Best Ever Fried Chicken, Family Reunion Deviled Eggs, Butter Buttermilk Mashed Potates and Classic Banana Pudding...How Can You Go Wrong?

The meal I decided to begin with was the southern classic, fried chicken.  To start this meal I invited three of my closest friends to dinner. If you ever meet my friends, you'll realize we all love to eat and we all love fried chicken! 

 

Family Reunion Deviled Eggs

Family Reunion Deviled Eggs

I started the evening with Paula's Family Reunion Deviled Eggs.  I have to say I have tried making deviled eggs before but could not get them to taste the way I wanted.  This recipe made it a piece of cake!  The ingredients were pretty basic:  mayo and mustard.  But one thing I love about Paula is she likes to throw some heat into her cooking, and she didn't disappoint with the addition of hot sauce.  To be honest, she didn't add enough hot sauce for my taste, so if you like to spice things up like I do, add a little more than she tells you to.  Also, I can never get my deviled eggs to look great, but I solved that issue by using a decorating bag and a nice tip with a large opening.  This made all the difference!  This deviled egg recipe is a keeper and is now a permanent staple in my house.  Hope y'all enjoy it when you try it!

 

 

 

Best Ever Southern Fried Chicken

Best Ever Fried Chicken

Who doesn't love fried chicken?  I think fried chicken is one of the best things, as far as food is concerned, to come out of the south.  I have tried frying chicken many times and it came out ok, but I was beginning to think I just didn't have what it took to make really great fried chicken.  Yet again, the queen of southern, made it as simple as pie!  Her Best Ever Southern Fried Chicken is simple to follow and simple to do.  When I bit into those hot fried chicken legs, I was in heaven.  This was the juiciest fried chicken I have ever made and may have ever tasted.  The only thing I did differently was using vegetable oil as opposed to the shortening Paula suggests.  I just couldn't bring myself to do it!  Frying in shortening probably would have made this dish even better, but I don't think anything was lost by frying in oil. 

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/grandmother_pauls_fried_chicken/

 

Buttery Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Buttery Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

What better to go with some good old fried chicken than some homemade mashed potatoes?  It seems like fried chicken and mashed potatoes are like two peas in a pod.  Where there's one, the other isn't too far away.  I'm a potato lover and I can eat them anyway you want to serve them.  These potatoes didn't disappoint.  As always, Paula loaded them down with butter.  Also, I used Paula's suggestion to substitute sour cream for the buttermilk.  This made the potatoes even creamier and richer than your average everyday potatoes.  I think I might have enjoyed the potatoes almost as much as I did the fried chicken! 

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/buttery_buttermilk_mashed_potatoes/

Classic Banana Pudding

Classic Banana Pudding

I have grown up with banana pudding my whole life and it's probably one of my favorite desserts.  To be honest, I didn't think anyone could make a banana pudding better than my own mother!  A lot of people think banana pudding is made from the instant pudding you find in the store, and you can call that banana pudding all you want, but it's not!  To make a really good banana pudding, you need to make your pudding homemade, and believe me, it's not that hard and it makes all the difference in the world!  Paula's Classic Banana Pudding did not disappoint.  Like I said before, I didn't think anyone could make one better than my mom, but I think Paula may have succeeded.  The one thing that sets this banana pudding apart is that she uses brown sugar instead of all granulated sugar in the pudding.  This gives the pudding a light, almost butterscotch, flavor and takes it to a whole new level!  I would also suggest making this dish the night before to ensure the vanilla wafers have time to soften before serving. 

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/classic_banana_pudding/

 

 These fabulous recipes can be found in the Southern Cooking Bible by Paula Deen.