Dressing

Thanksgiving elicits a lot of food memories for most people.  Along with the traditional dishes, my family Thanksgiving meals usually involved a few specialties.

• sweet potato casserole (seeing as how NC is the leading producer of the crop in the US) 
• dressing
• deviled eggs
• Jello salad

In today's post, I'm sharing my grandmother's Dressing recipe.  Of course, she gave me this recipe as an ingredient list.  As the one chosen to carry on this tradition in our family, I've taken liberty and modified a little bit.  I do have to confess that I never measure the seasonings, so I'm going based on approximations.  You may have to adjust.  Without further ado...

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 small onion, diced
2. 2 ribs celery, diced
3. 1/2 sweet red bell pepper, diced
4. 1 can cream of chicken soup
5. 1 can cream of mushroom soup
6. 1 cup chicken broth (usually from bouillon)
7. 2 sticks butter, divided
8. 16 oz herb stuffing (Pepperidge farm cubed variety)
9. 1 t Sage
10. 1 t Mrs. Dash
11. 1/2 t Black Pepper
12. 1 t Basil
13. 1 t Parsley
14. 1/4 t Celery Seed
15. Salt, as needed

Directions:
Dice vegetables about 1/2 inch or smaller. Cover and microwave until tender.  Mix together soups, 1 stick of melted butter, broth and seasonings. Add vegetables and stuffing. Add salt and adjust other seasonings to taste, but remember that you're going to add another stick of salted butter in just a minute. You want this mixture to be fairly moist, so add some water if needed. I don't think I've ever added more than about 1/4 of a cup. Put mixture in 9x13 dish (no need to grease).  Cut remaining stick of butter into small cubes and press gently into top of mixture. Bake at 350* until golden brown. Freezes well, after baking (if it lasts that long).

Honey Mustard Chicken and Rice Bake

Inspiration from this recipe.

2.5c water
1.5c brown rice
1T butter
1t salt
~4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
6T dijon mustard
3T maple syrup
1t salt
.5t pepper

Combine chicken and following ingredients in a Ziploc bag for marination (preferably the morning you plan to make this dish, but you can also do it while the oven is preheating).  Preheat oven to 375*.  Boil, water, butter and salt.  Pour over rice in 8in baking dish.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes then add chicken on top. Pour remaining marinade over chicken.  Bake for an additional 30 minutes.

If you decide to use breasts (THIGHS ARE BETTER!), then put them in with only 20-25 minutes of bake time remaining.

Pumpkin Cranberry Bars/Cake

Original recipe here with substitution guidance from here.

Ingredients

• 15oz can pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar 
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 4 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup cranberries (mine were frozen)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 9x13 baking dish with non stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.
4. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the dish and spread evenly.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Skillet Bow Tie Lasagna

Skillet Bow Tie Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic close, minced

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1.5 cups water

1 can (6 oz) tom paste

1 Tbl dried parsley flakes

2 t dried oregano

1 t salt

2.5 cups uncooked bow tie pasta

3/4 cup small-curd cottage cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, cook beef, onion, and garlic over med heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Add the tomatoes, water, tom paste, parsley, oregano, and salt; mix well.

Stir in pasta; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once. Combine cheeses, drop by rounded tbl onto pasta mixture. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Copied from Heather in case she ever takes her post down.