have Chicken Georgia....from 6-9 is Baked Grits and from 9-11ish, is some Collard Greens I had prepared last spring and frozen to enjoy throughout the year. Brad says it is exactly this kind of cooking that made him gain 70 lbs or so since we've been married. What can I say, I like to cook with love in the pot too! :))

This is "Baked Grits". How much more southern can one get? hahahaha. Yes, there is a "sampling" removed from the upper right corner... my ever faithful and devoted guinea pig, (Brad) took the first bite to determine if it was a success or not. This one is also from "The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook"


Baked Grits
serves 6
4 Cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Cup uncooked grits
2 eggs, beaten
8 Tbsp. (one stick) butter
1 1/2 Cups grated Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese combined
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Dash of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water and salt to a boil. Add grits to boiling water, stirring constantly for one minute. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until grits are thick and creamy. Temper eggs with a small amount of hot cooked grits, then add back to remaining grits. Combine remaining ingredients with grits and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Top with additional cheese, if desired.

Mona's Notes: I didn't have any Monterey Jack cheese, so I used all cheddar. I had some leftover bacon from fixing the onion pie earlier, so I tossed come crumbled bacon into the mixture before pouring into the casserole.

This would be great to fix for breakfast, even make it the night before and just bake it off in the morning. I didn't opt for additional cheese on top and it was plenty rich enough. Again, Brad really approved of this one too! Very simple to put together too. I'm really glad I'm trying these new things!

What you are looking at is called "Vidalia Onion Pie".

Recipe from "The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook"

Vidalia Onion Pie
serves 8
Vidalia onions are Georgia's most famous taste. This sweet onion is grown in southeast Georgia (Vidalia, GA), just a few miles west of Savannah. They can be stored in a cool dry place to use throughout the year.

3 Cups thinly sliced Vidalia onions
3 Tbs. butter, melted
One 9-inch prebaked deep dish pie shell
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
3 Tbs. all purpose flour
4 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Saute onion in butter until lightly browned. Spoon into pie shell. Combine milk, sour cream, salt, eggs and flour. Mix well and pour over onion mixture. Garnish with bacon. Bake for 30 minutes or until firm in center. Pie has taste and texture of a quiche.

Mona's Notes: I couldn't find true Vidalia onions in town so I used sweet onions.

This is really a great dish. Brad took one bite and said it was great, of course we are tremendous onion fans. It was really simple to make, just a few tears were shed during the slicing of that many onions and the sauteing caused a little eye irritation. I had a very little bit of bacon fat left in the pot after crisping the bacon, so I left it in along with the butter to saute the onions in. This would be a very good dish to bring to a pot luck type of dinner too. Definitely a repeat performer at our house! Yum.

The texture is definitely quiche like, but the taste is like super cheesey! must be the sour cream?

Paula Deen's Caramel Cake

So, here is the first recipe from Mrs. Deen. It is her Caramel Cake. It's not a beautiful looking cake by a long shot, but it reminds me of the cakes my step-grandmother used to make for all the holidays in Plant City, FL. They were never store quality in appearance, but were so darned good you couldn't stop eating.

Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/caramel-cake-recipe/index.html

As you may have noticed, this particular recipe is NOT in the two books I purchased to do this project with, however it is on the Food Network website. Darling Hubby was watching "Paula's Party" a couple weekends ago and suggested I try the Caramel Cake, hence it is my first entry.

Now, for the changes I made to the recipe. Wherever it called for milk, I used canned, evaporated milk. In the frosting, it called for heavy cream..me, being far too lazy to go to the store for just one item, improvised and again, used canned, evaporated milk, thinking it was a little richer than just plain 2% like we keep in the fridge. I had read the reviews of the cake before hand, and decided I wanted to make DOUBLE the filling recipe and I'm glad I did. I had a few tablespoons of it left over and decided to drizzle it over the frosted cake as garnish/decoration, so that is what you see in the picture.

