Poker Night

Hey y'all, when it's poker night at our house, everyone's a winner, cause today we're gonna be dealing with three of a kind

My sons Jamie and Bobby are in the kitchen with mom today

Jamie is gonna whip up some chicken nuggets covered in his favorite snack, potato chips

Then he shows us how his herb cheese and cracker bits are worth more to him than his poker chips

And next up, Bobby takes us down memory lane with our Grandma Paul's caramel corn, sweet and salty, just perfect for a late night game

Then when it's my deal, I'm going to shuffle up a fresh fruit pizza for dessert that'll just round out our full house

So y'all open up the card table and pull out the poker chips, because the lady and sons are in the house

We'll be right back

I've got two very special men in my life that I want to introduce you to

And this tall, pretty thing right here with the dimples and the blue eyes is my son, Jamie

And this one over here with that beautiful olive skin and those blazing black eyes is my youngest son, Bobby

So get to work. Hey, Mama. What are y'all cooking for me? Mom, today we're doing chicken nuggets, and we're going to roll them in potato chips

Oh, you know how your mama loves a tater? Perfect. What are you doing, son

I'm making the best honey mustard sauce known to man to go with those chicken nuggets. That's my boy

This chicken is going to take a little bit longer than Bobby's sauce, so let's get started on this end first

Okay. And this is really easy, too. All we're going to do is start with two and a half cups of crushed sour cream and onion potato chips

And we don't want them into little bitty tiny pieces, so we're just barely going to break them. Okay

We're going to put them into this shallow bowl. And then kind of like most chicken batters that we do, it just consists of one egg and two tablespoons of milk

Are you going to season your chicken or anything? No, I'm not doing anything with it

A lot of flavor is going to come out of these potato chips. Uh-huh, because the salt is going to be in your chips

And the sour cream seasoning on there, too. Gotcha, gotcha. So we're just going to put that into the batter, and we're just going to lightly toss it in the potato chips. Okay

Not too much at one time. Okay. I see that you picked out my very favorite cast iron pan to cook these in

It makes cleanup so easy, although you really don't want to do too much cleaning on your cast iron

because it soaks up the flavor, and it's just the best thing in the world to cook in. So while you'll never scrub it down with a Brillo pad, the raise just makes it a lot easier to clean up

All right, Bobby. All right, Mom. What are you up to over here? I'm making our honey mustard

Starting with three-quarters of a cup of mayonnaise, which we eat like yogurt in the south

Like ice cream? Right. Three tablespoons of honey. Okay, we are going to add two tablespoons of yellow mustard

Come on, mustard. Oops! Excuse us. Again! Bobby

So that's true. Sorry. We're going to add a little horseradish to taste

I like a little paprika in my honey mustard for color. So I'm going to add just a little bit

We're going to give her a whirl. And for consistency, you can always add a little bit of lemonade or orange juice

or fresh squeezed lemon or fresh squeezed orange pineapple juice. And it looks pretty good

And I'm going to let my mama be the taste tester here. That's pretty good

It's pretty good. I think... A little more crunch? Hey, darling. Hey

What? You ready to finish it? I am. Oh, okay, I see

I think that I would add just a little bit more horseradish

Wouldn't you? Yes, ma'am. Immediately. Just a little more for you. Because I know you're spicy

Is that a compliment? No. Of course it is, I love you

See if that's a little better. Mm. Perfect. Yes. I love it, love it

All right. All right son, how are you coming over here? You ready to get your chicken nuggets in the oven

Yes ma I got them all laid out in our pan here And this is a little bit of butter And we just gonna drizzle it over the top of this They look great but why don you put some paprika on them to brown them

Pass me the paprika Bobby. Little paprika to help brown. I'm gonna put it in the oven and it's gonna go for about 15 minutes on 350 degrees

Mm-hmm. So we'll just go ahead and pop that right in. Got honey mustard ready

Okay, and I've got a plate. Pass me that bowl. And I've got a cup for your sauce

That looks good. It's perfect. It's perfect. That's exactly how it looks

Yeah, it looks yummy. I've got some chicken in the oven that's ready to come out. Ooh, even better

There you go. Oh, my goodness. That looks so good. Get these out of here

Now, see, aren't you glad you used the paprika? Yes, ma'am, I am glad I used it

Didn't it make it pretty? It sure did. All right. Gosh, look, look, I love the brown crispy

I do too. Mm. So good. Good. Chicken and potato chips. Mm

And you know what? So good. As much as I love your fried chicken

doesn't have nearly the calories. Well, good. I'm glad. It's wonderful

Really is. It really is. It is. So what are y'all cooking up next? One of my favorites, herb cheese and cracker bits

Perfect for a poker game. What are you making, son? I'm making Grandma Paul's caramelized popcorn

I remember when we used to go out to Grandma Paul's and she used to make it for us and I loved it

And so will you. Boy, those nuggets and sauce were great

They're going to be perfect for tonight's game. I've been looking forward to poker night

