Turkey or tofu? Cooking or ordering? Stuffing or dressing? Family or friends?
Early on, one of the most meaningful traditions that Ginny and I started was sharing holiday plans before, during, and after the special day.
We exchanged plans of where and who we would spend Thanksgiving with; we shared pictures of our table; we sent texts of pictures of our celebrations to each other; and after the last guest had returned back home, we shared messages of gratitude for the family and friends in our lives.
Wisdom from the Woods reminds us about the richness of stopping, pausing, slowing down, reflecting, becoming more aware, and expressing gratitude. Our book also lifts up the joy of developing deeper connections with friends, as Ginny and I have experienced through the years by intentionally sharing special life moments with each other.
These days, not as many people cook feasts because delicious Thanksgiving meals can be pre-ordered through favorite restaurants or specialty food stores.
Even so, Ginny and I thought it would be fun for each of us to share one of our family recipes.
Snap a picture of your favorite Thanksgiving recipe and share it with us on our Facebook page! Our Wisdom from the Woods community can create our own virtual holiday feast from all over the country!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Grandma Casper’s (Ginny’s family) Poppyseed Bread Recipe
Combine:
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup poppy seed
Let soak (overnight or for about 8 hours)
Mix:
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon.
Set Aside
Separate 4 eggs
Cream:
I cup butter
1-1/2 cup sugar
Add beaten egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
Sift:
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
Beat, adding dry ingredients alternately with the liquid (the buttermilk and the poppyseed).
Fold in beaten egg whites.
Pour 1/2 batter in 2 well-greased loaf pans (I use PAM). Sprinkle 1/2 the sugar mixture over half the batter. Then pour the rest of the batter and sprinkle the rest of the sugar mixture on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until tested in the middle to be done.
Mama Trammell’s Southern Cornbread Dressing
8 cups of crumbled cornbread
3 cups crumbled toasted white bread
2 eggs
5 cups of chicken stock (canned is fine)
2 tablespoons of butter or oil
1 ½ cups chopped celery
1 ½ cups chopped onions
2 to 3 teaspoons rubbed sage (ground sage ok)
2 tablespoons sugar
Salt and fresh black pepper to taste
- Cook cornbread. If you have a black iron skillet, use two tablespoons of oil and preheat it in the oven. Mix two small packages of Martha White Cornbread mix (or you can make your own cornbread from scratch). Pour into hot skillet and bake according to package directions.
- Cool cornbread and then break into pieces in a bowl (you can do this in advance and let it dry out for a few hours).
- Toast white bread, cool and crumble…three cups is about four slices.
- Small dice celery and onions. In a skillet, heat oil or butter and sauté celery and onions for about five minutes or until tender. Pour one cup of the chicken stock over the celery and onions. Remove from heat.
- Place crumbled cornbread and white bread in a large mixing bowl. Add celery and onion sauté mixture. Slowly add chicken broth, once cup at a time. Add sage, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. At this point, you can taste mixture to see if seasonings are to your liking. After seasoning is completed, add two eggs (raw) and mix thoroughly.
- Spray a 9 X 12 baking pan and spread dressing mixture out.
- Bake at 375° for 45 minutes to one hour. Check for amount of browning and crusting you like on top. Dressing will be moist inside.This recipe makes about 16 one-cup large servings.