I know I am late. It hasn't been a good week.
Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud was having her monthly challenge. Paula Deen recipe. I looked and looked. I wanted to make something I have never made before, but something that I would serve.
I looked at her carrot salad recipe, but she puts corn it hers, no thanks!
I had a cup of mashed potatoes that I had made the other night.
So I tried her Potato Puffs. She calls them balls.
We were grilling burgers, and I made some cole slaw.
The recipe .....
http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/french_fried_potato_balls/
I added chopped onions and some shredded cheddar. They were ok, like a fritter, not something I could make again.
Then since I had all that darn oil out, I used her recipe for a Blooming Onion.http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/cajun_onion_bloomers/
The cutting went fine.
Then you have to massage the batter into the bloom. Now get it into the oil!
Drop root side down into the oil, brown, take it out.
With a sharp knife cup apart all the petals, (the batter makes them join together again) and put it open side down back into the oil.
This better be good, as it was a pain. Not hard, just not fun!
It was ok, the middle didn't get crisp enough. If I make it again I will use the deep fry machine that dh wanted and is sitting unopened in the basement for 3 years! But that's a big if!
I am sending Paula the bill for my visit to the cardiologist for sure! In the meantime I will try out for GREASE, I have a head start! :)
Thanks for visiting and I am joining Happier than a Pig in Mud for the chef challenge, Laurie for Favorite Things and The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.
I took this from my kitchen window. So pretty, but gone so quickly!
Kathleen, all looks good, but we don't eat fried food very often. Not to say we don't like it. LOL I remember ordering the fried onion blossom at a local restaurant in years past. It was delicious, but one look at the 1000s of calories settled ever ordering that again. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSarah
I was wondering where you were K, worried the grease got to ya! Sometimes recipes aren't to our liking, I've had more than my share of them. I save my deep fried adventure for homemade egg rolls, I only make them once a year, but boy are they worth the wait (and calories, etc.)!!! I think our June Celeb will appeal to the masses, and cardiologists:@) Thanks so much for playing along!
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about sending Paula your bill to the cardiologist! I love your beautiful trees!
ReplyDeleteI admire your making these recipes after a busy week and getting them posted! I gasp at some of the recipes I read and their high fat and calorie content. I do still fry breaded zucchini in the summer and still enjoy chicken cutlets but recipes with a stick of butter or two I try to avoid.
ReplyDeleteGrease is the word :) Looks good, I rarely deep fry!
ReplyDeleteYour yard looks gorgeous, Kathleen!
Those potato balls look so delicious. Another one of Paula's yummy dishes! Wow that onion, big credit for cutting it, looks great! Your yard is beautiful, too.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, I was missing your post-glad you made it! Anything you prepare and share always looks great and I am sure tastes good too! xo,
ReplyDeleteKathleen:
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to see your post, it was getting late and I was getting worried.
Love your honest review of Pala's recipe. Just because they are celebrity chef, doesn't make all of their recipes celebratory.
- The Tablescaper
Hi Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteI loved your comment about sending Paula the bill for your cardiologist visit. Too funny! We live in the South (have lived here all our lives) and we joke about how much butter, mayo, and cheese she puts in EVERYTHING! Not all southerners cook like that. Many of her recipes are good, but definitely not on the heart-healthy menu. I tried to leave a comment on Thursday because I loved, loved your apple blossom tablescape. Then Friday, when my last post had disappeared, I found out that Google Blogger had really messed up. It was definitely Friday the 13th all day. Thanks for sharing.
Denise at Forest Manor
No matter it all looks just yummy~ Cathy
ReplyDeleteWith the hub a heart patient, we don't eat many fried foods at all any more. I love to watch Paula's show, but wonder what her arteries look like!I did those onions years ago before I knew better and they were realy good.
ReplyDeleteIt all looks delicious, Kathleen. I should give the Paula Deen Challenge a try. I feel like I am in a blog rut, the challenge will surely help!LOL
ReplyDeleteOf course the blog rut could be a side affect of this crazy Missouri weather! We have had the heat on again!! It's like this all around the midwest.
Kathleen, I'm not crazy about many of these celebrity chefs' recipes. I've tried several of Ina Garten's and they didn't pan out at all. I love me some deep fried mushrooms every so often- flavored with garlic. Yummers....
ReplyDeleteYour tree blossoms look so pretty in your yard~ We just finished the landscaping in our front yard and are waiting for the bushes to bloom. I want to smell those lilacs. Hope to get out a post this week sometime. Have been busy busy busy and haven't had any time to do anything related to blogging. ~ Sue
Hi Kathleen!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear your week wasn't up to par & the recipes you tried weren't either. I'm surprised the potato puffs didn't taste that great, since they sure look yummy.