That's wonderful. It brings back great memories of Grandma Paul's house when she used to make the caramelized popcorn and the chocolate popcorn

And it's so simple that, I mean, even I can do it. So four quarts of popcorn to start with

And I haven't really measured these nuts, but I like mine pretty nutty

All right, I'm going to start making the caramel glaze for this. And we're going to start out with two sticks of butter

Always a stick of butter. Indeed. Are you poking fun at me

Always. Two cups of brown sugar, and you want to make sure that you pack that brown sugar down in there real well

One teaspoon of salt that I'm about to add to my caramel glaze here

And then to finish it off is going to be a half cup of kairo syrup

We're going to cook it for about five to eight minutes. And I've got one back here that's finished

It's looking good, son. It is looking good. So now it's time to add your bacon soda

One teaspoon of bacon soda. Uh-uh. Is it gonna foam? It's gonna be delicious

I guess it's gonna foam. And it looks like we're good to go. Doesn't it look delicious and smell wonderful

About to have a cleanup. Yes, I am. All right, you better pour it over your popcorn

Just gonna pour that right over the popcorn. Ooh, can I stir it? Can I be stirring it for you

Looks yummy, son. The first time you ate this, gosh, you were a little bitty boy, weren't you

I was probably four or five. Yeah, maybe three. Jamie, how you doing over there

Doing good. I'm fixing to get this recipe started. I've just got two boxes of crackers

and you have to make sure that you get the cheese-rich crackers. It won't take you long to discover you've made a mistake

until you dump oil and dill weed on a peanut butter cracker. All we're going to do with this is I need a half a cup of oil

We're going to do a heaping tablespoon of dill. Okay, I've got a teaspoon of celery salt in here

and I'm just going to put a teaspoon of garlic powder in here as well

And the final thing is just one pack of ranch dry dressing mix

You know what, Jamie? Ma'am? One time I went to make these, and I didn't have any ranch dressing

but I had Italian, dry Italian. How was that? Oh, my God, it was delicious

All right, Mom, I'm going to need your help right here, okay? Okay. It's time to pan up this caramel popcorn

Okey-doke. We're going to put it in a 200-degree oven for about an hour and stir it every 15 minutes

Sounds good to me, and that'll crisp it all back up. It'll be wonderful. Mm-hmm

You won't believe it. Can't wait to eat. All right, you're going to put it in this oven, son

I am. Okay. How are you doing, son

Doing good, Mom. I'm fixing to coat these crackers and we're going to be almost done

So I'm just going to take our mixture that we did earlier and I'm going to pour this on. And I'm going to make sure and get all the good tastings out of this bowl

All right, I taught you that much, didn't I? Waste not, want not

You taught me that and how to keep an extra 20 pounds on. Thank you very much

So what we going to do now Mom is make sure that we shake this up really well to get all the crackers seasoned well or that or you can put it in your trunk and go down the dirt road We just going to make sure and coat every cracker really good That where all the flavor comes from

Okay what we're going to do now is put our rich cracker mix into the refrigerator and this has to stay in for 24 hours

And before you eat it pull it out an hour before. Let it sit. Get to be room temperature and the flavors are so good

and that's it. All you have to do is eat. It's just delicious

Does it taste time? Mm-hmm. That's good. Bobby, you want one? Sure, too

Not bad. Just like I remember. Mm-hmm. All right, Bobby, darling, how's yours doing? Is it time to get yours out

It's time to taste the caramelized popcorn. Okay. Oh, yeah. Oh, it looks delicious, doesn't it

It really does. It looks perfect. What does this remind you of, Bobby

Mm-hmm. Good times? Yeah. It's delicious. It's so good. It's kind of gotten stickied up like you..

Like you want it. Yes, like you want it. And coming up next, it's my turn to cook

and I'm going to make fresh fruit pizza. All right, the dish that I'm going to be fixing for our poker game today is one of Jamie and

Bobby's favorite dishes, and it's called fresh fruit pizza, and it's so good. Don't you love

it, guys? I love it. It's so simple, Tara. Oh, it's so simple. I'm going to start with just a

refrigerated cookie dough, and I'm going to use a standard pizza pan. While I'm doing this

Jamie's over here cutting fruit, and Bobby's over here making the cheese sauce

I've got eight ounces of cream cheese and about a half teaspoon of almond extract. Okay, taste that, son, because sometimes I like to slip in just a little bit more of the extract

See if it needs just a little bit more. Yeah, it's really good

It's good like that? Is he smart-mouthing me? Sometimes I can't figure it out

Thank you, my precious. You're welcome, Mama. All right, now I've about got my dough worked in this pan

How you coming, darling, over there? Hi, Mama, I'm just cutting up this fruit. But are you cutting it the way I like it

You're standing right next to me. Yes, ma'am, I am. Thank you, son

You're welcome, Mama. And how's that cream cheese over there, darling? It's ready to go

Okay. Well, mine's ready, too. So I'm going to put this in the oven about 10 to 12 minutes on a 350-degree preheated oven

And we're going to have the best pizza dough you ever put in your mouth in just a few minutes

