
Cooking is like love...
It should be entered into with abandon
or not at all.
~Harriet Van Home~
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Music: Herman's Hermits - I'm Into Something Good
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Hi, guys! How's everyone doing?
As promised, today I'm doing a rundown of my Paula Deen recipe test drive!
I want to start by saying that I had so much fun with this one, you guys. Paula's recipes are uncomplicated, yet delicious! Each time I set out to buy the ingredients for one of her recipes, I was beside myself with excitement that I was able to find everything I needed at our regular grocery store. With the exception of one ingredient (mirlitons) in one recipe, it was always one stop shopping. And not only that, her recipes don't have that many ingredients and they're a breeze to put together. How great is that?!?
Yaaay, Paula!
When all is said and done and you're sitting at the table with your family tasting Paula's creations for the first time, what you're experiencing is soothing comfort food that's simple and homey and yet somehow elegant at the same time.
"Paula, I'm so pleased! Keep those wonderful recipes coming, Sister!"
My first recipe to test drive...
Ingredients: Oil, butter, chicken breast, flour, salt and pepper, pancetta, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, capers, and linguini.
Lemon Butter Sauce: Lemon juice, white wine, heavy cream, butter, salt and pepper, parsley leaves
I'm really sorry that I'm going to sound like a broken record today but, OH-MY-GOODNESS! This was so good, I could eat this every day! I barely tweaked any of these recipes, and all I can remember doing to this one was adding more mushrooms and maybe more wine? I can't remember, so just play with your ingredients until they're perfect for you, but as this recipe is written, it's already wonderful! As always, make sure your sauce-to-noodle ratio looks good to you.
Next...

Ingredients: Canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, onion, green bell pepper, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, Paula's House Seasoning, salt, sugar, bay leaves, ground beef, angel hair pasta, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese
House Seasoning: salt, pepper, garlic powder
Yummers! This was so ridiculously easy I pretty much winged it. I added a little wine to the sauce because I add wine to everything I can! hehe! And I used my own Italian seasonings. You're just looking for a good spaghetti sauce, so go with the seasoning blend you like best. I also added more sugar for less acidity, and we used gobs more cheese. The recipe says to throw your onion and garlic into your sauce to simmer. I cooked mine with my ground beef. The angel hair pasta is a *must*, you guys! I've made baked spaghetti before, but this one was heads and shoulders above the rest. The delicate noodles were perfection!
Next...
Ingedients: Boneless-skinless chicken breasts, butter, Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, Swiss cheese, cream of chicken soup, white wine, herb-flavored stuffing mix
It was like we'd all died and gone to Heaven! Please try this one! This was the epitome of 'homey yet elegant'. It's the perfect dish to serve to dinner guests. It's *THAT GOOD*!
Oh, I forgot to mention 'fast'. So fast and easy, ya almost feel guilty.
My tweakages: I used those little tender strips of the chicken, added a few seasonings to the soup and wine mixture, a little heavy cream, plus more wine ( ). We also used Monterey Jack cheese with the Swiss, going lighter on the Swiss, but overall more cheese than called for. In the end, ours was more saucy (especially when hot out of the oven) than it would have been without our tweakages, and I strongly recommend doing it that way! The pic above doesn't show the dish's true sauciness.
Two recipes here...
and
Shrimp Mirliton ingredients: Mirlitons, Cajun seasoning, butter, green onion, celery, yellow onion, green bell pepper, shrimp, bread crumbs, salt
First of all, none of us, or anyone we asked here in Washington state, had ever heard of a mirliton. I had to go looking for it. Mirlitons taste a little like cooked zucchini or summer squash. They have a soft, mild flavor, and after they're cooked long enough, they're very tender. The shrimp-stuffing filling was really good. We'd never tasted anything like it, but overall we all enjoyed it.
Cheesy Squash Casserole ingredients: Vegetable oil, yellow summer squash, Vidalia onion, butter, grated Parmesan cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, black pepper, Ritz crackers
K, this was delicious! Yeah, baby! We added more cheese (big surprise), and used less of the yellow summer squash. Check your ingredient ratio before cooking. Too much squash will make the recipe dry. Ours was wonderfully gooey!
Onto...
Ingredients: Cubed round steak, House Seasoning, flour, olive oil, butter, onion, mushrooms, beef broth, cream of mushroom soup, salt and black pepper, sour cream, egg noodles
This was easy and good. I made mine more saucy, as per my usual. Added some wine, a little more sour cream, more onion and mushrooms, and a few of my own seasonings. I was really surprised at how tender and yummy the cubed round steak turned out. This wasn't as 'fancy' as the European version of stroganoff, but it was better than any American version I've ever tasted. Again, homey and kinda elegant at the same time. How *does* she do it???
Lastly (but only for now)...
Ingredients: Canned apple pie filling, (9 inch) graham cracker crust, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, caramel topping, pecans
Okay, aren't these too cute? I made these to take to my parents' house for Easter. Both were wiped out!
So, here's the deal. I'm not a dessert person, which is why you don't see me posting dessert recipes very often. On top of that, I don't like cheesecake very much. But this recipe got 486 reviews and a 5 star rating, so I trusted that it was going to be a sure thing... and it was! Plus, it was easy! You don't even need to make your own pie crust. I didn't tweak a thing because cheesecake can be temperamental, but I did need to cook mine longer than the directions called for. There are many different styles of cheesecake, and this one was super fun! It has apple pie filling in the bottom and on the top, which makes it moist, but not like those made with sour cream. Just really good. If you like making cheesecake and you want something a little different and delicious, give this one a whirl!
Alrighty, my friends, that's all for now. I was going to announce my next test drive but I've decided to save that for another day due to sleepiness on my part.
Bye for now, lil dahlings!