Today an internet friend of mine wanted favourite holiday recipes from her followers, and it got me thinking about my absolute favourite family recipes. The one's that have always been a tradition to one's that have become new traditions. There are not a lot, but there are too many to fit into one post neatly, so I'll be doing a three-parter. This first blog post will be my favourite recipes that have something to do with Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving, as well as Christmas, were split holidays for us. My mom's family lived 30 minutes north of us and my dad's family lived 3 hours west of us, and we'd do both holidays with both sides of the family. And very different traditions came from both sides.
I always had a half day of school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had three jobs in food preparation. Cranberry sauce, congealed salad, and succotash, because they are all things a kid can't mess up. All three recipes were staples at Thanksgiving for my mom's side of the family.
I'd boil the cranberries and mash them with sugar and made that horrible conglomerate jello concoction that I detested, so they could hang out in the refrigerator. The next day I'd make the succotash, which is just corn and baby lima beans boiled together. We'd get up early on Thanksgiving morning and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is another tradition from my mother's side.
We'd then load what we'd made into the car and drive to Laurel. I never knew my grandfather, as he died two years before I was born, so it was just grandma. Sometimes Aunt Jan and Rusty would fly down from Canada to have Thanksgiving with us (or spend Christmas with us), some years they wouldn't. My grandmother would serve crudites in her fancy crystal serving tray of celery and black olives.
We'd finish making food there and eat in the big fancy dining room on the fancy china at the fancy cherry table with crystal and candles. Real cranberry sauce, sage stuffing, succotash, mashed potatoes with turkey (or chicken) gravy, rolls, green beans (seasoned with nothing), turkey (of course), and congealed salad or a very old northern recipe for pumpkin pie. I love that my grandmother would make a no bake cheesecake with cherry or strawberry topping, knowing my sister and I wouldn't eat the other desserts. In my grandmother's later years we'd get the tree down and help decorate it with her. She would have ordered frosted sugar cookies from a local bakery; enough to nibble on that day and enough for us to take some home.
The next morning we would get up early and drive to have Thanksgiving with my dad's family. It was completely different from the other side of the family, but it didn't mean I didn't like it, on the contrary I really enjoyed it. As far as food goes, they were only missed good (in my opinion) gravy. There were lots of people, compared to my mothers side. Both grandparents, Aunt Viki and her son Martin and My Uncle Mark, his wife Debbie, and her son Russ. In later years, Mark and Debbie would add to their family by four. Sometimes Aunt Vicki's ex husband would be there for Thanksgiving (or Christmas).
We would stay through the weekend, since it was more than an hour round trip. They would set the food up buffet style, so you could help yourself. There was cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, turkey, cornbread, piggy temple, jellied (no berry) cranberry sauce from a can (which I actually prefer), mashed potatoes, green beans (seasoned with bacon grease/salt pork), and pecan pie for dessert, and there were humdingers as well.
Their every day dishes were butter yellow and mint melamine, but for Thanksgiving they broke out the china, which was not good china. There was no crystal only glass (non stemmed) drink ware. No sterling silver cutlery, but stainless steel with a pretty design and an R etched on it. It was not fancy, but it was nice. And everything was very casual, with people sitting at the kitchen bar or at the dining room table with really was more of a kitchen table. One year my cousin Martin decided to eat his entire Thanksgiving meal with chopsticks.
The rest of the time we'd play board games, watch movies, spend time with our grandparents and cousins, perhaps go out and about across the river in historic Natchez, or to a park or down by the Mississippi River just because.
Since people have grown up, made families of their own, and several people are no longer alive, Thanksgiving has changed quite a bit in the last decade. A time or two we spent Thanksgiving with Uncle Mark, because grandma was no longer cooking. Sometimes Aunt Jan would visit and have Thanksgiving with us at our house because that grandma was no longer in her home. Now, it's just my parents, sister and I. My mother insists of making her stuffing. My father insists on making the congealed salad he likes so much. We have entirely too much food for four people, because no one wants to let a dish go. Luckily we no longer have to have real AND canned cranberry sauce.
