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Category: Recipes

Mattie’s Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Here’s my favorite Thanksgiving recipe, my grannie’s cornbread dressing.

First of all, if you’re not from the south you may not know that “dressing” is very different than “stuffing”. This is a side dish, separate from the bird, that comes out sort of the consistency of lumpy mashed potatoes, rather than crumbly bread cubes.

Also depending on where you are in the south (coastal, inland, up in the mountains) you may be adding sausage or seafood. While this is not the end all be all dressing recipe, this is what I ate growing up and the recipe I love to make today. If you’re looking for a vegetarian side dish you could easily make this using vegetable stock in lieu of turkey drippings or chicken stock, and leave out the milk. Please don’t try to leave out the butter. This is Thanksgiving, the high holiday of fat, baby!

My Mom’s mom Mattie was born in South Georgia and raised in Florida. She used curry powder (not sage) and moistened the dish with drippings from the turkey. My Dad’s Mom Mary Del grew up in Louisiana and she would put oysters in her dressing. As a kid I thought oysters were gross, but now as an adult I love them especially in a dish like this where they mostly give a salty briny flavor (and you really don’t notice the slimy oyster texture as they get cooked into the dish).

Below is Mattie’s recipe with an option to add oysters Ala Mary Del if that’s going to make you and your crowd happy.

Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Cornbread Ingredients:

  • 1 8.5 oz box jiffy cornbread mix
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup of milk

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 8 tablespoons butter (reserve one tbsp. to grease the pan)
  • 4-5 ribs of celery, chopped
  • 1 small green pepper, chopped
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 5 slices white bread, dried in warm oven, and crumbled
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2-3 cups chicken stock (or pan drippings from the turkey)
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • Optional: 1 pint fresh oysters, drained

Directions:

  1. Make cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble (best to do this a day or two ahead.).
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.
  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the celery, green pepper, and onion until soft (5-10 minutes).
  4. In a large bowl, place the celery, pepper, and onion. Add the cornbread, white bread, eggs, chicken stock, milk, salt, pepper, and curry powder and mix well (add the oysters now if you are using them).
  5. Pour into prepared dish and bake at 350 for 30 – 45 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. (to test for doneness, carefully and gently jiggle the pan, and if the center of the dressing moves cook it a little longer, til it’s set).

How to eat more veggies, and prepare quick, healthy meals at home with Melissa Olson

We recently chatted with Nutritionist Melissa Olson. She shared her tips for getting a healthy meal on the table in minutes. Also, how much protein we need (surprise – you may not be eating enough!), and how to get even your pickiest eaters to try new vegetables.

Click here to watch the full interview (46 minutes).

Click here to watch “Healthy Eating During Menopause” (3:02 minutes).

Click here to watch “Healthy Meals in Minutes” video (4:49 minutes).

Click here to learn what to do with Kohlrabi and other “weird” veggies (5:41 minutes).

Melissa shared this recipe

Chia Coconut Milk Pudding:

Ingredients – basic recipe

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

2-3 Tbsp Chia seeds (2 Tbsps yields a slightly runny pudding, 3 Tbsp more firm/ held together pudding).

Add in Ingredient Options/ Ideas (Choose 1 or more):

4-5 fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped. 2 Tbsp halved or crushed Blueberries. 1/4 cup fresh or frozen mango, chopped.

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine coconut milk and chia seeds. Gently whisk or stir with a fork continuously for 3-5 minutes until mixture starts firming up and chia seeds suspend in mixture.

Mix in add ins of choice.

Refrigerate a minimum of 30 minutes before serving. I prefer 1-4 hours or overnight.

Store in refrigerator. Enjoy within 5 days.

Thanks Melissa!

If you need help with your digestion, or getting your diet back on track reach out to Melissa at InTuneNutrition.com

Watermelon Mint and Feta Salad

 

Hooray for watermelon season!

I made this watermelon mint and feta salad for a potluck this weekend and wanted to share the recipe with you. Fresh, light, and easy to throw together this will be your new favorite summer salad.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re lucky to have sweet and juicy Hermiston watermelons. I found a small seedless one at Chuck’s Produce.

