Grandma Food: Part III: Dressing + Turkey Day Dinner!

Thanksgiving Day is my favorite holiday!  Food, friends and family; what more could a person ask for?  I came to my parents this year especially to ensure that we had Grandma Dressing for dinner.  This was made the day before so that the turkey could be stuffed in the oven 1st thing in the morning.

 First, tear up the bread into small pieces.

 Cut up the celery and the onions.

 Boil the turkey livers.

And chop em up!

 Now mix together the bread and some water till it is semi-sticky (I know...such a technical term..).  You can use either plain water, or the water from boiling the chicken livers.

 Then add a few eggs.  You want it to be wet..but not a big pile of mush.

 Add the onions, livers and celery.

Stuff that turkey!  It was nice to not be doing the mixing here as I was able to take some action shots  :)

Our Thanksgiving Day Menu consisted of:  Turkey, Dressing, Ham, Green Bean Casserole, Homemade Baked Beans, Mashed Potatoes (tried some from DailyGarnish this year), Cheesy Noodles, Red Cabbage, Broccoli and Cheese, Squash...and a wide variety of desserts.  I should have taken more pictures!

Grandma Dressing (Stuffing)

Ingredients:

• 6 loaves of bread (I do half wheat, half white.  Grandma does all white)
• 2 packs chicken livers
• 1 onion, chopped
• poultry seasoning
• parsley
• ~6 eggs
• ~2 cups water
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Boil chicken livers until cooked (15-20 min) in enough water to cover
2. While chicken livers are boiling, tear up bread
3. Add water and eggs to bread; enough to make it wet and sticky, but not too wet
4. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Spices can be varied based on taste.
5. Stuff the turkey with as much as you can and cook the remaining dressing in a casserole dish, making sure it doesn't dry out while in the oven.
6. After cooked, mix together the stuffing from the turkey and the casserole dish to blend flavors.

This makes A LOT of stuffing.  Probably enough to feed 50 people!  Make sure you are hungry, or really like leftovers!

Detroit Thanksgiving

Every year my friends in the Detroit area all get together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We do this a couple weeks before the actual Turkey Day.  Nothing wrong with having two Thanksgivings!  Everyone brings a dish to pass.  This year, as in years past, I brought squash casserole.

 First, I cut up 5 acorn squashes and removed the seeds.

 I cooked these up just like pumpkin seeds and the bf agrees, they taste better than pumpkin seeds!  I am thinking it is because the shells are thinner.

 Put ~3/4T butter and 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar in each half.

Don't forget to baste the squashes every 15 minutes or so.  Cooked them for about 2 hours before scooping out the insides and putting it in a pan to transport to the dinner.

Happy early Thanksgiving everyone!  :)

Chunky Monkey Pancakes with Chia Egg

Weekend mornings mean pancakes!  Today I thought I would give my chocolate lover some Chunky Monkey Pancakes from AllRecipes.  All was going well until I realized that we only had 1 egg.  So, since I have a large bag of Chia (which I purchased from Amazon), I decided to use a Chia Egg as a replacement for the 2nd egg.  The issue I have been having with Chia Eggs is no way to crush up the seeds.  Today I got creative and used the coffee grinder.

 Had a few coffee grounds in it, but that is ok.

Nothing like a chocolate chip and banana pancake to start off the morning!