Southern Cornbread Stuffing

Southern Cornbread Stuffing for Laurie's Son-in-Law

This is my basic stuffing recipe, just made with cornbread instead of dried breadcrumbs. You can make the packaged cornbread mix, or use your own homemade, or even buy a 9X9 pan at the grocery store. Try to save energy where you can for Thanksgiving.

1 (16 ounce) package dry corn bread mix
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small onion
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons dried sage
salt and pepper to taste
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Prepare the dry corn bread mix according to package directions. Cool and crumble. I'd do this the day before.

Have prepared (washed and dried) turkey ready, or a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the celery and onion until soft. Let it cool a few minutes to make it easier to handle.

To the celery and onions, add 3 cups crumbled corn bread, eggs, chicken stock, sage and salt and pepper, mix well.

Place into prepared turkey or dish. If you bake in a baking dish, bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Roast Turkey

Good for any big holiday as well as any large family dinner!

Turkey
Butter
Pepper


Dressing to stuff

Preheat to 325*F
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Stuff the turkey in both cavities. But don't jam it in there. Dressing expands as it cooks, so give it room to breathe. 

Fold the wings under to give it stability. 

Lock it's legs up and put it in the oven, for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, bring turkey out and baste with stick of butter. Peel most of the wrapper off, leaving some as a "handle".

I pull the turkey out every 30 minutes to baste.

Let's watch it develop over time.

 Mmmm, the house is smelling good!

Yes, I use up the entire stick of butter. It will be the basis for the gravy later.

There we go, all done. 12 lb turkey, only about 3.5 hours.

Turkey has been removed to a platter to rest. This is the juice and browned butter in the pan bottom. Let's make gravy!

DEEElicious! Happy Thanksgiving! 

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

Not only great on Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but any day and over ice cream for no special reason at all! 

Fruit Filling:
2 cups cranberries
3 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
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Topping:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup nuts (I like pecans)
1 cup coconut
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup melted butter
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Mix sliced apples and cranberries with the 1/2 cup sugar. Spread into 9X13 baking dish. 

Mix dry Topping ingredients, then add melted butter and mix well until butter has coated everything. Spread over the top of the fruit. 

Bake at 350*F for one hour, or adjust to whatever temperature your other meal items are baking at. Just change your cooking time to match. Lower temp, longer cook time, etc. 

Here's a cool gadget. My apple peeler...

Pretty cool... It peels and then slices.

See the blade cutting into slices?

Pull it off and it's all neat and tidy.

I slice it twice and it makes neat crescents, all even so they cook nicely.

It's a fun way to just serve slices to kids too. My kids like the peels too, one big long string.

I add it all to the baking dish. Here, I'm making just 1/2 batch.

I dump it all into a bowl to mix in the sugar.

The dry topping ingredients. Mix well.

Once it's mixed, add the butter.

I patted it on top of the fruit. It's heaped up, but the apples will collapse as they cook.

Baked and delicious!! Great as a side dish, or over ice cream!!

Mmmm. Can you almost smell it! Sweet and tart.