The Alternative Press

Bobby Deen wants to know what you’re eating.

Don’t worry, he’s not here to judge you, scold you or slap your hands. The youngest son of Paula “and a stick of butter” Deen has a new show on the Cooking Channel, and he wants to show the world it’s possible to make tasty food healthy by giving his mother’s famous recipes a nutritional makeover.

Deen sat down with TheAlternativePress.com at the Cooking Channel recently to talk about his new show, “Not My Mama’s Meals,” his healthy lifestyle, and his famous mama.

“I believe in moderation and balance in life,” Deen said. “I want my show to be useful and informative, but I’m not wagging my finger in anybody’s face. I want people to come away with some motivation, some inspiration, and good ideas that will save them calories and even money.”

Deen grew up on his mother’s southern cooking, from fried chicken to Salisbury steak, and plenty of sticky, sweet desserts. Now 41, Deen is conscious about what he puts into his body, and works out regularly with a trainer. But a true southern boy is bound to crave that home cooking sometimes, and that's where the idea for the show was born.

In the show’s first episode, which aired two weeks ago, Deen tackled two of his mother’s dessert recipes:  Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding and Chocolate Mousse Pie. Last week, Paula joined him in the kitchen while he made pimento cheese sandwiches and a remake of her famous “Gooey Butter Cake.” Her version has eight tablespoons of melted butter in the cake and another eight in the filling. Her son’s has one tablespoon – in the whole cake. Despite Mama’s initial raised eyebrow over the small amount of butter, she declared his version better than the original.

“My mom and I cook a lot of the same foods, we just do it differently,” Deen said.  “I’m taking Sunday food and making it into Monday food.”

The Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, for example, Paula Deen makes with Krispy Kreme doughnuts, sweetened condensed milk, fruit cocktail and a stick of butter. Bobby Deen’s version includes whole wheat doughnuts, fresh fruit and skim milk.

“If you taste my mother’s and then taste mine, yes, they taste different,” Deen said. “But if you only tasted mine, you’d never know all the calories and fat are missing.”

The key to a healthy lifestyle, he said, is just that: make it a lifestyle.

“Diets don’t work,” Deen said. “They just don’t. But if you can make tasty food healthier and a part of your life, the benefits are great. For me, I live in the moment. I don’t look down the road and say ‘I’m going to start eating healthy after January 1,’ for example. It’s about doing it now. Start now. Make it your lifestyle.”

Deen says he hasn’t always been the picture of fitness and health he is now.

“When I was 30, I looked in the mirror and wasn’t happy with where I was,” he said. “I had 20 extra pounds on me, and I didn’t feel healthy.”

While he says he’s “far from perfect,” he says he’s healthier and in better shape now than he’s ever been.

Deen credits his family with offering the support he needed to make his new show a reality. He and his brother, Jamie, run The Lady and Sons in Savannah, the restaurant they started with their mother some 20 years ago. While Bobby has homes in New York, Savannah and Los Angeles – where his girlfriend lives – Jamie is content to stay in Savannah and run the restaurant.

“He’s very civic-minded,” Deen said. “He likes to be in Savannah. He’s got a beautiful wife and kids, and he’s very involved in the community. And him being there is what enables me to be here, doing this show. My family is amazing – they are so supportive of me and what I’m doing.”

“Not My Mama’s Meals” airs on the Cooking Channel Wednesdays at 9 p.m.