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Melanie Hutsell can thank Santa Claus, sleeplessness, orange trees, and Paula Deen for her latest project that has proven to be one larger-than-life adventure.

For the past 20 years, she has called somewhere other than Tennessee home, but this graduate of Heritage High School and former "Saturday Night Live" cast member has never lost her Southern charm or the sense of humor she left here with.

The Blount County native said good-bye to the area soon after spending two years at the University of Tennessee, bound for Chicago and what the stage had to offer. She hooked up with a theater there that began doing spoofs of TV's "The Brady Bunch." Hutsell fell easily into the role of Jan Brady and it wasn't too long before executives at "Saturday Night Live" discovered her and led her to New York. She would end up spending three years on the popular late-night show, from 1991-1994.

Alongside her during the stint were comedians like Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley and Dana Carvey. Hutsell continued her role as Jan Brady on the show and also was part of a sorority sketch about Delta Delta Delta featuring actors Siobhan Fallon and Beth Cahill. She was duly noted for her impressions of Tonya Harding and Tori Spelling.

She's back

Hutsell, now 40, lives in Santa Monica with her husband of 12 years, Fred Rapoport, and their two children, Carly and Leo. And while it has been a few years since most of us have seen her on television, that is all about to change. Hutsell will make a guest appearance on the Food Network Saturday on Paula Deen's "Best Dishes" show that airs here at 11:30 a.m.

It wasn't anything Hutsell saw coming. As a matter of fact, the opportunity was the result of Hutsell's homesickness for Tennessee and insomnia at 3 a.m.

"A few years back, I decided that we needed to have Christmas memories in our own home," Hutsell said during a phone interview from California. "So for the first time ever, I did not pack up the kids and family and make Santa Claus happen in Tennessee. I decided we were going to have Christmas memories in our own home. Santa Claus would come here. That was probably the most depressing thing I have ever done in my life."

It was awful, Hutsell recalled. She said she woke up, looked outside at the orange trees and balmy weather and hated her decision. She called her parents, Steve and Claudia Hutsell on Christmas Eve and they passed the phone around to every single person there. "I was a mess," Hutsell said.

Then came New Year's Eve and things were still rotten. Hutsell said she didn't even stay up past midnight. But for some reason at 3 a.m., she rose and turned on the TV to pass time. It was on the Food Network.

"It was Paula Deen," Hutsell said. "There she was. It was like a family member had her own television show. I was just mesmerized. From that point on I was obsessed."

Long lost family

Deen, who hails from Savannah, Ga., has her own restaurant there and a popular cooking show that on occasion features her two sons and also husband. Her Southern accent, devotion to family and love of cooking were just the medicine for one lonely Tennessee gal.

"She was preaching what I was feeling," Hutsell said. "That family comes first and you have to get in the kitchen and make some home-cooked meals and get your family around the dinner table. In one respect it was great and in another it made me even more depressed."

Deen was the inspiration for Hutsell's entry into the kitchen for the next year, during which set cooked up all matter of Southern dishes. "I thought seeing her on television meant I had to cook like her," Hutsell said. "Literally for the next year, my family ate Paula Deen. I kid you not. I gained 30 pounds."

It seems the actress/comedian from Tennessee couldn't get Deen off her brain. Instead of cooking like her, Hutsell then decided she could simply become the cooking icon. One night when a comedy club owner called her and asked if she had a routine worked up, Hutsell said yes. She showed up that night in makeup and wig, and toting a cooler of butter, one of Deen's most cherished of ingredients.

That role became Hutsell's gig for a while and she did it everywhere, from theater stages to churches. This funny girl from the South decided she would contact Deen's producers and see if they, too, wanted to see what her act was all about. Weeks later, she got a call inviting her onto the show.

Hutsell taped the appearance back in September and didn't want to give too much away before it airs Saturday. It was a surprise to Deen, who Hutsell said had a great time with it.

It was a huge deal in Blount County back in the 1990s when this community could claim a "Saturday Night Live" actor as its own. Hutsell makes visits here twice a year and will never forget that Christmas in balmy California away from the family she loves.

Thanks to Deen she can now look back and laugh.

And so can we.

Most days will find Hutsell working on her third screenplay, attending auditions, acting on stage or relaxing with her husband and children. She said she is truly optimistic about her latest writing project.

"We have high hopes," she said. "Why not? A girl's gotta dream."