Thanksgiving Cornbread Dressing

Happy Thanksgiving! I have been working on this post for about a week - working on it a bit at a time. I wanted to give you my mother’s “Dressing” recipe. I am from the South in the USA, which means that we eat cornbread dressing - not stuffing. It’s cooked in a pan. We use cornbread and biscuits to make it. Originally dressing was made from leftover breads found every day in our grandmother’s kitchens. Since we don’t keep cornbread and biscuits available all the time now, I have to make both for my dressing. Part of what took so long to get this post ready was writing the biscuit recipe. I tried to write it as clearly as possible. So, in a separate post, you’ll find the biscuit recipe. For the cornbread, please DO NOT use a mix like Jiffy cornbread mix. It has lots of sugar in it and will make your dressing taste sweet - not a desirable quality in dressing. Oh, and Poultry seasoning is a necessary ingredient. You could have someone put some in a brown padded envelope and mail it to you. I always take it with me. (I need to work on my list of “always take it with me” stuff). I did find a substitute recipe for poultry seasoning - I have not tried this, but if you don't have poultry seasoning, you might try it - for 1 tsp. of poultry seasoning use 3/4 tsp. dried sage and 1/4 tsp. dried thyme. I think that these spices in Kenya were flakes or chopped leaves rather than powdered. If that is the case with yours, I would suggest putting it in a blender or food processor to make the two powdered.

Nola's Dressing

1 recipe of cornbread (see “Newcomer’s Cookbook” or other basic cookbook - do NOT use a cornbread mix that makes a sweet cornbread ie Jiffy cornbread mix), torn or crumbled into small pieces
biscuits, torn into small pieces (you should have 3 or 4 cups after the bread is dried)
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2 onions chopped
1 or 2 stalks celery chopped
2 or 3 tablespoons of butter or margarine
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2 eggs beaten
2 to 3 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1/2 tablespoon sage (opt.)
salt - only if broth not salted
broth - enough to make moist (turkey broth is best, but chicken broth is okay)

Place biscuits and cornbread pieces on pans and heat in 200 degree oven until dried and crisp - will take several hours.
Cook onions and celery 5 min. in butter. Grease pan. Mix all ingredients (breads, onion and celery,eggs, spices, and broth) until moistened. I stir well and then add more broth. Then pour into pan. Cook at 350 for 30 min. or until brown. This makes one 9 x 13 pan. If you prefer thin and more crisp dressing, put in several pans in a thinner layer.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!!