We have a crazy amount of mint growing like weeds in the back yard so I’m on the lookout for summer recipes that include mint. This weekend as part of my Sunday meal prep, I made a big batch of green soup and thew in two big handfuls of parsley and mint.

Watermelon Mint and Feta Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
  • 4 Tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 tsp honey
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 cups of seedless watermelon cut into bite sized cubes
  • 4 oz feta crumbled
  • 2 Tbsp fresh mint finely chopped

Directions:

  1. Pour vinegar, oil, honey, salt and pepper into a jar with a lid.
  2. Secure the lid tightly and shake to combine.
  3. Place watermelon, feta and mint in a large bowl.
  4. Pour dressing over fruit mixture and stir gently.
  5. Serve immediately. 

Recipe – Quick Pickled Strawberries with White Balsamic

Here’s an easy quick pickled berry recipe you can throw together in minutes. It will last a week or so in the fridge, but I’m guessing you’ll eat them up quick!

While we do have strawberries in our yard, we’re getting just about a handful a day (and we have a cute lil brown bunny who also likes our strawberries) so to make this recipe I picked up a couple pints of berries at the Vancouver Farmer’s Market.

In an effort to tamp down my allergy symptoms this month, I’ve been sampling different local honey from Sithean Acres (also at the market) and used their fireweed honey in this recipe.

I recently found Navidi’s, a shop in nearby Camas that sells hundreds of types of olive oils and vinegars. I used their pineapple white balsamic in this recipe and it was delicious!

Quick Pickled Strawberries with White Balsamic

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of strawberries, trimmed and washed.
  • 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar.
  • 1/2 cup water.
  • 1 Tbsp honey.
  • Pinch of salt and pepper.

Directions:

  1. Place berries in a jar.
  2. Mix vinegar, water, honey, salt and pepper and pour over berries.
  3. Give the jar a gentle shake.
  4. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
  5. Enjoy!

I ate my strawberries right out of the jar, also put them on a salad (including this meal of salmon and grits). You could also spread goat cheese on a slice of toast and top with strawberries.

Enjoy!

~Anne

Creamy Broccoli And Potato Soup with a Light Roux

One of my ladies shared this delicious broccoli soup recipe (thanks Kathleen). It’s nice and light, and since were heading into a season of heavy foods, I wanted to share this with you.

While you do make a light roux, it’s just enough flour to thicken the soup. Most of the body of the soup comes from the potatoes. As with most soups its fairly forgiving so feel free to experiment with the proportions of potatoes to broccoli, add cheese, or use a milk substitute.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ¾ lbs broccoli
  • 3 onions (1 ½ lbs)
  • salt to taste
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • 2 ½ Tbs. butter
  • 3 russet potatoes (approx. 1 lb)
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 3 cups water
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 ½ Tbs. flour
  • 2 cups hot milk
  • 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
  • generous pinch of cayenne

Directions:

  1. Trim the broccoli, peel the stems and chop them coarsely, and break the heads into small florets. You should have about 6 cups of broccoli pieces.
  2. Coarsely chop the onions.
  3. Heat the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non stick pan, and sauté the onions until golden.
  4. Peel and dice the potatoes and chop the celery. Place them in a soup pot with the water and vegetable broth, and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli pieces and the sautéed onions and simmer another 8-10 minutes, until everything is tender. If you like, you can reserve a cup or two of the broccoli florets to steam separately and use as a garnish, or to stir into the soup at the end for greater texture.
  5. When the vegetables are tender, stir in the lemon juice, and then puree the soup in batches in a blender (I use an immersion blender). Don’t over process: the texture should be somewhat rough.
  6. Melt the remaining 1½ tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet and stir in the flour. Cook this roux for a few minutes, stirring, until it has a pale-gold color. Whisk in the hot milk, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring or whisking until it thickens. Whisk in the mustard and the cayenne, and mix the white sauce into the soup.
  7. Bring the soup back to a simmer, taste, and correct the seasoning with more salt, mustard, or cayenne if needed.