Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style [Hardcover]

Paula Deen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2005

Sharing a delicious meal is everyone's favorite way of bringing together friends and loved ones. In her new cookbook, Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style, Paula Deen -- author, restaurateur, and Food Network star -- turns to her friends to share their stories, ideas for entertaining Southern style, and, most important, more than 150 of the prized recipes they serve to their family and friends.

With the trademark Southern charm that has made her beloved by fans everywhere, Paula's new book features delicious, down-home entertaining menus, with recipes that are guaranteed to be instant crowd-pleasers. Whether you're planning an intimate family dinner, hosting an elegant cocktail party, or feeding a hungry crowd for lunch, these mouthwatering meals are the perfect way to share any occasion with good friends -- and have fun doing it! From a tailgate picnic to a bridge supper, a christening to a camping trip, and a family dinner to an ice cream social, there are recipes to delight any gathering.

Throw a down-home Birthday Bash with Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken, Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Corn on the Cob, and Buttermilk Pound Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. Or host a casual Cookie Swap with friends and watch those Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes and Rolled Oatmeal Cookies disappear! An outdoor lunch wouldn't be complete without real Southern Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Corn Bread. And comfort foods like Quick Crab Stew, Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole, and Black Bottom Pie are soul-satisfying dishes that warm the heart and soothe the spirit. There are also recipes for refreshing cocktails and beverages, from the Southern traditional favorites, like Plantation Iced Tea and Mint Juleps, to Lemonade and Hot Cranberry Cider.

Entertaining Southern style is about much more than the food; it's about spending time with the people you care about. Paula and her friends are the experts when it comes to creating delightful meals that are easy to prepare, so you, too, can relax and enjoy the fun with your guests. Each chapter is filled with helpful tips and time-saving techniques, as well as the memorable cooking stories that inspired Paula and her friends to create these recipes. You'll be inspired to share memorable meals and occasions with family and friends, as Paula Deen & Friends invites you to live it up, Southern style.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Deen, the popular Food Network personality and proprietor of the Savannah restaurant The Lady & Sons, shares 24 party menus, featuring recipes culled from her friends and family. Of course, things are skewed Southern, but Deen's quick to point out that "the love and appreciation for our Deep South cookin' knows no geographic boundaries" (nor does it know any dietary restrictions). Working with Savannah magazine's Nesbit, Deen covers festive but low-key events such as a Bridge Club Supper and a Georgia Bulldawg Parking Lot Tailgate, as well as a few holidays, including a New Year's Day Soup Lunch. The authors and their friends—there's a preschool teacher, a scoutmaster, "Martha's husband Gary's cousin" and others—are bent on making their brunches, lunches and dinners colorful but casual. Among their 150 Southern specialties are Bert's Southern Fried Chicken, Shrimp and Crab au Gratin, and Vidalia Onion Corn Bread. There's a nice mixture of easy, traditional favorites (Pimiento Cheese) and newer, more sophisticated dishes (Pecan-Coated Fish with Remoulade Sauce), and desserts (Double Rum Cake, Peach Cream Tart, Chocolate Sandwich Cookies) are suitably over-the-top. Deen's enthusiasm, friendly advice and inclusion of family stories all contribute to make the book "all about real people cookin' real food." 32 pages of color photos. Agent, Janis Donnaud. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Paula Deen is the bestselling author of twelve books and an Emmy Award–winning Food Network television star. She was born and raised in Albany, Georgia. She later moved to Savannah, where she started The Bag Lady catering company. The business took off and evolved into The Lady & Sons restaurant, which is located in Savannah’s historic district and specializes in Southern cooking. She also co-owns Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House with her brother. Paula publishes a bimonthly magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen, and is a regular guest on QVC, where she sells her books and food products.

Martha Nesbit is a cookbook writer and food columnist for Savannah Magazine. She has been featured on HGTV's "Thanksgiving Across America" special and on Food Network's Food Nation with Bobby Flay. She lives on the beautiful Isle of Hope in Savannah, Georgia, with her husband, Gary, her sons Zack and Emory, and her dachshund, Lucy.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743267222
• ISBN-13: 978-0743267229
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #261,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

130 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For big time Paula fans only, March 19, 2005

By 

changedmymind "changedmymind" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style (Hardcover)

If you are a true Paula Deen fan as I am, you will buy this book regardless. I don't think this one is near as good as her other cookbooks. There are alot of recipes provided by friends and peers, and a few repeats from previous cookbooks. And seems like several are more exotic than her normal downhome type of things. I always liked Paula's older recipes cause chances are you already had most of the ingredients already in the pantry. I know it would be hard for her to keep coming up with original recipes given her schedule, but I'd give my eye teeth for another book of solely Paula and her family's recipes of good old southern cooking.

If you watch Paula on tv and are looking for a good sampling of her work, pick up The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook
or Just Desserts and you'll turn to it time and time again. For true die-hard fans who already own the other three, you'll enjoy the intros and witty comments made by Paula throughout the book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Duplicative and not true Paula, September 20, 2005

By 

Lawyer Mike "Lawyer Mike" (Baltimore, Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style (Hardcover)

Let me say up front that I love Paula Deen and I have read and re-read her first two cookbooks many times. Many of the recipes I've tried from those books are outstanding. This book, however, takes a detour. As a starter, you will note that this is the first book Paula has written with somebody else. Although Paula's name is prominent on the cover to attract customers, there is actually a co-author. Second, the title is even more telling: Paula and Friends. When you get to the heart of the matter, this is not a Paula Deen cookbook; it's a collection of recipes from other people with Paula's name on the cover to sell books. Paula herself hints at this in the Introduction. She says her next book was coming due (multi-book contract I presume) so she was looking around for ideas and called a friend, who turned out to be the co-author. I get the impression Paula had to come up with a new book and didn't really have any new ideas after having already written three books.

As for the recipes themselves, some are just reprints of previous Paula recipes in a new format. What Paula does in this book is organize recipes by the type of function you're having. She provides complete menus for different types of gatherings. So many of her recipes aren't really new. And like I said, most of the recipes in the book come from other people. Just from reading them, they look like decent recipes, but I'm not sure why this counts as a Paula Deen book. Unfortunately, this book seems more like merchandising than her earlier books. Maybe that is part and parcel of becoming a famous chef and cookbook author.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL for parties and special occasions, April 12, 2005

By 

S. Carroll (South, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style (Hardcover)

What a WONDERFUL new book to add to our collections- THANK YOU Paula!

First off, there are a couple of reviews thus far that are simply unfair. Paula Deen does NOT use Chick-Fil-A chicken in her recipes- she recommended picking some up for a TAILGATE party.........most people do that. Nothing unusual.
And NO, she's not suggesting we eat this food everyday. Hope that clarifies for those who can't read.

This book gives wonderful recipes for get togethers and those special times you want to put on a good feast for dear friends and family. These are warm, down home dishes that are sure to please.

Reading this book is like being at one of her parties in person- JOB WELL DONE PAULA!

PS- I just met Paula and Michael at a book signing for this book. She's incredibly friendly and beautiful to her fans. Meet her if you get the chance. She's worth standing in line for!!!