Oyster Dressing Mom's Way, Our Thanksgiving Staple

Not all sides are created equal!

This Oyster Dressing is the star on the Thanksgiving table for most us here.  Bill loves it, but turkey is the star to him, probably because of leftover turkey:  sandwiches, ala king, and those big turkey legs.  

Not so pretty, but Oh!  So Good!

We roast one large turkey, a turkey breast and a duck or goose for dinner.  That’s a whole lot of fowl to me!

Mom's Golden Fried Mush w/Sausage

It’s groovy how certain foods can trigger childhood memories…

Food brings forth strong emotions and seeing a favorite dish on a menu or hearing someone talk about a certain dish can transport us back to being young.  

That’s what fried cornmeal mush does for me…

When Mom or Grandma made it, it was a huge treat.  The aroma of it sizzling in the skillet was mouth watering.  

Hot from the skillet, placed on the plate with a dollop of butter and a swirl of maple syrup, it was heaven - delicious beyond words ~ and it still is to this day!
 

Mom usually served plain mush; meatless.  In later years, she started adding crumbled fried sausage to the batter, or maybe, crumbled fried bacon.  So many options…

If you’ve never experienced fried mush, I hope you give this a try!

Now, you tell me:  what is your favorite childhood food, what food brings back memories for you?  

Mom’s Golden Fried Cornmeal Mush
Printable recipe

Ingredients:

2¾ cups boiling water

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal

1 cup cold water

1 pound pork sausage, fried and crumbled*

Vegetable oil or non-stick cooking spray

Flour for dredging

Method:

Mix cornmeal and 1 cup cold water. 

Gradually add to boiling water and salt, stirring constantly.

Add cooked crumbled sausage.

Cook, about 15-20 minutes, covered, on low heat until thick, stirring frequently.

Grease or spray loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Refrigerate over-night.

Next morning, place small amount of oil in skillet.

Cut cornmeal loaf in slices.

Roll in flour and fry in oil until golden.  

Serve with butter and maple syrup or powdered sugar.

*Omit sausage, it’s delicious plain ~ or add fried crumbled bacon, that’s good also.

ENJOY!

Scalloped Potatoes, Mom’s Way ~ ~ ~ Mine Too

Thankfully, I had no problem finding Velveeta recently:  remember the “Cheesepocalypse” Kraft confirmed in January ~ before the Super Bowl parties?

I just had to have some scalloped potatoes!   I love love them, just the way Mom made them with Velveeta, and Bubba agrees 100%.  They’re probably “au gratin,” but they’re scalloped to us.

The leftovers even leave me drooling, so I always make extra, ensuring that Bubba gets his fare share of leftovers also, because we know leftover scalloped potatoes are the best!

A thick creamy cheese sauce of just milk, butter, Velveeta, and seasonings, smothering a plethora of thinly-sliced potatoes…

Creamy sauce...

It doesn’t get much richer than this as it bakes into a mouth-watering irresistible dish!  Not too mention the aroma while baking!

Julia would most likely turn her nose up at this, but we’d eat her share!

Oven-ready

Mom’s Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

2½ cups milk
2 cups Velveeta cheese, cubed
8 cups thinly sliced Russet potatoes, about 8 medium potatoes
Cooking spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat.
Stir in flour, salt and pepper and whisk well.
Slowly pour in milk, blending well as it’s poured.
Add cheese and stir until melted.
Take off heat and set aside.
Peel and slice potatoes thinly.
Coat a 2-quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Add potatoes to baking dish.
Pour cheese mixture over potatoes.
Gently stir a little so that sauce coats potatoes.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the top is browned. 
Remove from oven.
Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.
8-10 servings

ENJOY!

My fave...

Mom’s Oyster Dressing

I would be run out of town, if I didn’t make this for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Growing up, this was standard fare at Mom and Dad’s Thanksgiving table, and it is here also, with my family, because it’s delicious!  

It's rich, and savory and a perfect side dish for oyster lovers.

It’s also about tradition…

Mom's Oyster Dressing

Ingredients:

2 sleeves Club crackers*

1 stick butter
2 pints shucked fresh oysters, with liquor reserved
¾ cup half and half
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon seasoned pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Butter a 9” x 13” baking dish liberally.
Crumble crackers into chunks.
Spread half of the crackers in the baking dish.
Top with one pint of oysters.
Dot with ½ stick butter.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Repeat layers.
Pour reserved oyster liquor over top.
Pour half and half over all, just to top of layers, do not cover completely.
Bake in 400 degree oven until bubbling and top is golden brown, 30-45 minutes.
Let stand 2-3 minutes.
Serve
*Use less crackers for a crisper dish.



Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, @My Kind of Cooking for great tips and delicious easy recipes!

You still have time to go here to enter a great giveaway from Hickory Farms!  It’s chock full of all kinds of goodies you’ll like!

Another CSN Giveaway and Mom’s Vegetable Beef Soup

It’s a sad blue day today because the Bears lost, Bill is gloating that the Packers won and I have to pay off my debts.

As a kid, I loved Mom’s vegetable soup!  It was one of my favorite foods back then and it still is today.  It was the perfect comfort food to me in the fall and winter and I always eagerly looked forward to her cooking it.  I posted this when I first started blogging, with no followers, and thought it is a great soup to re-post.

Mom and Dad, late 1970's

Mom never followed a recipe for her vegetable soup but, I watched and helped her enough times to learn it well.  It’s filled with fresh vegetables and herbs combined with beef and barley in a tomato juice base.  The ingredients all pull together for a great taste and vibrant, rich colors.  The only change I made was to add a little hot sauce.

It makes a large amount of soup so that I have plenty to give Bubba and Matt a large pan of and then have enough left to freeze for a couple of meals for Bill and me.  This is a very filling soup and fills our tummies with pleasure! 

Back years ago, Mom always served it with saltine crackers; however, we’d rather have a crusty Italian bread to sop up all the juices in the bottom of the bowl.  It would be great with cornbread also. 

You know, the Super Bowl is nearing and this is perfect dish to make for your crowd. Prepare it the day before and heat it up on Super Bowl day for an easy delicious hot filling dish on game day. 

And speaking of the Super Bowl ~ for your party, you just might be shopping around for more seating like adjustable bar stools in your home.  CSN Stores has a huge selection of them along with other things you will need for your party; such as glasses, serving bowls and other accessories.  

Love that red!

Maybe this one...

Do you need a blender?

Or a pretty chip and dip set?

Sean, at CSN Stores, has again kindly offered me another giveaway for all of you for a $20 gift certificate.  The $20 gift certificate does not include shipping costs but, you can use the gift certificate on ANY product from ANY one of the CSN sites.

Here are the rules for entering:

1. Leave a comment telling me you are a follower through Google Friend Connect (on the side bar of this blog) and tell me what you’d like from CSN.

2. For an extra entry, follow this blog on the Facebook Networked Blogs (on the side bar of this blog) and leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3. This giveaway is open through midnight, CST, Tuesday, February 1st.  The drawing will be by a random number generator on Wednesday, February 2^nd and is open to US entrants only. 

Now for Mom’s delicious soup:

Mom’s Vegetable Beef Soup

Ingredients:

3 pounds beef chuck roast

1½-2 quarts water

2 (64 ounce) bottles tomato or V-8 juice

1½ cups quick barley

Broth from beef

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon thyme

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon basil

3-4 drops hot sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar (I use Splenda)

½ to 1 head cabbage, chopped into larger than bite-size chunks

1 large onion, chopped

8 carrots, julienne cut

8 celery ribs, julienne cut

Celery leaves

Day before serving:

Place beef in a large stock pot, add water, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cover with lid.

Cook until tender.

Let the meat cool in the broth.  I then cover it with a lid and set it in the garage (remember it’s very cold here) over-night to allow the fat to solidify.

Serving day: 

Carefully remove the solid fat on top and strain the broth. 

Remove beef from pan.  Trim and cut into bite-size pieces, refrigerate.

Heat broth and add V8 juice, bring to a boil.

Add barley, boil for 10 minutes.

Add salt and pepper and herbs and brown sugar.  Stir well.

While the barley is cooking, chop all vegetables.

Add all vegetables and a couple of handfuls of celery leaves.

Simmer on medium-low heat.

Cook till vegetables are crisp tender, not mushy soft.

Be sure to stir well and scrape the bottom of the pot as the barley may stick.

If it is too thick, add a little water at a time and more seasonings.

When vegetables are cooked to your liking, remove the bay leaves.

Add the cut up meat and stir well but, gently so as not to break up the meat.

After meat is heated through, remove pan from heat.

Serve and enjoy!

Pam’s note: Every time you add water or another liquid to the pot, you must add more seasonings.

This soup satisfies the soul!

