'Tis The Season To Be Thankful and Jolly!

      Well, now we've had Thanksgiving and we're headed to Christmas!  This time of the year is so wonderful, and so busy!!  There are lots of holiday dinners and parties to prepare for, and in our friends and family there's lots of birthdays!  We just had a wonderful retirement party for a dear friend to throw into the mix.  That was a great time, seeing old friends and co-workers.

        I'm keeping Sawyer three days a week now, and she brings lots to be thankful for and lots of happiness.  She's such a sweet and happy baby!

        Sawyer's mother, Lindsay, told me how her mother makes her own stock in a Crock-pot to use for her Thanksgiving dressing, so of course I had to make my own stock.  I started mine out by roasting the chicken in a roasting pan with  a rack (guess what, friends, those cheap roasting pans work as good as those expensive ones).  I rubbed the chicken first with a little oil, then homemade poultry seasoning, and placed the chicken on the roasting rack in the pan.  I also cooked this chicken with celery and onions in the roast pan, but they didn't hold up well.  I did not use those in the stock.  I think I should have made the chunks of vegetables bigger.  I cooked the chicken for an hour and a half at 425 degrees.  The chicken is done when your meat thermometer is at 165 degrees, or you cut between the leg and thigh and the juices run clear.  Then I did a lazy thing.  I put the whole cooked chicken in the Crock-Pot with big chunks of fresh celery and onions and the juices from the roasting rack.  Cover this with water (and/or store bought chicken stock) and cook on high for four hours or low for six hours.  The chicken will fall off the bones and that chicken should be shredded and placed in the dressing!  Make sure you get all the bones and chicken out, strain the stock, and there you have your stock and chicken. 

​        Here's the recipe for the homemade poultry seasoning.  It is two ingredients:  six teaspoons dried sage and two teaspoons of dried thyme.  How easy is that?

Juicy Roasted Chicken!

Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing!

        Click on the picture of the cornbread dressing for a delicious buttermilk cornbread recipe!  Here's the recipe for the dressing!  I don't have a picture of the buttermilk biscuits on here.  The ones I used were biscuits I had made previously and kept in the freezer.  I'll be sure to post the biscuit recipe soon.  Make the cornbread and biscuits at least a day or two ahead of time so they will be dry and will soak up all those dressing flavors!

Old Fashioned Cornbread Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 pan of Southern Buttermilk Cornbread
  
• 6 cups of crumbled buttermilk biscuits
  
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
  
• 2 tablespoons bacon grease (or chicken drippings), or 1 T butter with 1 T cooking oil (adding oil allows a higher heat on the butter)
  
• 2 cups sweet onions, small diced
  
• 2 cups celery, small diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (sage and thyme)
  
• 2-3 quarts of homemade chicken stock and/or a good store bought one
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
  
• Salt to taste
  
• 2 large chicken breasts, pulled apart (optional) Use chicken from the whole chicken or boil two chicken breasts separately
  
• Additional butter for top
  
• While you're dicing up that onion and celery, go ahead and dice more for a dressing gravy (a small onion and a celery rib). Make that small dice a little smaller.
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously grease a 9x13 baking dish.  There may be more dressing for an additional, smaller dish. 
  
• Tear the cornbread and biscuits into pieces in a big bowl.  Big.  Set aside.
  
• Sautee onions and celery in bacon grease or oil and butter, just until tender.  Add the cooked and pulled chicken, the vegetables and the poultry seasoning to the bread mixture.
  
• Add two quarts of stock and stir well.  Add enough stock, 1/2 cup at a time, until it's just a little "soppy", which means still thick but moist. 
  
• Add one teaspoon of black pepper, stir, then taste and adjust salt and seasonings as needed.
• Let the dressing sit for about 30 minutes to absorb all the liquid.
• Stir and pour into a greased baking pan, or two.
  
• Add pats of butter to the top of the dressing, cover with foil.
  
• Bake at 375 for 30 minutes,  then remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven, until a beautiful brown and a little firm, but not dry.
  

Southern Cornbread!

Dressing Seasonings!

The Naked, Seasoned Chicken!

Homemade Stock!

        Here's a simple gravy recipe I made, and I put it in a  fancy gravy boat and then I packed it up to go without taking a picture.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons of fat from chicken drippings (or your fat of choice, butter, olive oil, bacon fat, etc.)
• 1 small onion, small dice
• 1 celery stalk, small dice
• 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
  
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme

Instructions:

• In a large saucepan over medium heat, add your fat until just shimmering.  Add onion and celery and saute until vegetables are soft and the edges start to turn brown.  Stir frequently.
• Sprinkle the flour over the cooked vegetables and cook, stirring until the flour is absorbed and the roux (fat and flour mix) turns light golden brown.  Whisk in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until thick and glossy, about 10 minutes, sometimes longer to get to the right consistency.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour through a strainer into a bowl and remove the solid ingredients.
  
• Stir in chopped thyme, put it into a pretty gravy bowl, take a picture of it, and serve.  ​           

Cooking the Cranberries!

Cranberries and Pecans! Yum!

        I know most of us grew up with canned cranberry sauce, and I still love it, but if you feel like getting a little fancy (with fresh cranberries and pecans), click on the picture on the right for this simple and delicious cranberry sauce.  Delicious!

        These are some beautiful Autumn Poinsettias I saw in Kroger.  I didn't know there was such a thing. The picture does not do them justice!

        Here is Sawyer at her Thanksgiving celebration at her aunt's house, and with her parents.  She is really the most wonderful little girl!

        Since I started this post, my Sister Janise, and I made a quick trip to Florida to visit some friends in Freeport, Florida.  We did make a little trip out of the way so we could see Panama City Beach, one of our favorite places.  This scene is at dinner time at Schooner's, The Last Local Beach Club.  We passed several places before we got here and some are closed for the season and some are just open on the weekends.  Janise remembered Schooner's advertises as local so we went by there, and true enough, they're open year round.  They also have a special from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. that's pretty good!  I love this picture!

        Thanks for stopping by, Friends!  I hope you are all having a great holiday season! 

          Dished With Love, Denise