Sometimes we'll eat at the fancy dining room table we inherited from my maternal grandmother. Other times we'll eat at the oak kitchen table that reminds me of what my paternal grandparents had. The smell of turkey and celery still remind my sister and I of our maternal grandmother. We still make the Humdingers that remind us of our paternal grandmother. We rarely watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We've combined both sides' traditions which I love; we're fancy and low key at the same time now. But it is also a bit lonely with just the four of us now, but we are four and we do have fun and enjoy our Thanksgivings.
Humdingers
Thanksgiving, as well as Christmas, were split holidays for us. My mom's family lived 30 minutes north of us and my dad's family lived 3 hours west of us, and we'd do both holidays with both sides of the family. And very different traditions came from both sides.
I always had a half day of school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I had three jobs in food preparation. Cranberry sauce, congealed salad, and succotash, because they are all things a kid can't mess up. All three recipes were staples at Thanksgiving for my mom's side of the family.
I'd boil the cranberries and mash them with sugar and made that horrible conglomerate jello concoction that I detested, so they could hang out in the refrigerator. The next day I'd make the succotash, which is just corn and baby lima beans boiled together. We'd get up early on Thanksgiving morning and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is another tradition from my mother's side.
We'd then load what we'd made into the car and drive to Laurel. I never knew my grandfather, as he died two years before I was born, so it was just grandma. Sometimes Aunt Jan and Rusty would fly down from Canada to have Thanksgiving with us (or spend Christmas with us), some years they wouldn't. My grandmother would serve crudites in her fancy crystal serving tray of celery and black olives.
We'd finish making food there and eat in the big fancy dining room on the fancy china at the fancy cherry table with crystal and candles. Real cranberry sauce, sage stuffing, succotash, mashed potatoes with turkey (or chicken) gravy, rolls, green beans (seasoned with nothing), turkey (of course), and congealed salad or a very old northern recipe for pumpkin pie. I love that my grandmother would make a no bake cheesecake with cherry or strawberry topping, knowing my sister and I wouldn't eat the other desserts. In my grandmother's later years we'd get the tree down and help decorate it with her. She would have ordered frosted sugar cookies from a local bakery; enough to nibble on that day and enough for us to take some home.
The next morning we would get up early and drive to have Thanksgiving with my dad's family. It was completely different from the other side of the family, but it didn't mean I didn't like it, on the contrary I really enjoyed it. As far as food goes, they were only missed good (in my opinion) gravy. There were lots of people, compared to my mothers side. Both grandparents, Aunt Viki and her son Martin and My Uncle Mark, his wife Debbie, and her son Russ. In later years, Mark and Debbie would add to their family by four. Sometimes Aunt Vicki's ex husband would be there for Thanksgiving (or Christmas).
We would stay through the weekend, since it was more than an hour round trip. They would set the food up buffet style, so you could help yourself. There was cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, turkey, cornbread, piggy temple, jellied (no berry) cranberry sauce from a can (which I actually prefer), mashed potatoes, green beans (seasoned with bacon grease/salt pork), and pecan pie for dessert, and there were humdingers as well.
Their every day dishes were butter yellow and mint melamine, but for Thanksgiving they broke out the china, which was not good china. There was no crystal only glass (non stemmed) drink ware. No sterling silver cutlery, but stainless steel with a pretty design and an R etched on it. It was not fancy, but it was nice. And everything was very casual, with people sitting at the kitchen bar or at the dining room table with really was more of a kitchen table. One year my cousin Martin decided to eat his entire Thanksgiving meal with chopsticks.
The rest of the time we'd play board games, watch movies, spend time with our grandparents and cousins, perhaps go out and about across the river in historic Natchez, or to a park or down by the Mississippi River just because.
Since people have grown up, made families of their own, and several people are no longer alive, Thanksgiving has changed quite a bit in the last decade. A time or two we spent Thanksgiving with Uncle Mark, because grandma was no longer cooking. Sometimes Aunt Jan would visit and have Thanksgiving with us at our house because that grandma was no longer in her home. Now, it's just my parents, sister and I. My mother insists of making her stuffing. My father insists on making the congealed salad he likes so much. We have entirely too much food for four people, because no one wants to let a dish go. Luckily we no longer have to have real AND canned cranberry sauce.
