Every Tuesday ‘til Christmas, I’ll be joining my gal pal, Kim, in her 2008 End of the Year FAVORITES Party. She assigns the FAVORITE topic each Tuesday. It is her party, after all. Join the fun. And, hop over to Kim and give her a shout. You will Lu-HUV that girl. I love her for many reasons. But, mostly because she laughs at me. And, I like that in a person.
Today’s FAVORITE assignment is Thanksgiving. Huh. Good call, Kim!
Most of my Thanksgivings have been spent in Georgia. I’ve spent two of my 33 Turkey Days in Oklahoma and will spend my third one here this Thursday. One tradition that I maintain no matter if I am southeast or smack dab in the middle of America is my grandmother’s dressing. As soon as I learned to drive {or never learned according to a few}, I began driving to Callie Mae’s house to help her make the dressing – or manna from heaven. I have acquired her mad dressing makin’ skills. Oh, yes I have.
Side note: Callie Mae is my Grandmother who is also Big Mama to many.
This Thanksgiving Day will not go without Callie Mae’s dressing. I thought I’d share her recipe with you. It’s Southern. It’s mad. It’s go-o-od.
Callie Mae’s Dressing
You need:
cornmeal
8 eggs
salt & pepper
1 can cream of chicken
oil
buttermilk
1 stick of butter (melted)
3 or 4 onions (chopped)
12 saltines (crumbled)
5 pieces of loaf bread
small chicken (cooked)
broth from chicken
turkey juice
Directions:
Make 1 large pan of cornbread. Mix 3 handfuls {gotta love Big Mama] of cornmeal, 1 egg, salt & pepper, and 2 spoons of oil. {Teaspoon? Tablespoon? Nope. Just a regular old spoon.} Add buttermilk and equal parts of water. Add just enough to “make juicy,” Callie Mae says. Pour mixture into large iron skillet. Make sure you cover skillet with 3 SPOONS of vegetable oil. Cook on 450° until brown.
Cut cornbread up into large bowl. Take juice from turkey and mix with cornbread. Add cream of chicken, butter, onions, saltines, bread, broth, chicken, salt & pepper. Whew. I’m tired already. Oh, and let that broth cool before pouring or Callie Mae will go pick a hickory stick. Add remaining eggs, and “make it juicy!”
Mix it all together and throw it into a large, deep glass bowl. Begin baking at 350°. When you start to see some bubblin’ on top, turn up the temp a little at a time until it hits 450°. Cook approximately 1 hour until done.
Hmmm. I hope I didn’t leave anything out. Oh well.
Voila! It’s not for the faint of heart. But, I cannot imagine a Thanksgiving meal without it.
Now, Kim said we could share a favorite Thanksgiving memory, tradition, game, or food. And, I chose tradition. When I told Kris I thought about sharing how Bryan, husband #1…..Wait. Not insinuating that Bryan was like #1 as in Woo-Hoo, you win the prize. Just that he was my first husband. Well, ex-husband. Follow? Back to my story. I thought about sharing how Bryan proposed to me on Thanksgiving Day and how sweet it was. Kris was all like, “Why don’t we stick to the past 5 years.” And, I was all like, “Okay, but it was such a sweet memory.” And, I just dug deeper and deeper. So here ya go. Callie Mae’s Dressing.
What’s one of your favorite Thanksgiving memories, traditions, games or foods?
DustyTakle.com 
Well, usually I have Thanksgiving with the Sistas….Sooooo…IT’S ALLLLLL GOOD…..Heading for OKC this year….and I don’t cook like the Sistas but Jen is a yummy cook!!!!! Gonna need some of that Cloud Berry Jelly for some biscuits lol….HAPPY THANKSGIVING BLOG PEOPLE!
I stopped by for Kim’s party. I enjoyed this post… I love your last paragraph. So funny.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. We have the whole family over for a big ole party. My favorite is the Thanksgiving night or the next day when I have a left over turkey sandwich with good ole Mayo. Yum yum!
On a side note…I look forward to your blog every morning and I pay close attention to every word. I understood all the ingredients with the exception of turkey juice. Just what in the heck is turkey juice?
hehehe
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation….after every Thanksgiving Meal.
Joey, I guess you have to be Callie Mae’s granddaughter to understand what I mean by “turkey juice.” It’s just the juice from your turkey in the oven! Ha. And, thank you for reading every word 🙂
Shelley, OH YES!!!!! Are you serious Clark?
By the way, Kris said I made him sound all “I can’t handle your past” like. Oh, and he also asked me when I became a Valley Girl. That being said, Kris is perfectly comfortable and secure with my stories from yester year. The end.
You’re funny 🙂 I love it that you don’t take things too seriously….oh, except for Callie Mae’s dressing!
Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderfully BLESSED!! 🙂
Hi there…I’m linking from Kim’s blog party!
I love seeing all the different dressing recipes! And I love, love, love the name Callie! It’s a family name on my husband’s side, and I sometimes wish I had used it for one of my girls.
Anyway, loved reading your story. That made me laugh out loud. Happy Thanksgiving!
I love grandma’s dressing cold, hot or however I can get it.
That husband thing – I laughed at you then too. You never need a courtesy laugh with me! THanks for playing!
That is one complex dressing recipe. I may need to warm-up with some stouffer’s before tackling that!! I wish I could just borrow Big Mama for the day to make it for me!!!
MMMmmmm! I love me some dressing! I don’t even eat the turkey, just dressing.
I totally followed that last paragraph! Yummy dressing! I love it!! Can’t wait to meet you for reals!
I love this post. Grandma’s recipes are always the best. Ex-husbands always suck. New husbands are always #1. LOL Poor Kris LOL I totally understood what you meant by #1. 🙂
I really really love the measuring techniques.
Have a great thanksgiving!!
I am so gladyou posted that dressing recipe. it is so close to my nanny’s I think she had biscuits instead of loaf bread and i think there was celery too. AND it has to be Juicy( i would say runny, but juicy sounds better)…. thanks for the temps too… i bet peoplewill miss the chicken too… have a happy turkey day. can’t wait to see you at xmas. ‘snipe’ just wasn’t enough of you!
Theresa, you are a funny girl.
Christie, Yum. Biscuits. I love biscuits. Morning, day or night. You’ve been hanging with Jennifer D too long calling it Snipe now. Even Oprah uses Skype on her show! I must be doing it right.
Great blog Dusty, the recipe is added to my recipe pages! I love dressing most of all! I started on some of the food I am taking to my Mom’s house Thursday, everyone is bringing something, to think back in 1983, my dear Mom used to fix most everything, she was 83, amazing!
As far as traditions? Tracy started a tradition every thanksgiving, we go to the movies that night, with her whole family, Aunt Jaime, and the Grandmother Lynn, then, they spend the night, we get up, go shopping with other nuts out there on Black friday. ha! Sometimes I hardly buy anything, but get caught up in the excitement of it, eat a biscuit somewhere, coffee, then go home. But I got to share another season with my family! Wonderful tradition.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
I meant 2003, ha ha! silly of me! Got my mind on turkey, dressing…lol
Remember the ring pops we all were wearing? Our rings were bigger than your ring! lol! I have to stick with Ramona’s dressing…she uses cornbread instead of the crackers and bread. Hate you and Kris and the kids aren’t going to make it by Brittany’s for Thanksgiving. We will miss you all! Give the kids a hug and kiss from us all and have a Happy Thanksgiving!