What Thanksgiving Means to Me...

Family & Stuffing.

That's it. That's Thanksgiving. Having my family around & having the family recipe for stuffing.

My grandmother's stuffing as interpreted by my Dad because we don't have a written recipe.

Its not put in the bird (yuk), its not gourmet with hard to find ingredients and special seasonings. It's a meal unto itself and it's Thanksgiving to me.

I'm glad I had my sous chef to help me make it for this year's Thanksgiving dinner.

And now, I am going to document the family recipe. Of course, you will note that there are no measurements. There is no specific amount to put in, you just eyeball it.

First ingredient: Cornbread. I used two packages for the base of the stuffing. I live in the north and there is an abundance of corn muffins. Regular cornbread mix is hard to find so I had to go with the corn muffin mix. It has more sugar than the regular cornbread mix.

My sous chef mixed the cornbread and then I poured it into my pre-heated cast-iron skillet and baked it.

The finished cornbread.

While the cornbread was baking, I boiled some eggs.

And Chloe helped me chop some celery, onions, sage, jalapenos and garlic.

Oliver wanted in on the action. He actually just wanted to play with the measuring spoons and eat a boiled egg.

We then gathered the next two ingredients, chicken broth and a whole chicken. I used a store bought because I am lazy. Chloe and tore apart the chicken.

We added the chicken to the other ingredients.

I then took the cooled cornbread and crumbled it in the baking pan. Fancy pan, I know.

I then added in the rest of the ingredients and a little salt and pepper. After it was well mixed I poured the chicken broth over to make it moist.  I baked mine at 375 until browned.

Yum!!! I always have an obligatory piece of turkey, some potatoes, a vegetable and a huge, heaping helping of stuffing.