Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is only eight days away!  If you're planning your menu or looking for something new to serve, here's some Thanksgiving recipes I've shared in the past.  I'm putting the finishing touches on two recipes -- one vegetable, one dessert -- I plan to post before Thanksgiving.  

Cranberry Delight Spread

 

Cornbread Dressing

Cranberry Orange Relish

 Sweet Potato Souffle

Potato Salad

Carrot Souffle

Southern Cranberry Salad

Quick and Easy Candied Sweet Potatoes

One Hour Buttermilk Rolls

Fruit Tea

Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Pie

No Bake Turkey Cookies

© Margaret's Morsels

Stuffing or Dressing?

For many people, the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving table is a succulent roast turkey.  For others, the most highly anticipated dish is the dressing. There are two schools of thought when it comes to this versatile side dish: stuffing or dressing.  Some people say they're the same, but they're not.

The most obvious difference is stuffing is, well, stuffed in the turkey and baked.  Dressing, on the other hand, is baked separately in a pan.  Stuffing tends to be more common north of the Mason-Dixon line and dressing more common in the South.  People in some parts of the country use white or wheat bread as the base whereas Southerners use cornbread.

A typical recipe for Southern dressing includes cornbread, white bread -- usually biscuits -- celery, onion, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, sage, salt, pepper, eggs and, if you cook the vegetables, butter.  Additional ingredients vary depending on which region of the country you reside. Common additions include oysters, rice, sausage, turkey giblets, dried cherries, cranberries, pecans and almonds.

For years, I made cornbread dressing using my mother's recipe.  Although the dressing was good, it was never as good as what my mother always prepared.  A couple of years ago, one of my nieces made the best cornbread dressing I'd ever tasted.  She shared the recipe with me and it has since become a staple on my holiday table.  The recipe makes a lot so be sure to use a big mixing bowl.  I don't have a mixing bowl big enough so I mix everything in my biggest stockpot.

The recipe uses the ingredients listed above for Southern dressing, but with two notable differences.  First, the recipe uses cornbread and Mexican cornbread.  The Mexican cornbread adds additional flavor without any additional work.  Second, in addition to chicken stock, the recipe also uses milk.

To save time, I bake the cornbread and biscuits the day before and store them in a covered container.  When I'm ready to assemble the dressing, I use a food processor to chop the cornbread and biscuits into very fine crumbs.  If you don't have a food processor, grate the bread into crumbs using a hand or box grater.  No matter which method you use, you want the crumbs to look like this:

Crumbs made with the cornbread.

If you've got a food processor, use it to chop the onions and celery too. They also need to be chopped very fine which, of course, you can also do with a knife.

Once everything is chopped, cooked and combined, add milk to the dressing until it's the consistency of a thick cake batter.  Don't add too much milk; you don't want the dressing to be soupy.

The dressing after the milk has been added.

When all the ingredients are combined, there's enough dressing to fill a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan and a 9-inch pan.  Bake the dressing 45 minutes covered with foil; remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes to brown the top.

The house smells so good while the dressing bakes.  To dressing aficionados, the dressing makes the house smell like Thanksgiving more so than the turkey!

Cornbread Dressing

8 to 12 Servings

1 (6.5 oz.) pkg. yellow cornbread mix

1 (6 oz.) pkg. Mexican cornbread mix

15 biscuits (canned, frozen or homemade)

1 stick butter

3 onions, finely chopped

6 celery stalks, finely chopped

6 eggs, beaten

2 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

2 tsp. poultry seasoning

4 tsp. sage

1 (32 oz.) box chicken broth

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

milk

Cook cornbread and biscuits; cool.  Chop into very fine crumbs using a food processor.  Mix to evenly distribute.  Chop onions and celery in a food processor.  Melt butter and cook onions and celery for about 15 minutes until wilted.

Add eggs to the bread crumbs.  Stir in salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and sage.  Stir well; mixture will be very thick.  Stir in cooked vegetables.  Add chicken broth, adding additional broth, if necessary.  Add milk so the mixture is the consistency of thick cake batter. 

Pour mixture into a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan and a greased 9-inch square pan.  Cover each pan with foil and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes to brown the top. 

© Margaret's Morsels

One Dish Dinner

There's an episode of the classic TV show "The Brady Bunch," where Peter Brady does his best James Cagney imitation and announces the family is having "Pork chops and applesauce" for supper.  I couldn't tell you what the rest of the episode was about, but I remember thinking at the time, and still do, that pork chops and apples are delicious together.  When I want this wonderful combination, I rely on a recipe that blends everything in one dish.

Easy Pork Chops and Apples is quick to assemble for two reasons.  One, there's no need to peel and cut apples.  The recipe uses canned apple pie filling instead.  The apple pie filling is spread on the bottom of a greased baking dish.  Cinnamon can be sprinkled on top if you want more flavor.

Two, you don't have to precook the pork chops.  Season the boneless pork chops with salt and pepper and arrange them over the pie filling.  When I can find them, I like to use thin cut boneless pork chops.  When cooked, they're so tender you can cut them with a fork.

I changed the recipe at this point.  I can't remember the original directions, but when the stuffing was cooked it was too crumbly.  To solve the problem, I combine the stuffing mix -- cornbread or herb flavor -- with water and unmelted butter.  When combined, the stuffing holds together better and is less likely to crumble when eaten.

The recipe makes eight servings, but can easily be halved and baked in a 9-inch pan. 

Although it's a meal by itself, I always like to add a vegetable such as green beans.

If pork chops and apples aren't your thing, check back soon for a baked apple recipe that cooks in less than 30 minutes.

Easy Pork Chops and Apples

8 Servings

2 (20 oz.) cans apple pie filling
cinnamon to taste (if desired)

6 to 8 boneless pork chops (preferably thin cut )

salt and pepper to taste

6 cups stuffing mix (cornbread or herb flavor)

2 Tbsp. unmelted butter

2/3 cup hot water

Spread pie filling in the bottom of a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.  Season pork chops with salt and pepper.  Arrange pork chops over the pie filling.  Combine stuffing mix, butter and water.  Spread stuffing mixture over pork chops.  Bake at 350° for 1 hour.  Recipe can be halved and baked in a 9-inch baking dish.

© Margaret's Morsels