Quotes By Paula Deen

I will never use a substitute for butter. Margarine is one molecule away from eating plastic. If I'm going to eat that type of food, it's going to be the real deal.

I was determined to share my positive approach and not let diabetes stand in the way of enjoying my life.

I figure it's almost like a balance. We're eating these wonderful collard greens and turnip greens which are so medicinally good for you and, OK, so what if it has a little ham hock in it?

Growing up, I had a very busy social life. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in high school that I asked Mama if I could come into the kitchen and have her teach me how to cook something.

On my show I share all these yummy, fattening recipes, but I tell people, in moderation, in moderation. You can have that little piece of pie.

There's not one food that causes diabetes.What causes Type II diabetes is being overweight... I've just come to grips, over the past four or five months, with my diabetes.

Onions and bacon cooking up just makes your kitchen smell so good. In fact, one day I'm going to come up with a room deodorizer that smells like bacon and onions. It's a fabulous smell.

I'm so glad I'm not a dentist. How many times does someone say, 'Oh, Doc, it felt so good when you were drilling my teeth'? Never. But when you give someone a wonderful cookie, you put a little of yourself in, and you see someone's face light up - that's immediate approval.

I found that when I went from Albany to Savannah, that I needed to put that white rice away, and I needed to turn that into Savannah red rice because they were big into that sausage, tomato-y, bell pepper-y rice mixture.

It's amazing how good getting up and moving makes you feel.

I have a lot of secret uses for sour cream, which is the magic ingredient in my mac and cheese. It's an old-timey, Southern version, and the sour cream makes it that much creamier. Oh, it's so good!

We have made a commitment to feed 20-million people over the next two years. We are somewhere around 10 million. But I can promise you that we are not going to stop at 20 million. Because hunger, there is almost no cure for it. You can take care of the problem today, but it is a recurring problem.

I am living proof that the American dream still exists. It is still alive and well. There is only one trick, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and work very, very hard.

Talking about money is garish. It's tacky.

I have my new food line in the works - I think it's over 200 items. Hopefully I can make a difference; it's delicious food that's just so easy. I think it'll help people enjoy their lives... it's good!

People see me on TV two and three times a day, and see me cooking all these wonderfully Southern, fattening dishes. That's only 30 days out of 365. And it's for entertainment.

I really didn't have an interest in being in the kitchen until after I was married, when I was 18. It didn't take me long to realize that Mama was not going to show up at my house every day and cook.

The thought of eating rabbit and squirrels doesn't appeal to me. And that was on our table quite often as a kid. In your uppity restaurants, they serve a lot of rabbit. But I just can't help but think of Peter. And deer, I can't go there, because of Bambi.

I don't care what the haters and naysayers say. If they make jokes about me, I'll laugh because they'll probably be funny.

I think if you've been invited to someone's house, you eat what they serve you. Even if you leave hungry, you be gracious enough to eat what they've prepared.

You don't want to make a steady diet of just lettuce. You don't want to make a steady diet of fried chicken.

You know, nobody can ever cook as good as your mama.

I love Hershey's chocolate. I feel the same about chocolate as I do about wine. Connoisseurs like dark chocolate and they like nasty wine that doesn't taste good to me. I don't get it!

I am so blessed. I've been way over-blessed. At 64 years old, I look forward to going to bed every night so I can wake up in the morning and see what blessing is going to come my way that day. Because you never, ever know what God's got in store for you.

I'm making little changes in my life to take care of myself, like putting in a mile or two on my treadmill every day.

I am proud to be a Southerner. I think Southern hospitality is very... I don't think it's just a term. I think it really exists. You can come to Savannah, and the people are so sweet and so nice.

I wake up every morning happy for where I am in life. It's not all about the cooking, but the fact that I can contribute by using my influence to help people all over the country. In the last two years, my partners and I have fed more than 10 million hungry people by bringing meat to food banks.

You know, not everybody can afford to pay $58 for prime rib or $650 for a bottle of wine. My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills.

In order to have good fried chicken, you should wash and season the bird the morning you're preparing it for dinner. Don't wait and do it right before you start cooking. Throw it in the refrigerator, seasoned, that morning, and give it a chance to soak up all the salt and pepper and goodness.

Down South, even our vegetables have some pig hidden somewhere in it. A vegetable isn't a vegetable without a little ham hock.