Steve Doocy reveals stories behind 'The Happy Cookbook'
How a cancer diagnosis inspired the Doocys to write their cookbook.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Steve Doocy spends most of Christmas day enjoying good food — and celebrities including talk-show host Dr. Oz and even the late Alan Thicke have helped the Doocy family with their lavish holiday spread.
Doocy meets a lot of celebrities hosting “Fox & Friends,” and uses his love of food as a way to connect with people. The result has been an ever-growing Christmas menu.
“We’re so used to asking people about the news of the day and how they feel about politics, but when you ask someone about food… they’re very passionate about it,” Doocy said. “Everybody loves food. Not everybody likes to make it, but everybody loves to eat it.”
Fox Nation is home to “Cooking with Steve Doocy,” which takes him inside the kitchens of some of his famous friends who are willing to share family recipes. He has already recorded episodes with Fox News host Martha McCallum, Anthony Scaramucci, NFL legend Joe Theismann and Dr. Oz, among others.
Doocy and his wife, Kathy, also wrote “The Happy Cookbook: A Celebration of the Food That Makes America Smile,” which has an entire chapter dedicated to holiday foods.
The Doocy family starts off the holiday with “Mary’s Christmas French Toast Casserole,” a recipe that a family friend provided many years ago and found its way into the cookbook.
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Deviled eggs are another Doocy family tradition, and celebrity chef Paula Deen even offered advice on how to improve upon his conventional recipe.
“There’s just something about deviled eggs, whether it’s the summer around Fourth of July for a picnic or a big sit-down meal like Christmas or Easter, we always do that,” Doocy explained. “Paula Deen gave us hints on how to transport deviled eggs and make them a little tastier. That was much appreciated.”
Deen also gave Doocy tips on “how to make the perfect pimiento cheese dip,” which may or may not be part of the Christmas spread.
“For the big holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, we always have turkey. And a couple of years ago we got a recipe from Alan Thicke’s wife,” Doocy said.
Thicke, a legendary sitcom actor, died in 2016, but his family’s turkey recipe lives on in the Doocy household.
“It involves marinating the turkey overnight in vermouth and then you stuff it with oranges and onions,” Doocy said. “It is so juicy and so delicious. We’ve been making Tanya and Alan Thicke’s turkey, and it’s in the cookbook.”
The Doocy family borrows its turkey recipe from the late Alan Thicke.
As for side dishes, the Doocy family enjoys Jimmy Dean sausage dressing, and Dr. Oz offered up his recipe for mashed sweet potatoes with pomegranates.
“He has two favorite recipes, the sweet potato casserole that his wife makes… and the other one is German chocolate cake, which is terrific because my favorite cake is German chocolate cake,” Doocy said.
But Dr. Oz’s cake isn’t the only dessert served on Christmas in the Doocy house.
“The hallmark desert is my wife’s Christmas cookies. She’s been making them for as long as we’ve been married — over 30 years ago she started,” Doocy said. “She makes simple sugar cookies… wherever we go around Christmas time, we always bring a plate or two.”
Doocy and his family also make gingerbread cookies and have recently started serving White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders’ bourbon chocolate pecan pie – which she famously made for the press corps after CNN’s April Ryan accused her of lying about whether or not she made the desert.
“We also make Martha MacCallum’s mom Betty’s bourbon pumpkin cheesecake, which is one of the greatest holiday deserts and she only makes it once a year,” Doocy said. ”It is so delicious. It’s unbelievably good.”
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