I did onion rings YOUR way last week & we loved them! They were a rare treat & today DH asked if we had any leftover. LOL Silly man!
Beautiful view of that pretty pink tree out your kitchen window. I think I have its twin in the front of the house.
Hoping this week will be better for you.
Hugs,
Rett
p.s. 4.59 a gal!!!! Ouch!!!
You are a brave person, Kathleen, to tackle that blooming onion. I don't deep fry very often because of the mess and the grease smell in my house.
ReplyDeleteI hope this will be a better week for you.
Paula doesn't stint on the fattening stuff, does she? :)
ReplyDeleteHope you have a better week this week!
It looks delicious! I'm another one who doesn't eat fried food often. (Odd, I know, since I'm from Georgia) It's so fun for a treat.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiflu view from your kitchen window! Always wanted to taste potato puffs and your are picture Perfect; I think I even smell them up here; good stuff.
ReplyDeleteRita
Kathleen...I'm going to read Paula's recipe, have a great Monday, hugs, Flavia
ReplyDeleteYou were VERY rave to attempt the bloomin' onion! I have always wanted to, but it was just too intimidating! Hooray for you!!!
ReplyDeleteYep, I agree....she needs to come up with more healthy recipes or she is gonna start having a hard time staying in the No.ONE spot.
ReplyDeleteI love the potato puffs (and potato patties) and the awesome blossom is to die for but we don't eat them anymore. I do make the potato patties every now and then but the last ones, we baked and they were delicious.
Even tho you don't like her recipes, you were a champ to join in. Wonder which celebrity will be next and wonder if his first initial is E?:))
Your tree is beautiful. I do like fritters of most kinds, but I never make them. As for the onion...I ate part of one when they were "new" and while I liked it, onions just don't like me. So that wouldn't be a recipe for me. I'm sorry you worked so hard and didn't get a recipe that you loved!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm with you on the fried foods being really hard to eat and digest. The onion looks good but too much work for me.
ReplyDeleteSorry Paula's recipes weren't up to par for you. I was surprised to find that I had never made any of her recipes, I have about four of her cookbooks that were mostly gifts to me. I can't eat much fried food these days, when I do I have to "pay" for it!!
ReplyDeleteI hope things go better for you! You sure have some beautiful scenery there!
Katherine
It looks pretty good to me! But I hardly ever fry. I hate the smell of the oil in the house. No matter how long I run the exhaust fan, I still smell it! Oh well ... I bake too much to fry too!
ReplyDeleteI don't fry very much anymore either, Kathleen. The older we get the more careful we have to be about eating healthy. \
ReplyDeleteI know it has been a very hard week for you, and I've been thinking about you {{hugs}}
I have tried the blooming onion at home too, I think I will stick to the restaurants on that one, it is really kind of hard to cut then batter and fry. The puffs look good though. I always feel guilty frying at home but never feel guilty eating fried foods away from home, that doesn't make much sense does it?!!
ReplyDeleteI tried a cake of hers and it was a total bust, with delicious filling and frosting, but it was like a rock, so I know your pain. I should have taken a photo of the whole thing with one slice missing at the bottom of the trash - that hurt!
I hate it when I go through all the trouble to make a recipe and then it's just "okay". Good for you for trying them anyway. I know this hasn't been a good week.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous view!!
Oh my gosh! I'll take both please!
ReplyDeleteI don't deep fry anything. I agree that the smell is not good and really I don't want to reuse the grease for something else and I don't want to store it.
ReplyDeleteBesides if I skip the deep frying I can then eat twice as much of the good food and not feel guilty right?
Oh dear, oh dear. I can assure you that all Southerners don't eat the way Paula cooks, including Paula, I betcha. If she did she'd have been dead long ago. You were game to try. I fry very little, and the one exception in the summer is okra. But I do use canola oil, not bacon grease the way the old-timers did. Once a summer I might make fried green tomatoes. Occasionally I pan fry a fish, potato patties or hushpuppies. Very rarely, though, since my late father was the fisherman, not my husband. I doubt he knows how to bait a hook.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain, Jacqueline, about that cake. I made one of PD's cakes, Tennessee caramel walnut or something like that, and as my mother would have said, "dry as a piece of cornbread."
You were a trooper to try! I haven't had time to try to cook along, but it's fun to see what the rest of you do.
Ellen
You've been too quite, K.
ReplyDeleteIs everything alright?
Hi Kathleen! Sorry you and Miss Paula didn't get along! But as she told Oprah...she's your cook, not your doctor! lol Your tree is gorgeous! Happy weekend!...hugs...Debbie
ReplyDeleteYour view from the kitchen is gorgeous, Kathleen. I could just stare out there forever. The food looks good, even the blooming onion...Christine
ReplyDeleteI love your blooming bomb!
ReplyDelete