Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style

With the trademark Southern charm that has made her beloved by fans everywhere,Sharing a delicious meal is everyone's favorite way of bringing together friends and loved ones. In her new cookbook,Paula Deen & Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style,Paula Deen -- author, restaurateur, and Food Network star -- turns to her friends to share their stories, ideas for entertaining Southern style, and, most important, more than 150 of the prized recipes they serve to their family and friends.

With the trademark Southern charm that has made her beloved by fans everywhere, Paula's new book features delicious, down-home entertaining menus, with recipes that are guaranteed to be instant crowd-pleasers. Whether you're planning an intimate family dinner, hosting an elegant cocktail party, or feeding a hungry crowd for lunch, these mouthwatering meals are the perfect way to share any occasion with good friends -- and have fun doing it! From a tailgate picnic to a bridge supper, a christening to a camping trip, and a family dinner to an ice cream social, there are recipes to delight any gathering.

Throw a down-home Birthday Bash with Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken, Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Corn on the Cob, and Buttermilk Pound Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream. Or host a casual Cookie Swap with friends and watch those Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes and Rolled Oatmeal Cookies disappear! An outdoor lunch wouldn't be complete without real Southern Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Corn Bread. And comfort foods like Quick Crab Stew, Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole, and Black Bottom Pie are soul-satisfying dishes that warm the heart and soothe the spirit. There are also recipes for refreshing cocktails and beverages, from the Southern traditional favorites, like Plantation Iced Tea and Mint Juleps, to Lemonade and Hot Cranberry Cider.

Entertaining Southern style is about much more than the food; it's about spending time with the people you care about. Paula and her friends are the experts when it comes to creating delightful meals that are easy to prepare, so you, too, can relax and enjoy the fun with your guests. Each chapter is filled with helpful tips and time-saving techniques, as well as the memorable cooking stories that inspired Paula and her friends to create these recipes. You'll be inspired to share memorable meals and occasions with family and friends, asPaula Deen & Friendsinvites you to live it up, Southern style.

Paula's Birthday Bash

The Menu

Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken

Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Corn on the Cob

Green Beans with New Potatoes

Lace Hoecake Corn Bread

Roasted Carrots

Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Pound Cake with Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Since my recent marriage, my family has doubled in size, which means so have the birthdays. And that's all right by me, because I just love throwing birthday parties for my family and close family friends. Because some months have multiple birthdays, I've found that it was easier if I picked one Sunday in each month and celebrated all the birthdays for that month on the same day. Take March, for example. This past March we had five birthdays, which meant five cakes, because one of the rules is "Everybody has his own cake." For this I have to confess I just go to the local grocery store, head straight for the bakery department, and order each guest of honor a personalized birthday cake. Then I bake a homemade pound cake and serve it along with fresh sweetened strawberries, ice cream, and fresh whipped cream. That gives everybody a traditional cake as well as that scrumptious, scrumptious homemade cake. Well, I'm really getting ahead of myself with this story, though, because before anyone can sing, blow out their candles, and eat birthday cake, there are a lot of things that have to happen first!

A few years back, I realized that our childhoods were getting further and further behind us, and that made me sad. So I set out to find a way to step back in time and recapture a small piece of that time when ou