Gearing Up

One week before Thanksgiving and the pantry is stocked; I'm ready to start cooking and baking. If your family is like mine, everyone has something that means the holiday. Nephews have already started calling to request their particular favorite. My own kids don't even have to ask, they know I'll have cheese grits, pink stuff, a certain broccoli salad, Grandmother's Chocolate Cake and Jezebel Sauce for the ham.

One of my first cookbooks was by Jane Justin of the Justin Boot Family. She compiled recipes for her daughter and ended up publishing them as a cookbook. The cookbook was great as a new bride source-she not just offered easy recipes but suggested the whole menu for the meal. I actually had Mother Jane's Prescriptions for Hunger before I had my first (and only husband). In the introduction to her cookbook, Jane Justin says, " I am not a natural cook but I consider myself a cultivated cook. I enjoy cooking- it is wonderful therapy for me and I hope that I can give happiness to others by inspiring them. If you are not a natural cook, maybe like me you can become a cultivated cook. My Mother did not inspire my kitchen much, but I learned lessons from her that made me realize the importance of how good meals make a happy home."

What follows is one of her recipes that my family always requests. It is so popular, that I cannot ever assign someone else to bring it. I have combined Jane's recipe with Visie's - She was my grandmother's right arm and a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of cook....just like me!

Cornbread Dressing

Make a batch of cornbread. You can use a mix but do not use a sweet cornbread like Jiffy. Need it to fill a 10 x14 inch pan. Can bake the day before.
Crumble in a large bowl and set aside. Also tear up and add 5 or 6 slices of day old bread or 5 or 6 biscuits.

Melt in a skillet- 1 &1/2 sticks butter
Cook slowly until clear- 2 large yellow onions - chopped
10 ribs celery-chopped
1 bunch finely chopped parsley
Pour over bread mixture

Add
4 tbsp Lee and Perrin
1-2 tbsp Black Pepper
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp Tabasco sauce

Beat Well and add
4 large eggs

Add stock from giblets or you may use a low sodium chicken broth -either Rachel Ray's or Swanson's-cheap broth's are terrible (Here's the trick I think my family likes) Add enough stock to make dressing the consistency of cake batter--this results in a crunchy top and a moist inside.Be sure to mash all the lumps out of the dressing. Jane suggests a potato masher.
Taste the dressing and adjust seasonings. Grease well a large shallow pan and bake in a preheated 400 oven until nice and brown-about 30 to 40 minutes. You do not want a hard, dry dressing, nor a gooey, mushy one. When you remove, cover with foil until served. (Note: You can make up to the baking part in the morning )

Here's to a Happy Pre-Thanksgiving Week. May we all remember to be grateful for our blessings. If you have a family favorite, feel free to share the recipe and the memory with our readers. I need new ideas!!! chrissie
(You can google Mother Jane's Prescriptions for Hunger and though out of print, the books are out there)

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