GRANDMA'S DRESSING RECIPE

I woke up early this morning to make another batch of my grandmother's cornbread dressing. I made a full recipe on Saturday but decided if we wanted to have any leftovers this year, I'd better make another 1/2 recipe. (Her recipe is below) But first I wanted to take a couple of photos of the beautiful leaves this year. It's cloudy today so I just opened up my front door and snapped a shot of our USUALLY ugly bradford pear tree. I'm not sure why the leaves are such beautiful colors this year but they have been spectacular.

Even the Hackberry trees are all decked out in shades of gold and yellow and fill my back windows with a golden glow.

My grandmother was born in 1897 in Mississippi. I'm not sure where she got this recipe but we have been making it ever since I can remember, with a little tweaking here and there. We always tried to find PINE MOUNTAIN white cornmeal, but I can't find it anymore at the grocery store so I used WHITE LILY self rising white cornmeal.

6 eggs

1/2 teaspoon Poultry seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks real butter

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 recipes of cornbread (see below)

1 recipe: 2 cups cornmeal, 1 2/3 cups buttermilk, 1 egg, 1/4 cup wesson oil.

3 small onions, diced

5 stalks celery, diced

12 slices white bread, toasted and crumbled

First make your cornbread. Heat the 1/4 cup wesson oil in a black iron skillet in 400 degree oven for a few minutes until it is very hot. Mix the cornmeal, buttermilk and egg. Pour the 1/4 cup hot oil into cornbread batter, stir. Then immediately pour batter into iron skillet and bake for 20 minutes in 400 degree oven.

While the cornbread is baking, dice your onions and celery. Use less onions if they are very strong. Put these two items in a bowl.

Next, melt your butter. I pulled out my "vintage" mid 1970's Dansk pot. I haven't used it for such a long time because it was just too small when I was cooking for 5. Now that we're back down to 2, I use it more often. You'll add the butter later.

Toast your bread. I usually have to toast each piece at least twice sometimes three times to make sure it is toasted completely through. It crumbles a lot better. Just don't burn it! Crumble the cooked cornbread and the crumbled toast into a large bowl. Then add spices, melted butter and eggs. Mix well and add onion and celery. Add the chicken stock.

Spread mixture into a large greased pan and cook at 400 for about 40 minutes. Don't overcook or it will become dry. There you go, Southern Cornbread Dressing!