Cornbread Dressing

I always enjoyed Thanksgiving growing up, but the dressing was not my favorite part.  I was more of the "give me a big plate of the sides; I can take or leave the turkey" kind of girl.  Then I married my man.  I went to Thanksgiving at his parents' house.  I could not pile my plate high enough with the turkey, dressing and gravy!   So, in honor of Thanksgiving this week and a friend's request for a good dressing recipe, I am excited to share this amazing recipe!

- 1 (10 in) skillet of cornbread  (family's cornbread recipe)

- 1 cup chopped onion

- 3 cups chopped celery and tops

- 2 tbsp sage

- 3 boiled chopped eggs

- 2 or 3 beaten eggs

- 1 (8 oz) Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing

- 1/2 stick melted butter

- 3 cups chicken broth 

- 1 tsp salt

- 3/4 tsp pepper

Crumble cornbread into large pan.  Add all the other ingredients - but add the broth last.  If dressing is too dry, add water or giblet broth.  Taste for more sage, salt, and pepper.  Toss lightly.  Pour into 9x13x2 buttered pan.  Let stand one hour.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. 

Now I will continue daydreaming about Thursday... 

Green Bean Casserole (from scratch)

This recipe is one I tried because green bean casserole is a staple holiday recipe, but not at all safe for my son with the severe dairy-allergy.  This green bean casserole is totally dairy-free, totally from scratch, and was really tasty! 

I modified an Alton Brown recipe I found to create this one.  I enjoyed it so much at Thanksgiving that I made it again at Christmas.  I think my only commentary is after adding the broth, make sure to adjust seasonings to taste so that it won't be under-seasoned.  (That was the mistake I made the first time.)

For the topping:

- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced

- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour.

- 2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- non stick cooking spray

For the beans and sauce:

- 2 tbsp plus 1 tsp kosher salt

- 1 pound green beans, rinsed, trimmed and halved

*- 2 tbsp unsalted butter OR, to be dairy free, 2 tbsp non-dairy butter (I use Earth Balance)

- 12 oz mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/4 tsp nutmeg

- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

- 2 cups chicken broth 

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

Combine the onions, flour, bread crumbs, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Toss to combine.  Coat a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray and evenly spread the onions on the pan.  Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Toss the onions 2 or 3 times during cooking.  Once done, remove from oven and set aside until ready to use.  

Reduce heat on oven to 400 degrees.

While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans.  Bring a gallon of water and 2 tbsp salt to boil.  Add the beans and blanch for 5 minutes.  Drain in a colander and immediately plunge in ice cold water to stop the cooking.  Drain and set aside.  (Admission, I always just run cold water over them for a minute.)

Melt the butter or non-dairy butter in a 12-in skillet over med-high heat.  Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms start to release some of their liquid, about 4-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and nutmeg, and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine.  Cook for one minute.  Add the broth and simmer for one minute.  (Here is a great time to check and adjust seasonings.)  Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, about 6-8 minutes.

Remove from the heat.  Stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the green beans.  Top with the remaining onions.  Place into the oven and bake until bubbly, approx 15 minutes.  Remove and serve!

This was so tasty!  Hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving Turkey

Will and I were so excited to tackle the Thanksgiving turkey this year!  And, by excited, I mean we were nervous and happy and a little more nervous and a little excited.  I do love that Will tackled this one with me.  I handle meat, but, well, I am happy to let him handle the meat too!  especially one as large as this!  We watched Rachael Ray and Ina Garten's TV clips on cooking the turkey.  I read the November Food Network magazine stories on the turkey.  We looked up Alton Brown's "fool proof" recipe.  This is where we landed:

Stuffing the turkey with carrots, onion, and celery, as well as a couple sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf.

Season all over with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and steak seasoning.  Then butter over the seasoning.

In the oven it goes for browning, cooking and basting!

With help from a budding chef-ette, adding a half cup of white wine to the roasting pan.

Letting that pretty turkey rest!

Then off to Opa and Oma's house to carve the turkey!

- 10-12 lb turkey
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 ribs of celery, roughly chopped
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp steak seasoning
- 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
- salt and pepper
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and bay leaves.  (We put a little extra in the roasting pan surrounding the turkey as well.)

Season the outside of the turkey.  Rub the outside with the soft butter.  Tie the ends of the legs together.

Place in the oven and roast at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Drop the heat to 325 for 2 more hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Remove from oven and tent with foil.  Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.


This turkey was so great!  We made a gravy with the pan drippings.  It was really good too!  Because of the wine, it was not a traditional Southern gravy, but still good!  The turkey was not as intimidating as feared, and this recipe is definitely worth repeating!

Grandma Harrill's Candied Sweet Potatoes

These are the yummiest sweet potatoes you have ever tasted. They are super sweet (notice 3:1 sugar:water ratio), but you really can't beat them. My Grandma Harrill made these for us until she was 92. How did she cut those sweet potatoes?!

- 1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2-3 tsp
- 1/2 cup water
- dash of salt
- 3-4 medium sweet potatoes
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/8 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, water, salt. Stir until sugar is almost dissolved. Place on stove on high.

Peel and slice sweet potatoes. Drop in water/sugar mixture. Cook on high for approx. ten minutes and then on medium heat for approx 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Cook uncovered. Juice will boil down and thicken. Don't stir potatoes!!!!

Add butter and when syrup has cooked down about half, add vanilla. Pour into shallow baking dish. Sprinkle 2-3 tsp of sugar (cinnamon good too) over potatoes. Cook in oven for 5-10 minutes.