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!!

Biscuits

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (kimbo/crisco)
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the shortening (use fork or pastry cutter) into the flour (mashing and cutting the shortening with the fork or cutter). The shortening should be mixed well into the flour and the mixture resemble small peas. Pour in the milk and GENTLY mix into the flour. It is important not to stir more than necessary to combine the milk and flour mixture. If you need a little more liquid to moisten the flour, add small amounts. When mixed, pat out the dough on a floured surface. Cut with biscuit cutter or round can. Put biscuits on a lightly greased pan.

Notes:
1) It is best to cut the biscuits leaving the smallest possible dough left over. Lately I've been patting the dough into a round shape and cutting it like a pie. This gives you biscuits that are triangle shaped. You use all the dough and there is no re-rolling.
2) you can substitute oil by stirring it into the flour instead of shortening. OR you can substitute butter or margarine for the shortening.

Variations:
“buttermilk” biscuits - use either buttermilk OR milk that has been soured by adding lemon juice or vinegar (I tbsp. per cup), OR part yogurt/part milk. This will substitute for the milk. You use 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda instead of the 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Dough tends to be a bit stickier.

Whole Wheat - works best with the buttermilk version. You will need to add more liquid.

Cranberry - Sour Cream Salad

Cranberry - Sour Cream Salad

Recipe By: Shandon Cookbook p. 24

1 box cherry flavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 can whole -berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup nuts chopped (I prefer pecans)
1 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 apple, medium chopped

Combine gelatin and hot water and let thicken to consistency of egg whites. Mix in cranberry sauce, celery, nuts, apple, and sour cream. Pour into mold/molds and refrigerate.
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Notes:
I always took Wholeberry Cranberry Sauce from the US. Sorry I don’t have a good substitute for you, but just in case you brought some or if Oceanspray has reached where you are - here’s my favorite Thanksgiving Salad