thanksgiving stuffing

Confession Time - I get ridiculously excited about Thanksgiving stuffing. I'm not kidding! I actually start thinking about it way before Halloween rolls around. It's my favorite part of the meal. I make it just the way my mother-in-law used to and, oh my goodness, is it good. As a time saver, I actually make my stuffing the night before and refrigerate overnight. The next day I top it with a few spoons of turkey drippings right before baking. Moist on the inside and crispy and crunchy on top...I'm definitely thankful for this stuffing.

Landon and I have so much fun making the stuffing. We listen to Christmas music, eat toasted bread bits, and the house takes on that holiday smell of sage, onions and celery. Once the stuffing is mixed and ready for the baking dish, we put a bit back to just enjoy with a spoon. Mmm...the stuff(ing) memories are made of.  


Holiday Stuffing

1 1/2 sticks butter
2 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
5 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
14 cups dried white bread, cubed & toasted
Chicken or Turkey Stock
{I also add some drippings from the turkey pan}

Place toasted bread cubes in a very large bowl. In a large frying pan, melt butter over a medium heat. Saute onions and celery together with salt and pepper, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Add about 1 cup of stock. Continue cooking over medium low heat until stock evaporates.

Add celery & onion mixture to bowl containing toasted bread; add sage & stock, mix well. Add more stock until stuffing is at desired consistency - mine is very moist. {This is where I could end the recipe and just start eating}

Place in buttered casserole dish - bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until heated through & slightly browned on top.

a picture is worth a thousand words

 

I saw this picture on Facebook the other day and in an instant it took me back to my childhood.  Days spent playing outside, eating crab apples til our stomachs hurt, drinking from the creek.  Slowing down in this crazy, fast-paced world sounds just right to me. 

 

Hurry up spring! 

 

Biscuits and Gravy

I'm sharing this post from 2009 today. We had a wonderful breakfast Saturday morning, complete with biscuits and gravy made  just like my grandma taught me. If you've never tried bacon gravy, you're in for a treat. Enjoy!! 

You can't grow up in West Virginia & not like biscuits & gravy (I think it's actually a law). It's definitely one of my favorite comfort breakfast foods. It always brings back memories of mama in the kitchen, all of us grandchildren gathered around the table watching while she worked her magic, waiting eagerly for a piece of biscuit dough to eat.  And if you were lucky, you got to be the one to carefully cut out the biscuits with a floured glass. When everything was finally ready to serve, we'd all tear piping-hot biscuits into bite-sized pieces & mama would cover our plates with a ladle-full of gravy. Delicious. 

Mama definitely spoiled us with this meal. And it's so easy to prepare. There's nothing fancy about it - if you have bacon, flour, buttermilk & evaporated milk, you're ready to go. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed.

Biscuits and Gravy

Put one pound of bacon on to fry 5 to 10 minutes before you start making your biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup bacon grease

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, stir together flour & buttermilk. Add bacon grease. Stir with a fork until dough holds together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and form into a disk. Knead lightly just a few times until smooth. Form dough to a 3/4-inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut out biscuits. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Gather the trimmings and repeat. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. This should make 12 biscuits with a little dough left over.

Bacon Gravy
Bacon grease/drippings
1/3 to 1/2 cup flour
Equal parts evaporated milk & water (combined)

Over medium low heat, whisk flour into grease until smooth & just starting to bubble. REMOVE FROM HEAT.  Slowly stir in milk/water, whisking constantly, until desired thickness. Add salt & pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!!

Festive Cranberry Salad

Here's an old tried and true recipe. I made this for the first time back in 1998 - my first married Thanksgiving. Oh my goodness, I was so proud of it!!  I remember Mike and I shopping at Big Bear, carefully choosing all the ingredients we needed. We were still newlyweds - married less than two months. Those were such good days! I still have my recipe from Taste of Home magazine, placed carefully in my  photo album recipe keeper. Pinterest wasn't around back then!

This is a nice light and tart salad. It's so easy to prepare and can be served as a meal accompaniment or a dessert. 

 Festive Cranberry Salad

• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 can (14 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

In a bowl, combine milk and lemon juice; mix well. Stir in pineapple, cranberry sauce, marshmallows, pecans and food coloring if desired. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight. Cut into squares. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Recipe & Photo: Taste of Home

all about moms | lotions & potions

Oil of Olay and Jergen's Original Body Lotion... They are certainly nothing fancy, but I feel rich when I use them. To me, they are memories of my grandma and mom.  I love how the fragrance would linger on them when I would hug and kiss them goodnight. 

Isn't it funny how something as simple as lotions and face creams can bring back such a flood of memories? I grabbed both these items while I was out last week and fell in love with them all over again, especially the Oil of Olay {we're talking original formula}. I've used a lot of expensive anti-aging creams since I hit my late 30s, all with the usual normal results. But since I started using Olay, in less than one week, my face is absolutely glowing. Seriously! Something so basic is working so well. Now, the Jergen's body lotion is just your basic body lotion, but the smell is what I adore. I'm going to be using both these products through the summer. 

I'm also putting both these items in my mom & sister's  Mother's Day treat baskets. That's one of the best things about memories...sharing them with the people you love.