M’m! M’m! Good!  Here’s to you, Mom!!!

Good luck to all of you in the CSN giveaway!  I hope you win!

Mom’s Pecan Dreams/My Favorite Christmas Cookie!!!

 I love this time of year as it gives me an excuse to bake a lot of cookies for family and friends.  What would Christmas be without cookies? 

These Pecan Dreams were my favorite Christmas cookie when I was growing up and to this day ~ they are still my favorite!   I could hardly wait for Mom to bake them when I was a kid and I could probably say the same for my brother Jim.   I always knew that Christmas was getting really close when Mom would pull out the bag of coconut and the package of pecans.  The wafting aroma in the air as they are baking is indescribable!  I love coconut and this cookie reeks of coconut!

Mom’s Pecan Dreams has two layers.  The light bottom layer made with butter, confectioner’s sugar and flour has an almost cake-like delicious texture.  The top layer is a combination of brown sugar, pecans and coconut; common ingredients, but just the perfect combination for a melt in your mouth cookie.  They are lip smacking good!!!

Mom’s Pecan Dreams

Printable recipe

Crust ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup powdered sugar

1 cup sifted cake flour (a must!)

Cream butter, add powdered sugar and cake flour.  Mix well.  Spread in bottom of 13" x 9" Pyrex baking dish.

Filling ingredients:

2 eggs

1 ½ cups brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped pecans

1 ½ cups flaked coconut

Beat eggs till light, add brown sugar, blend well.

Add flour and baking powder.  Mix well.

Blend in pecans and coconut.

Pour over first mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cut into squares when cool.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Mom’s Pecan Dreams!

Be sure to check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking.  She is hosting a Tate’s Bake Shop giveaway!

Snowballs Mom’s Way

These snowballs are like a winter wonderland; they are delectable and you don’t have to do any shoveling!  

 

This is an elegant “heavenly dessert” that Mom prepared for dinner parties during the holidays.  I have no idea how she came upon this recipe ~ I just know I love the result!  They are soooo delicious if you love sweet luscious pineapple, angel flaked coconut and fresh whipped cream.  They look similar to a Hostess Sno Ball, only larger and taste a hundred times better. 

The preparation is a little time consuming; however, the good thing is that they can be assembled a day ahead of time.  The day before serving, crushed pineapple, chopped pecans and powdered sugar are combined, then spread on 3 stacked vanilla wafers and covered with coconut on serving day.  They’re a great “make ahead of time” dessert and scrumptious beyond words! 

Snowballs

Ingredients:

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, well drained

½ pound (2 sticks) butter

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

4 eggs yolks, 4 egg whites

1 cup ground pecans

3 pints whipping cream

Vanilla wafers

Angel flake coconut

1 tablespoon milk

Day before serving:

Drain crushed pineapple.  You have to end up squeezing it in your hands.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add egg yolks, nuts and pineapple.

Beat egg whites till stiff.

Fold egg whites into pineapple mixture.

Put 3 vanilla wafers together with pineapple filling:  place one wafer on plate, cover liberally with filling, stack another wafer on top, cover liberally with filling, place a third wafer on top of the stack.

Place them in a pan and set in refrigerator overnight.

Next day:

Beat whipping cream until stiff.

Put wafer stack on a spatula.

Cover all but bottom with stiffly beaten whipped cream.

Sprinkle with coconut.

Place in refrigerator till serving time.

Pam’s Notes:  This recipe takes 1 ½ boxes of vanilla wafers.   The recipe can easily be halved.  If you wish, the coconut can be tinted for a festive look:  In a baggie, mix 1 tablespoon milk, a couple of drops of red food coloring and 1 package of coconut together.  Let dry overnight.

An amazingly delicious holiday dessert!!!

Be sure to enter my Tate’s Bake Shop giveaway that was posted on December 3^rd!

Also, check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway!

Mom’s Oyster Dressing

Growing up, this was our favorite dish that Mom made every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

Years later, hands down, it's the favorite dish for my family on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This is a great recipe for all you oyster lovers, which I thought deserved to be posted again ~ it's that good!

It's a simple recipe --- the briny oysters are layered with butter, half and half and crumbled crackers.  Do not skimp on the ingredients; use real butter, half and half and a rich butter cracker.  Do not crush the crackers into dust; crumble them into bite-size chunks. Use less crackers for a crisper dish.

This dish has an addicting oyster taste that makes it a special side dish.  Serve it bubbly hot and it will be a requisite on your holiday table also.  Talk about savory and delectable, this is it! 

