Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving.  If you read back in my blog you will see how it has always been a special day. (If you put Thanksgiving in the search box at the top of the blog you will find more stories.)   On top of the good times now Jennie's birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving.  Her day is November 24, Happy Birthday, Jennie, a little ahead of time.

I thought I would be a little early and give you a couple of dressing recipes. The first is the traditional one that my mother made. I love it with plain bread, but am now gluten free so make dressing with homemade cornbread with no wheat flour so it is very crumbly or crummy. Which is it?? The second is a great recipe I used to use for company when not everyone likes dressing and most folks seem to like it. Not vegetarian, though.

I have a great pecan pie that is made with graham crackers and egg whites so is very light.  I will look for that for you.  :)

Sage Dressing a la Grandma Alice

*3 cups cubed day old bread or a little older so it isn’t so soft (In the old days, day old bread was pretty dry!)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery with leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 egg
1/2 cup milk

Cook onion and celery in the butter until soft (don’t brown). Let it cool while you toss the bread with the seasonings.

Mix the egg and milk and add to the onion mixture. Toss this lightly with the bread and bake in greased caserole pan  about 30-40 minutes. If it starts to brown too much, cover with a lid or foil. You can bake at 325 or 350, whatever you are using for the turkey. If there is some fat/juice from the turkey you can drizzle/baste a little of that over the dressing for flavor.  If you stuff it in the turkey, stuff lightly and cook the extra in a pan.

(**Note this is half recipe for 2-4 people, double ingredients for turkey for 6 or more people)


If you don’t want to buy poultry seasoning you could get a can of chicken broth and use some of that with the milk .. 1/4 cup each, and then use the rest of the broth to make gravy. I use some of the broth from cooking the giblets if I bake a turkey.

*You can also use corn bread. I prefer regular bread or half and half. Now I use my own cornbread with no gluten. Ha.

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I used to make this one in South America when we had company, too.

Sausage and Mushroom Dressing

1/2 cup butter
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms
1/2 pound sausage
6 cups bread
1 cup chopped onions
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon thyme leaves

Melt butter, cook onion and garlic until soft. Remove from pan and brown the sausage for about three minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until the meat loses red color.

Add onion mixture, salt, pepper and thyme. Gently mix into the bread and parsley. Baste with drippings while cooking.

Takes 30 - 40 minutes to bake. Makes about 6 cups, for 6 - 8 people.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

(This is my third post today, so scroll on down!)