Cornbread Dressing

I make 2 skillets of cornbread for this recipe. You can bake it in a metal or glass pan but I like using my cast iron skillet. Go ahead and put your chicken on to boil in quite a bit of water and a little salt to make your chicken broth. I use a whole chicken, cut up.

Make your cornbread. Here's the recipe I use for 1 skillet (double it for dressing).
Cornbread
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all ingredients and pour into well-greased skillet or pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Set cornbread aside to cool.

Dressing
2 skillets cornbread
Chicken broth
2 eggs, boiled and chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
Sage (to taste, we like a lot!)
Salt
Pepper

In a large bowl, crumble your cornbread, add chopped onion and eggs. Pour in chicken broth 2 cups at a time and mix. Continue adding broth until moist. Let sit a bit so the cornbread will soak up the broth and then add a little more. You don't want it too dry. When you get it good and moist, add a little more broth, you want it almost like a really thick soup because it will dry out some during baking, start adding your sage. I was using fresh sage and used 2 handfuls of chopped leaves. That wasn't enough for us (my husband was doing the tasting) so I added another teaspoon of dried sage.
Mix well, add a little salt and pepper, pour into a large baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with chicken.

I was eating a plate of this all warmed up while I typed this...yum!
Now I'm going to have me a Sister Schubert roll with some apple jelly.

Southern Fried Apples

My boys have found a new favorite dish. Our apple tree is loaded this year so we've been canning and dehydrating. I decided to make some fried apples like my grandmother used to make and they were a huge hit around here. They are usually served as a side dish. We had them for supper the other night and then the boys wanted them for breakfast. They had leftovers with their toast Sunday morning.

8-10 apples
1/2 stick Butter (I prefer the taste of Country Crock instead of butter but both are good!)
1/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Brown sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon

I didn't measure any of this just threw it all in so these are approximate. You can adjust it to your tastes.
Peel, core and slice your apples into about 1/2-inch slices. Place apples and 2 cups water in saucepan. Bring to boil, cover and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until apples begin to get tender. Drain off water.
Put 1/2 stick butter (or margarine) in skillet. Add apples, sugar and brown sugar. You can use 1/2 cup of either of the sugars but I like to mix them.
If apples are very dry add 1/4 cup water). Turn down to simmer and let cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking/burning. Cook until apples are very tender but not falling apart. Remove from heat, sprinkle with cinnamon, stir just enough to blend cinnamon into apples and serve. I like to add an extra dollop of margarine to mine after they are cooked....I know I'm bad!

You can also roll out some dough (or store bought biscuits) fill with cooked apples, fold over and press edges with the tines of a fork to seal. Fry in skillet with a little hot oil or butter and you have awesome fried apple pies.

Okra Patties

This is a recipe that my aunt makes. If you have a lot of okra in your garden and are looking for another way to use it, this little patties are so good!

1 c. sliced okra
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. tomatoes, chopped
1 egg
1/4 c. cornmeal
1/4 c. flour
Salt
Pepper

Mix ingredients, shape into patties, fry in hot oil until browned.

Onion Casserole

3 lg. Vidalia onions
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 bag regular potato chips
Pepper to taste

Peel onions, cut in half and then slice. Mix with soup and cheddar cheese. Crush potato chips and mix them in. Add pepper to taste. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, stir 2 or 3 times then cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Roasted Red Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese

1/2 c. Ranch dressing
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. real bacon bits
2 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered
1 T. parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dressing, cheese and bacon bits in large bowl. Add potatoes, toss lightly. Spoon into lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish, cover with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake and additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

Corn Pudding

CORN PUDDING
1 stick butter
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 c. sour cream
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can cream-style corn

Soften butter. Mix butter, cornbread mix, sour cream, and corn together. Pour into baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

This is so good! Just ask my friend Mazda! :)

Broccoli Casserole

BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
2 pkg. frozen broccoli, prepared
1 sm. jar Cheez-Whiz
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 c. Minute Rice
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 stick margarine

Cook broccoli and drain. Add remaining ingredients while broccoli is still hot and mix well. Pour in a 9 x 13-inch dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Do not add salt. Cheez Whiz is already salty.

Crockpot Potatoes

CROCKPOT POTATOES
5 lbs. potatoes
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 c. chopped green onions and chives
16 oz. Velveeta cheese, melted
1 (16 oz.) ctn. sour cream
3 cans cream of mushroom soup

Peel and cube potatoes. Boil until slightly softened, drain. Melt butter and mix with potatoes. Layer potatoes, green onion/chives and cheese in crock pot. Cook until thoroughly heated.

Breaded Tomatoes

BREADED TOMATOES
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 stick margarine
1/2 c. sugar
Salt
Pepper
8 slices bread
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Toast slices of bread, tear into pieces and put in baking dish. In a saucepan, heat tomatoes, margarine, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add cheese and stir. Pour over bread pieces and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sweet Potato Casserole

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
Potatoes
3 c. mashed sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
1/2 T. salt
1/2 T. cinnamon
1/2 T. vanilla
1/2 stick butter, melted

Mix all ingredients and pour into greased baking dish then add topping.

Topping
1 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 c. nuts
1/3 stick butter, melted

Mix together and pour over potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Crisco Dumplings

The name almost sounds like a dessert but it's not! I always had the hardest time making my chicken and dumplings turn out the way I wanted them too. My aunt put this recipe in the family cookbook and it's the only one I use now. I like it because you don't actually put the chicken in the dumplings. This makes my boys very happy because they only like the dumplin' part anyway and I can avoid any small chicken bones that I might miss in other versions of chicken and dumplings. I usually boil some chicken and serve it with the dumplings on the side.

CRISCO DUMPLINGS
2 c. flour
3 heaping T. Crisco
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
2 cans chicken broth

Beat egg in milk. Mix flour and Crisco. Roll out thin using as little extra flour as possible. Cut into 1 - 2 inch squares. Drop into boiling broth and cook until done.