Oh, Happy Days

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love, love, love the holidays. One of the best parts of the holidays for me is the joy of cooking special meals for my family. Yesterday my DH had the three oldest kids at a movie, and my two youngest were sleeping, so I took advantage of that time to turn on a sappy Christmas movie I had recorded and begin cooking for Thanksgiving. (I don't feel the need at this late stage in the game to keep my holidays separated!)

The first thing I made was my traditional cornbread stuffing. Oh, how I love this stuffing. If the truth be told, it is the part of the meal I most look forward to, and truly could stand on its own any other day of the year as a one dish meal. Because I love you, I am going to share the recipe, which is based on one from the 30 Day Gourmet's Holiday Cookbook.

Holiday Cornbread Dressing

2 T. Butter
1 c. diced onions
1 c. diced celery
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1 c. raisins, or if you wish, craisins
1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I prefer walnuts)
1/2 pound sausage, browned and drained
1 c. tart, cored but unpeeled apples, diced
6 c. stale cornbread cubes
3 c. chicken broth (more or less, just enough to get the mixture very, very moist.)


For the cornbread, either make it from scratch with your favorite recipe, or do what I have done in the past and just bought the little cheap mixes and baked them up. All that matters is that it is stale and cubed. If your cornbread is fresh, cube it up and place it on a cookie sheet in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until dry and toasty. Then fully cool.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute the onions and celery until they are starting to soften. Add the pepper, salt and poultry seasoning to the celery and onions, and keep cooking it for a few more minutes. At this point you can add the apples, walnuts, sausage and raisins/craisins and cook it all together for 5 more minutes. Remove it from the heat and add in the chicken broth, about 2 cups to start with. Pour all the pan ingredients over the cornbread in a large bowl. If it doesn't seem very, very moist add more liquid until it does. This will dry out while baking so you want it to start out quite moist.

If baking immediately, go ahead and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered. You want the final product to be browned on top and toasty, but moist throughout the inside. If you would like to make this ahead and freeze it, it will work VERY well. Just make it up to the point that you have added the broth, and then cool it completely and freeze it, either in the pan you plan to cook it in, or in a gallon sized freezer bag.

If freezing ahead, just be sure to thaw it out thoroughly, and then set out at room temperature 2 hours before you bake it. It won't get crispy and perfect unless it has come to room temp first.

So, I hope that this recipe will bring your family as much enjoyment as it does mine! If not this Thanksgiving, then maybe one in the future! I am not kidding, with the fruit, veggies, nuts, meat and cornbread, it could be a meal in itself. Many a post-Thanksgiving meal has found me eating the stuffing as my main course!

Now, I head off excitedly into the realm of some new recipes I haven't tried before for dessert this year! I'll let you know how it goes!

Holidays

I have always been crazy about the holiday seasons. From the end of October to the beginning of January is such a fun flurry of decorations, special dishes and extra family get togethers. Since having children, I have only enjoyed it more than ever. With one exception. For about a year after having a baby, I am just toast. Tired, sleep deprived, and committed to keeping things at a minimum so that life isn't so busy and consuming.

This year, I am glad to say my little lady is 19 months old, and I am finding energy to put toward the upcoming celebrations! In planning my menu for Thanksgiving, I have found myself excited and ready to go! So much so that I decided not to wait, and have today baked my first turkey of the season! Even though Thanksgiving is still a week away, I just couldn't wait, plus at a price of $.50 per pound, the turkeys beat out all the other meats at the grocery store for the bargain of the week!

So, 20 pounds of turkey are currently roasting away in my oven, along with 2 acorn squash and a pound of brussel sprouts! Tonight we will be feasting on that lovely turkey, and tomorrow we will be scarfing down a delicious turkey pot pie. The next day, turkey tetrazzini! I do plan to put a lovely beef and chicken bumper between this turkey and the next, so Thursday of this week and the weekend will involve meals not featuring my favorite seasonal bird!

My all consuming thought now, though, is the Christmas tree. Usually my DH prefers to wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up, but this year he uncharacteristically agreed that it might be fun to put it up early. I was shocked! His work schedule has become such that we can't really do it before the day after Thanskgiving, so my current plan is to pop that pupppy up first thing in the morning on Black Friday! I may have to make some celebratory cinnamon rolls just for fun!

For some reason today I have been overwhelmed by the amazing privilege it is to stay home with my beautiful children, teaching them, holding my babies, and making our home festive and cozy for the holidays. What an amazing blessing to know that my husband provides enough so that I get to stay here and love on our kids. I don't ever want to take that for granted.

Here's hoping your family has a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that your eyes will be constantly open to the amazing blessings God constantly lavishes on us all!