All right, guys, I've already gotten one pizza dough ready. All right, son, you want to frost the crust

Yes, ma'am. And it's going to be so good with that fruit. And speaking of fruits, Jamie is cutting up the fruit over here

Imagine that. Remember to put all your fresh fruit through a lemon wash

and that keeps it from browning so quick. That's your apples and bananas and anything that can bruise

All right, guys, our pizza's ready to assemble now. Before we put the fruit, I'm going to sprinkle just about maybe a tablespoon of powdered sugar

over that cream cheese to just give it a little bit of sweet taste

I really want my cookie pizza to look like a regular pizza

You know how that pizza has that big old puff of crust all around it

So I really want this pizza to look like that. So I'm going to try to achieve that by using a peach around the edge, just like this

And I'm just going to go all the way around. Do y'all remember

What did we spend? Either 20 or 25 consecutive Thanksgivings at Uncle Bernie and Aunt Glynnis' house in Statesboro

If we weren't eating, we were playing poker, weren't we? Every night. And Uncle Bob, oh, my goodness, it would kill him if he lost a dollar

Then he was ready to take his records and go home. You remember? I sure do

But we had more fun, and I remember Uncle Bernie. God rest his soul

When it was time for him to ante, he'd throw in his money, he'd say

Acky Hall. You remember that? Yeah. Instead of I call, Acky Hall

Because that's what he was full of, Acky Hall. You might be right

Do you want me to start heating up this marmalade, or is it too? Yes, son, but don't heat it

Don't get it, like, real, real thin. I've got Jamie back here now

heating up just some store-bought orange marmalade, And we're gonna drizzle that on top of our pizza

Really only way you can mess up this part is to heat it up so much that it breaks down

and it turns into a watery you want it just a nice medium so it runs off your spoon but you just have to be careful if too much heat it totally break down I don think that needs another thing do you guys It beautiful Gorgeous

Just to sweeten up that fruit just a little bit more. Guys, it's just looking too, too good

So, Mom, you want me to go get the poke table and the chips ready? Shoot, yeah, son

I'm done here. That looks great. Doesn't it look delicious? Not until I have a bite of that

You want a piece now? Yes. Okay. God, that looks delicious. Smells so good. Mm-hmm

The fresh fruit is just... Look at that. What's your taste? Fantastic

One little piece. Gimme a piece. Perfect. How about a strawberry? I didn't get a strawberry on that piece

How about a strawberry? That's your brother's. He asked for it first

Oh my god. I'm glad you like it. Don't you wish you could have some

Would you like some? Please, momma? Yes. Cut me a slice, will you

I would love to cut you a slice. Gotta have a strawberry. Alright

All right. This is really the way to eat this pizza. It's just like that

Is that good? It's real good, isn't it? No. How many fives have you cooked with your bare hands today

Somewhere on the air. Are we? Just for that, you get some more little bit of brown there

Okay, I got to have something to wipe off. Now, wasn't that good? Thank you, Mom, it was delicious

Y'all stick around because I got some hot tips for ya. Maybe about cooking, maybe about playing poker

because I'm gonna beat their brains out. It's all your money anyway

I'm ready to get to the table. That's what's next, right next

That would be you. No. Oh, no! My vignette for today, y'all

Brush your teeth after every meal. That... He's all..

Y'all, he's a junkster. Yours got stolen. Somebody did steal mine. But I got a real tip

My tip is to flavor your cookie dough with sweetened cocoa powder

make you a chocolate crust, and if you really want some, like, cheese on it

How do you like this melted mozzarella cheese? Wow. It's really not cheese, though

It's white chocolate. But it makes it look like cheese, doesn't it

And on top of that, you can sprinkle a little coconut. Next

Okay. If you want to shake up this caramelized popcorn, now once this cools, you can use malted milk balls or plain M&Ms

or Keith Barr bites and just let your imagination go wild. Sounds good. Why don't we put some more

All right. A lot of M&Ms. That's my imagination. So, Jamie, what's your tip

My tip for the chicken nuggets today, y'all, don't forget that the coating for your chicken

you can change it any way you want to do. We did a sour cream and onion potato chip today, but don't be afraid to do barbecue or corn chips

And a really good chef told me that Captain Crunch makes a great coating for the chicken

My tip to both of you guys is don't bet all your money on a hand

if it ain't a royal flush. Y'all remember that. All right, guys, y'all ready to play

I'm ready. Good. I feel hot tonight. All right. You know, my boys really are good cooks

but we thought it'd be fun to share some time with y'all and use some of the recipes from their boyhood that they love so much

like Jamie's potato chip and crusted chicken and Bobby's honey mustard and the fruit pizza and the herb cheese bits

and, of course, the caramel popcorn that y'all's great-grandmother used to make for you

when you were teeny little boys. I know you love that. It's delicious. Thanks for having us today, Mom

It was awesome. We had a great time. And as my mom always says, best dishes from our kitchen to yours

Bye, America. I told y'all I felt hot tonight. Yep