As for taste, well..I want to try to wait until Brad gets home to try it officially, but the components separately all taste devine. The cake batter is a simple, but it tasted wonderful and the filling is some of the best caramel sauce I've ever tasted and the frosting, it was just a tad too sweet, as some of the reviews I had read, said, so I added just a pinch of salt which seemed to help bring out some caramel flavor before the sweetness hits your palate. I had absolutely none of the problems folks describe on the website, no falling, sticking, or layers shifting. Check back later for an update on the official taste testing!!!

Taste test review: This is a very rich cake. It is NOT the texture we as a society have become accustomed to these days. It's what I remember cake being as a kid. The cake is slightly crumbly, not overly sweet, not nearly as moist as a Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines cake mix cake would be. It's a very mild flavored cake, made more to carry the flavors of a filling or frosting rather than be the center of attention. It's what cakes used to be like, in the 70's. The filling is great, once it cools though, it gets a little grainy from the brown sugar. Next time, I'll boil it a little longer than suggested to see if I can dissolve those crystals better. The frosting is what old fashioned home made frostings used to be. Nothing like the air filled stuff we get out of the tubs at the store or like the Wilton Company's decorator frosting recipes. Again, I'd boil/cooke the caramel base a little bit longer to avoid the crystals in it as well. I got myself a normal slice of cake, not big by any shot and couldn't eat it all, it is sweet and gooey in the areas where the filling penetrates the cake and very very very rich. I ended up getting a little extra insulin after I ate it, I could tell I was going to need it, LOL. I will repeat this one, with the extra cooking times I stated and probably use it for taking to social gatherings (as if I go to many of those). So there you go. My first complete blog. I'm looking into chicken dish for tomorrow, and considering some Baked Grits...hehehehehe...how Southern can I get?!?!

Ok, so a few weeks ago, I went to see the movie, Julie and Julia. It really hit home for me. I mean, I love to cook, love to feed folks and well, other than the fact that Julia Child has never really been high on my list of favorite television/celebrity chefs, I could relate to the Julie character in the movie. I do sort of find myself in the kitchen, get a grounded feeling. It's hard to explain, but when a dish comes out just right and my "testers" give it great reviews, I'm prouder than any peacock!! So, I came home thinking about this movie. OK...I want to do it. I want to choose a cookbook (or two) from a chef. A chef I can really relate to. No problems. My first and ONLY thought was of the ever cheery, Mrs. Paula Deen! Do I want to follow the books implicitly? Nah...everyone knows that I'm too laid back for that. Too finicky too. I found the first two cookbooks she published for a steal on Amazon and had them delivered last week. I think I've gained 5 lbs. just reading through them. I want to take the time to try most of the recipes in each book. In order? Nah...but I'll write dates and notes in the margins so I won't blog about a repeat performance of a recipe for you all. Will I set a time frame like the lady in the movie? Nope. I don't know if I'll have the time or funding to try a few new recipes a week, so I'll really try to do at least one a week. Now...I must warn you, if you have any of Mrs. Deen's cookbooks, you will start to notice I won't do anything with wild game, duck, organ meats, or goose in it. Why? I simply cannot stomach such foods, so if I won't dare eat it, I won't dare cook it to impose it upon my loving husband and/or family.

So, if you've read this far, you're aware of my plans. When will I start? Hopefully in the next week or so. We just sort of remodeled our kitchen over Labor Day weekend, so I feel like I have the space and ability now. I will try to publish pictures of everything I cook and the recipe as well as any things I'd change next time or any liberties I have taken. If you like to eat, like to eat SOUTHERN, like to feel the love that is cooked into every great Southern dish, then you'll want to check back. I'll go as long as I can, or until I run out of recipes from the first two books, if I want to continue, I'll pick up another of her cookbooks. I'll just play it by ear, ya' know?

Now, since I'm taking on this project, it might not be a bad idea if any of you play the stock market, to go ahead and invest in butter...yeah...with Paula as my inspiration, there is very likely going to be pounds and pounds of it purchased in the coming months/years.

I hope you enjoy reading my postings as much as I anticipate posting/blogging to be enjoyable for me.