Southern Cornbread

This is true southern cornbread! It's not sweet and you'll need a cast iron skillet and buttermilk! :)

Ingredients

2 cups Self Rising Enriched white corn meal

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

2-3 tbs corn oil

cast iron skillet

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Mix corn meal, buttermilk, and egg in bowl. Place cast iron skillet on an eye of the stove. Pour 2-3 tbs of corn oil and heat. When oil starts to sizzle, turn eye off. Pour oil into the corn meal mix. Stir. Pour corn meal mix back into cast iron skillet. Place on bottom rack and bake for 20-25 minutes until it doesn't jiggle in the middle. Then move to the middle rack and continue to bake for 5 minutes until top is golden brown.

Use a knife to loosen the sides when it comes out. Flip onto rack to cool.

Slice it and eat it! Butter makes it even more divine!

This is what I will be using in my cornbread dressing on Thanksgiving.

P.S. 

Come check out Piece of Cake's new Christmas design! It makes me want to bake! :)

Thanksgiving Menu

Trey and I are staying here for Thanksgiving, so I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for us! I'm very excited! I got the majority of my ingredients today! Here's what's on the menu!

Turkey

Southern Style Cornbread Dressing

The Lady's Cheesy Mac

Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

Green Bean Casserole

Cranberry Sauce

Sister Schubert Rolls

Green Congealed Salad

Chocolate Pecan Pie

For the most part, it is a very traditional Thanksgiving meal! At least, traditional in the south! I know some might think green congealed salad? ew. Well, it is a tradition in Trey's family. And we LOVE it. Seriously, it is so yummy. This will be my first time to make it. Of course, I will be posting recipes for all the dishes!

Poppyseed Chicken

I got this delicious recipe from Kelly!

Ingredients

2 or 3 chicken breasts, boiled and cut in small pieces
1 16 oz sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken
2 tbs of poppyseeds 

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers
1 stick of butter

First, boil your chicken and then cut in small pieces.

Combine chicken, soups, sour cream and poppyseeds in baking dish.

Top with crushed crackers and melted butter. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350.

Serve with rice and salads and you have a yummy meal!

This is so good!

Homemade Chex Mix

Every fall, I look forward to making this delicious snack! You must try it!

Ingredients
6 cups Corn Chex cereal

3 cups Cheerios Cereal

1-2 cups pretzel sticks
Mixed Nuts (Optional)- I used pecans.

6 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt

3/4 teaspoons Garlic Powder

1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

Directions
Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels; set aside. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

This is the yummiest snack ever! I think I need to make a second batch because it's addictive!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1 pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Rinse seeds.
2. Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

Hobo Dinners

 Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
5 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (This time I used these Baby Yellow Potatoes I found at the grocery store. Yay, for not having to peel and cut!)
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise (Again, I took a shortcut and used carrot chips.)
1 onion, peeled and sliced into rings
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste

 olive oil

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil squares for however many packets you are making.
2. Shape the ground beef into patties and place in center of each foil square. Layer the vegetables on top of the beef patties, starting with the onions, then carrots and finally potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. Drizzle with olive oil.
3. Cover with aluminum foil and seal edges. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or to desired doneness.

Baked Mac and Cheesy

This recipe is, indeed, very CHEESY! 

 Ingredients

1 pound Cooked Pasta
½ cups Butter
½ cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
3-¾ cups Milk
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
2-½ cups Shredded Cheese Of Your Choice
½ packages (6.6 Oz. Package) Goldfish Crackers, Smashed

 

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
2. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package. Once the water comes to a boil and you put the pasta in your water, you can start making your sauce.
3. Melt the butter over low heat until melted.
4. Raise the heat to medium-low and add in the flour, salt and pepper, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly.
5. Remove from heat and add the milk. Return to the stove and heat to boiling, stirring constantly until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon. This will take about 10-15 minutes. You are basically making a bechamel sauce.
6. Add the nutmeg and Dijon mustard and stir.
7. Grate half a block of cheese. I used extra sharp cheddar, then also bought a package of already-shredded cheese to help save some time. You can use any cheese you like though. Some Gruyere, bleu, Swiss, provolone, jalapeno cheddar … all those would be super tasty.
8. Once the sauce is thick and bubbly, add in your cheese and stir. The cheese sauce will now be very thick!
9. Your pasta should be done before all this, so just make sure you drain it—but do not rinse! Return the pasta to your boiling pot.
10. Pour the cheese sauce into the pot and stir well.
11. Pour the macaroni and cheese into an ungreased 9 x 13 glass dish.
12. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on the top.
13. Pour half the package of Goldfish crackers into a food storage bag. Use your hand, a rolling pin or a pan to smash the crackers into crumbles. Sprinkle the mixture on top of your macaroni and cheese.
14. Bake the macaroni and cheese for 20-25 minutes.

Here it is straight out of the oven. I also let it broil for a few minutes to get the top nice and crunchy!

 Serve and enjoy!