Sometimes we'll eat at the fancy dining room table we inherited from my maternal grandmother. Other times we'll eat at the oak kitchen table that reminds me of what my paternal grandparents had. The smell of turkey and celery still remind my sister and I of our maternal grandmother. We still make the Humdingers that remind us of our paternal grandmother. We rarely watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We've combined both sides' traditions which I love; we're fancy and low key at the same time now. But it is also a bit lonely with just the four of us now, but we are four and we do have fun and enjoy our Thanksgivings.
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| We like them so much, we have four recipe cards for them! |
Humdingers
This is a recipe from my dad's side of the family. My grandmother would make them every Thanksgiving and Christmas (we make them in between the two holidays or at Christmas). I have seen this recipe other places with different names, but none are very original, and Humdingers is just a great name! You take a bite, and your face automatically contorts into the OOOHHHWeeee that is sweee-eeeeeet face. For some reason that face means humdinger to me. But, don't let that be off putting. They are completely worth it and they're really easy to make. If you can make Rice Krispie Treats from scratch (you can, trust me), then you can definitely make these. (Do a search for date balls in powdered sugar to see what they look like)
8 oz package chopped dates
3/4 C sugar
1 stick butter
1 C chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C Rice Krispie Cereal
Confectioner's Sugar
01. Melt butter and sugar in saucepan over low heat.
02. Add dates. Cook 5 - 8 minutes until thick.
03. Remove from heat. Add cereal, nuts, and vanilla. Let cool slightly.
04. Use hands to roll mixture into 1 - 2" balls. Then roll in confectioners sugar.
Cornbread
This recipe is from my dad's side of the family. Cornbread is a huge staple in southern cuisine, as well as in my family. There are loads of ways to eat it. Drenched in molasses, eaten as the bread of your meal (plain or with butter inside), with pinto beans, soaked in pot liquor (liquid rendered from boiling greens; collard greens mainly, boiled in water with salt pork or fat back), or used in recipes.
2 1/2 C yellow cornmeal
1 C flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 C milk
1 C buttermilk
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 - 3 Tbs butter
2 tsp sugar
Bacon grease*
01. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 1 - 4 Tbs bacon grease in large, round cast iron skillet*. Place in oven to melt.
02. Combine all other ingredients. Pour into hot skillet on top of melted bacon grease. Bake 30 - 40 minutes or until the top has a bit of browning to it.
*You can make cornbread in anything (rectangular baking dish, muffin tins, etc), but done in a skillet it gets a nice, dark brown, crunchy bottom to it. It's the bee's knees! Always make it this way if you can. Always!
*If you aren't familiar with bacon grease, I will tell you. Pig is huge in the south, and just about everything that can come from it; from pickling the feet, snout, knuckles, etc., intestines, salt pork, fat back, of course ham and bacon. Bacon grease is no exception. You make bacon. When you're done, you pour up the grease (drippings) into an air tight container. To keep. Because you'll use that in just about everything else that you make. Butter, oils, shortening, and lard just don't stack up to it. You want good cornbread, you use bacon grease and cook it in a cast iron skillet. Your mouth with thank you.
Cornbread Dressing
This is yet another recipe from my dad's side of the family. In the south, we eat dressing. It's the same-ish as stuffing, but we have another name for it. The main one that you will find is made with cornbread. I say it's the same-ish, because my mothers parents were from the north and her stuffing recipe is rather dry, I think. It's good. Stovetop is good. But they're just lacking that something that makes them spectacular. Cornbread dressing is more like a casserole than traditional stuffing. You will love it, seriously you should try it.
3 C cornbread, crumbled
2 - 2 1/2 C dried light bread (about 6 slices), crumbled
1 onion, chopped
1/4 C celery, chopped
3 Eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 C butter
4 - 5 C chicken broth
1/2 tsp each salt, pepper, poultry seasoning
butter for sauteing
01. Saute onions and celery in butter.
02. Combine well crumbled breads, sauteed vegetables, and the rest of ingredients. It's best to really get in there and use your hands.
