Miss Janice: Paula Deen Light Dishes

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

TEAM PAULA DEEN!

That's right y'all, I'm on Miss Paula's side. Bless her heart, she's been in all the media this week 'cuz she revealed that she's got Diabetes 2! I feel for Paula...cooking her down-home Southern Style dishes is now a threat to her life. Of course, she went on the Today Show and revealed her diagnosis to the world and that she has partnered with Novo Nordisk in a campaign to promote their drug Victoza. Now people are criticizing her for continuing to pedal her fat-laden recipes to the world even though she knew that she had the disease.

Last night I hit the kitchen...wearing my Paula Deen "Hey Y'all" apron, my stretchy pants, some cute polka dot mitts, and baked up a Paula Deen classic recipe in my red Paula Deen casserole dish. TEAM PAULA DEEN.

Which team are you on? Team Anthony Bourdain or Team Paula Deen?

Anthony Bourdain, Chef & Author. On his Travel Network Channel show "No Reservations," Bourdain travels the world seeking the ultimate dining experience. He's also a long-time critic of chefs on the Food Network. He has said "Paula Deen should feel bad before telling an already obese nation that it is okay to eat food that is killing us!" Excuse me, but this man eat snakes! Who is he to judge? He also criticizes Rachel Ray for using pre-chopped onions. Lord have mercy! Not on my radar anymore...

Paula Deen, The Queen of Southern Cuisine and Food Network star is now the spokesperson for "Diabetes in a New Light" a site run by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. Y'all know I'm a long-time support of Miss Paula...I buy her books, magazines, kitchen ware, aprons, foods, et cetera. But even I don't eat the calorie-laden, delicious foods all the time! In Paula's words to Oprah, "I'm your cook, not your Doctor!" Moderation y'all. Moderation. Team Paula Deen. Winning. None of us are perfect y'all and we all make mistakes. She doesn't eat snakes...

BUT, even though I love Paula and LOVE Southern foods, even I wouldn't eat this Krispy Kreme Doughnut Bread Pudding...One of Paula's Top 10 High-Calorie Foods.

Never even tried Paula's Twinkie Pie...another dish on the TOP 10 list...my LAWD!

This is one of her most high-calorie, artery clogging recipes...The Lady's Brunch Burger! LOL {Bacon-doughnut-egg-burger} Please people!

I am excited about the new "Light Dishes" Paula will be creating from her vault of "Best Dishes" recipes! You can tell she has already lightened up some of her recipes in the Jan/Feb issue of "Cooking with Paula Deen." However, I cannot help wondering what will become of the foods she serves at her restaurants...Will they remain the same? 'Cuz let's face it folks, when Southerners go out to eat Southern food, they want the REAL thing. We want our macaroni tres cheesy and our chicken fried just right. I cannot imagine visiting Paula's restaurant at Harrah's in Tunica and going through the buffet line of "Light Dishes." I'm stumped.

When I visited her new site HERE,I was happy to see that he has created a lighter version of "The Lady & Sons Lasagna." Of course, I had to go to the store for the ingredients and made it last night. Her new recipe calls for a LOT LESS ground beef {which I substituted with ground turkey} and all the cheeses I used were no-fat. I LOVED the lasagna!