Oh, Paula Deen... The Better-For-You Nuggets!

I'll admit it, Paula Deen is one of my Food Network faves. She's happy, spirited, has a great charming Southern home in lovely Savannah, and she loves what she does. (AND I have an autographed cookbook with my name in it!) My only complaint? She may love it a little *too* much.

Some of her recipes are a little ... much. On the butter side of things.

A few months ago, I made this recipe. (Paula Deen's Homemade Chicken Nuggets) I was a little confounded by the melted butter, especially as I was pouring it over the greasy chip-covered chicken that had already been dipped in egg. Was this all really necessary? And yeah, they tasted great, but my eat-healthy side couldn't help but frown at me. So, I made a few changes ...

(Those aren't mine! And I wish my nails looked that nice.. hee hee.)

Take away the potato chips and replace them with ... Total. Yes, Total. Take it, toss it in your blender or food processor, and crumb. I was skeptical (althought not as skeptical as Matt) but it made a nice, dry, tasty, better-for-you crust that actually came out crunchier than the chip coating! Eggs are ok to use, but Egg Beaters are better! And the butter? Not even needed! Serve with warm honey and you have a four ingredient, yummy meal that's great for you and not your average dinner fare. I love making these at home!

I will, though, still wear my bright lime green HAY Y'ALL! Paula Deen t-shirt with pride.



Hope everyone had a lovely weekend - the clouds have finally skedaddled here and it's sunny, balmy, and just a great Southern spring day. I've got some plans for a few fun excursions this week to balance out unemployed job-searching Sami with enjoy your time Sami. :) Yay!

Bacon cupcakes.

Yup.

You read that right.

Bacon cupcakes. I'm going to tell you all about them.


These are bacon cupcakes. Notice how they are habitating peacefully in their little box! Our local cupcakery makes some amazing cupcakes, and once in a while they'll do fun and gastronomic flavors like this! We've had them before, and couldn't resist snagging a sweet half-dozen when we heard they'd be doing them again today.


That is real bacon on the frosting! A lot of people have misconceptions about the poor bacon cupcake. A whole cupcake that tastes like bacon?! EW! Fret not, I thought the same thing. But it's a freakin' CUPCAKE, so I gave it a try.

The frosting is lightly sweet and tastes like maple cream cheese. A lot of frostings I'm not so fond of, because they're REALLY sweet, but this is extremely tasty without being overbearing or tooth-softening. The cupcake itself tastes very pancake-esque and is light and fluffy. And the yummy little chunks of bacon on top are a great salty contrast to the sweetness of the cupcake. It's like a breakfast in a muffin cup!


Mine didn't last long, and let me tell you, it was HARD putting down my cupcake to take this photo after my first bite!! SO decadently tasty! It's not a heavy cupcake at all (like a chocolate one would be), so it's hard to keep my hand out of the box after eating just one...

... But I've been eating really good lately, so maybe I'll have another after dinner. ;)

Whaddya think?! Would you eat a bacon cupcake?? :D

Of car photos and pork chops!

Wowza! Check out the paint color on that car!! Today was a goooorgeous Saturday morning, so we headed downtown for our local Rims on the River event... hundreds of classic cars and motorcycles took up a chunk of the downtown streets, and everything was closed off so we could walk around and admire all of the shinies. SO fun! We spent about two hours out in the sun taking photos, ogling awesome vehicles, and taking photos! I'll post a couple more below... you can always click on them to check out the bigger version... (Did you know that paint above has metallic shinies in it?? Yeah.... big versions are awesome!!)

Our local farmer's market was in full swing! Today was the first day of the year for the farmer's market, so it was DEFINITELY very busy!! So many fresh herbs, veggies, meats, and the flowers.. oohh, the flowers!! Love it! Even local wine and cheese!

Okay, I would ride this pink bike EVERYWHERE!!!! (It has a little painting of the bunny and skunk from Bambi on the side there! And Bambi was painted on the OTHER side!)

And promptly upon returning home, a smidge sunburned... I promptly slept for 2 hours. Gee, what a fun time I am, huh? ;)



I just finished eating dinner; tonight I grilled some porkchops. The ever-awesome Standy asked how I make them ... so I'll tell you!

(Not mine, but they come out looking just like it!)

I used to bread and pan-fry my porkchops, but after grilling them once I'll NEVER go back to that method! They are just so much tastier and healthier grilled, and they always come out so much jucier. I use my Griddler, one of the best birthday gifts Matt's ever gotten me - seriously, you can make EVERYTHING on this thing!! I'll brush the grill pans with EVOO and set it up to heat, wash the chops, and salt and pepper them lightly. Then I'll either do one of two things - dust some of Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic (YUM) on 'em and toss them on the grill, or sprinkle some fresh basil on them instead. Either way, I'll close the Griddler and with both the top and bottom grill plates pressed on 'em they're done in like 5 minutes. I used to actually brush them with honey pre-grilling, and they came out AMAZING (a little grilled-on honey crust, mmmm), but the honey is SUCH a P.I.T.A to clean off the grill plates that I rarely do it anymore.

So there you have it! I'll dish up either some jasmine rice or french-cut green beans for a side dish, and voila, healthy and tasty!

Hmm... speaking of grill plates, time to go clean those bad boys... 'till next time! :)

Beach food!

Monday is OVER! Woohoo! Matt is away for a few days on business, and he said when he gets back we're going out to eat somewhere awesome :) YUM, come on Friday!!!

I'm watching Unwrapped on FoodTV with Marc Summers (Remember him from Double Dare days?? I do!!) and the show is on beach food... and one of the things they're profiling... fish tacos!!!! EWWWWW~!!!! I know, I live in a beach town... and they really are everywhere, but blah!! Don't get me wrong, I really LOVE fish and seafood, but... tacos, that's pushing it. I can't get behind that!

I'd have to say my favorite beach food is shrimp. I LOOOVE shrimp... fresh off the grill with a little sweet & sour sauce, or plum sauce! Yum! Like 'em fried too. You really can't go wrong with shrimp! I like fried dough too, but they only have those on the boardwalk, and that's a bit of a drive.

Shrimp & margaritas!!!! :D