Let the drooling begin, Bubba!  I know it’s your favorite dish on the table!

Mom’s Oyster Dressing

Ingredients:

2 pints shucked oysters, reserving liquor

1 stick butter

2 sleeves Club Crackers*

¾ to 1 cup half and half

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Butter a 9” x 13” baking dish liberally.

Crumble crackers into chunks

Spread half of the crackers in the baking dish.

Top with one pint of oysters.

Dot with ½ stick butter.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Repeat layers.

Pour reserved oyster liquor over top.

Pour half and half over all, just to top of layers, do not cover completely.

Bake in 375 degree oven till bubbly and top is brown, about 30-45 minutes.

*For a crisper dish, use less crackers

It's Delectable!

Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway!

Mom’s Chicken Casserole and CUMC

Not a pretty picture, but good to eat!

Every month at our church, Cary United Methodist Church, the women's "Dorcas Circle" gathers for a luncheon and meeting.  This month was my turn to prepare the main entrée and I chose this chicken casserole to make for them.

They’re a great group of women whom always have a fun time talking, laughing, enjoying lunch together and then settling down for the program.  Pastor Shirley joins us when time permits and we were honored with her presence on this day. 

This chicken casserole will rise to the occasion as a great entrée for a crowd or for a perfect dinner at home every time.  It’s Mom’s recipe, not sure of the origin, but I’ve made it for years and we love it.   This dish is tasty with the succulent chicken pieces and the savory stuffing mix; containing flavors most everyone will enjoy. 

It has to be made ahead of time and allowed to refrigerate over night.  A lot of times when I still worked, I made it on the weekend, froze it, set it in the refrigerator the morning of serving day ~ then after work just popped the casserole in the oven for dinner.  Easy, easy! 

It’s a hearty casserole that I bet your family would enjoy for dinner like we do!  I think the women in the Dorcas Circle enjoyed it also as it was about all eaten.  It’s perfect comfort food for this time of year!

The goods

Ready for the oven

Voila!

Mom’s Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

4 large boneless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

8 ounce package herb-seasoned stuffing mix

½ cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons pimento

½ teaspoon pepper

Method:

Cook chicken in simmering water until tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from broth.

Strain broth, reserving 2-2/3 cups.

Cut meat into bite-size pieces.

Combine chicken soup with half the broth.  Mix well.  Set aside.

Combine mushroom soup with remaining broth.  Mix well.  Set aside.

Combine stuffing mix, butter, pimentos and pepper, reserve ¼ cup for garnish.

Spoon half of remaining stuffing mix into a greased 13” x 9” baking dish.

Top with half of the chicken.

Cover with chicken soup mixture.

Place remaining chicken over top.

Pour mushroom soup mixture over layers.

Sprinkle with reserved stuffing mixture for garnish.

Cover and refrigerate over-night.

Remove 15 minutes before baking and uncover.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until well heated.  Do not under-bake.

Serves 8-10

It’s a savory delicious chicken dish!

          

There’s still time to enter the CSN Stores giveaway that I posted on October 8^th!

Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway!

My Simply Delicious Green Beans

I’m not sure which fresh vegetable I like most in the summer time.  It could be green beans or sweet corn or maybe tomatoes.  They’re all great but green beans just might be my favorite. 

There was a time I liked green beans out of the can and gussied up a little bit.  Mom always canned the beans years ago and they were great but not the same as various commercially canned green beans.  None of it can compare to fresh green beans though!

I remember many years ago when Dad started planting broccoli.  I was used to frozen broccoli and was surprised how different it tasted straight from the garden.  The same can be said for green beans.

Anyway, my way of cooking the green beans is probably Southern but this is the way Mom made them and the way we enjoy them.  You can’t get much simpler than this recipe with just bacon grease, salt and pepper.  I have a hard time controlling myself when I start eating these and don’t know when to stop sometimes.  And, I love them leftover, if there is any!

My Simply Delicious Green Beans

Ingredients:

2 pounds fresh green beans, ends trimmed, snapped in half and washed

1-2 tablespoons bacon grease

Salt and pepper, to taste (I use McCormick’s Seasoned Pepper)

Method:

Fill large pan with water almost to level of green beans.

Add bacon grease, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium low.

Cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

The only thing that would make this better, is adding new potatoes!

How do you like your green beans:  with bacon, a ham hock, bacon grease, butter, garlic or maybe just S&P?