03. Pour into buttered casserole dish (large, rectangular)
04. Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees.
*I have to mention that the staple gravy to serve with cornbread dressing is giblet gravy. You read that right. Giblets. As in innards. As in turkey neck, liver, gizzards, etc. That bag of stuff they have shoved in your turkey that you take and throw away. In the south, we boil those up, slice them and make gravy out of it. My sister and I do not do innards (so you will not be seeing that recipe). But my dad and his family love them, just like most people in the south.
*I was watching Julia Child's cooking show earlier this year and I've realized that Southern cooking is pretty much French cooking. She would talk about all the stuff, you as a viewer, probably couldn't get in your area, but was essential for French cooking. Every time I would think, "Yes, I know exactly where I can obtain that fat back or those pigs feet or that tripe in my area." They save drippings to make sauces and gravies as well. They use a lot of innards and weird animal parts and butter and fat. In fact, most everything she made, my dad would totally eat. He's been eating it for years, just slightly different. While I do not like innards, I loved the fact that Southern Cuisine and French Cooking are actually kindred spirits!
*I was watching Julia Child's cooking show earlier this year and I've realized that Southern cooking is pretty much French cooking. She would talk about all the stuff, you as a viewer, probably couldn't get in your area, but was essential for French cooking. Every time I would think, "Yes, I know exactly where I can obtain that fat back or those pigs feet or that tripe in my area." They save drippings to make sauces and gravies as well. They use a lot of innards and weird animal parts and butter and fat. In fact, most everything she made, my dad would totally eat. He's been eating it for years, just slightly different. While I do not like innards, I loved the fact that Southern Cuisine and French Cooking are actually kindred spirits!
Piggy Temple
I have no earthly idea why it is called this, but it is. This is a recipe from my dad's side. Actually, I think it's from my mom. She found the recipe and exchanged with my paternal grandmother, who is the one who always prepared it for Thanksgiving. My grandmothers recipe was Congealed Salad (lime jello with mayo, cottage cheese, pecans, pineapple, BLAH), which she gave to mom, who then introduced it to her side of the family and it became a holiday staple over there. Strange. But anyways, I'm not a big fan of conglomerated dishes like this (obviously from my Congealed Salad response), but this one is fantastic! It's light, it's cold, it's a tad tangy, it's refreshing. I have actually never made it, but this year I think that I shall.
1 can evaporated milk
1 can cherry pie filling
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1 C pecans, crushed
1 carton Cool Whip
01. Mix first 4 ingredients well. Fold into Cool Whip. Chill overnight or for several hours.
Chicken and Rice Soup
This recipe is from my mothers side. It's titled chicken, but can easily be Turkey and Rice soup (we generally make this after Thanksgiving using the turkey carcass). It is a beautiful and tasty soup. So yum!
4 lb whole chicken*
2 Quarts water
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 - 1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
3/4 uncooked long grain rice
1 carrot
01. Combine first 7 ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 45 minutes. Remove chicken, reserve broth, discard bay leaf.
02. Set chicken aside. Add rice and carrot to broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, simmer 20 minutes.
03. Cube or shred cooked chicken. Add to soup after it has simmered the 20 minutes.
02. Set chicken aside. Add rice and carrot to broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, simmer 20 minutes.
03. Cube or shred cooked chicken. Add to soup after it has simmered the 20 minutes.
*This soup can be started/made a few different ways. You can use a whole chicken or a whole turkey. You can save the poultry carcass from your dinner (as in Thanksgiving). You can make it all in one time or you can make only the stock and make the soup later.
*To make stock from a carcass is the same procedure. You'll boil it with the water, onion, celery, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. You'll strain it and turn around and make the soup right away from the stock, or store the stock in an airtight container in the fridge up to four days before making the soup. A carcass should be kept in the fridge no longer than two days before making into stock. And you'll just use the turkey or chicken leftovers as the meat you add into the soup.
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