Giving Thanks for Favorite Family Recipes

Recreating favorite family recipes on the holidays is a fantastic way to remember and reconnect with family and heritage.

Fall is an incredible season for food. Each year we look forward to tailgating before college football games, making hearty soups and stews as the weather gets colder, drinking warm apple cider, and eating pumpkin spice-flavored everything.

Fall is also a time for gathering and giving thanks. Though turkey may be the most iconic part of the traditional Thanksgiving meal, the side dishes are often the true stars of the show. Many families use recipes that have been passed down for generations. Kori from Knoxville, Tennessee, has carried on the tradition of making one of her grandmother’s recipes each year:

“When I think of a nostalgic food that takes me back to my childhood with my family, my grandmother’s cornbread dressing does just that. She made it every year for Thanksgiving, and ever since 2006, I do not believe I have missed a year of making it for us. No matter how many dressing recipes exist, I can never bring myself to make anything other than hers! It combines classic unsweetened buttermilk cornbread made in the iron skillet with softened onion and celery, torn up bread slices, and sage. After it does its time in the oven, the casserole dish is bursting with the flavors of fall that are only heightened that much more with homemade cranberry sauce. Given fall is my favorite season, it just feels that much more special.”

Kori has kindly shared her grandmother’s recipes for both cornbread and dressing. Don’t they sound absolutely delicious? Here’s how to make the cornbread…

Favorite Family Recipe – Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cornmeal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 cup 1%-1 1/2% buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Put 2 Tablespoons canola oil in 10-inch iron skillet and heat for 8-10 minutes.
2. Mix together dry ingredients, make a well, add wet ingredients, and mix until incorporated. Add 1/4 cup water to thin the batter.
3. Pour into the hot skillet and bake 20-25 minutes or until cracked and golden brown. Serves 8-12.

… and how to turn the cornbread into dressing!

Now…. The Dressing!

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe of cornbread
• 1 large stalk celery, chopped
• 1-2 onions, chopped
• 3 Tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 5 ounces bread crumbs + wheat germ
• 1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

Instructions:

1. Soften vegetables by sauteing them in 1/4 cup broth.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add in all of the ingredients along with broth used for cooking. Evenly combine and form into a large sprayed casserole dish.
3. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes. Serves 12.

Thanks for sharing your memory and favorite family recipes, Kori! What a delicious way to carry on your grandmother’s legacy.

Follow Kori on Instagram: @whogivesahootrd