I'm back!

I'm allowed to take a break, too. Not from food, of course. No big whoop - let's talk.

First things first - here are the recipes I talked about in a previous blog:

Cranberry-orange ginger chutney

For my grandmother's cornbread dressing...well...the recipe seems to change a little every year. Here are the basics:

- one bag cornbread stuffing mix (just the cubed, dried bread)
- 4 slices white bread (preferably pepperidge farm)
- 1/2 of a large onion cut in small pieces
- 1 stalk of celery cut in small pieces
- 1 stick of butter
- buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- s&p and poultry seasoning to taste

Add the bread to a large bowl while cooking the onion and celery in the butter.

*Note the lovely kitchen appliances; I'm cooking at my mom and step-dad's house.*

Add the onion and celery mixture to the bowl of bread and mix with the eggs and enough buttermilk to slightly moisten the mixture. Add s&p along with poultry seasoning to taste. Add to a greased baking dish. Place cubes of butter to the top. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until crunchy on top.


We also found an Alien egg...



Ahh! Where's Ripley when you need her?!! "Game over, man! Game over!"

Back to reality...and maple-pumpkin pie. My mom thought of a cute idea to add the filling to individual graham cracker shells, which was perfect. They were incredibly cute and easy to carry around instead of a large pie.

Maple-pumpkin pie (adapted from a Wegman's recipe)
- 1/2 of a large can or small can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 3/4 cup good maple syrup (Sorry, couldn't resist the Ina-ness)
- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- 3 eggs
- dash of salt
- dash of vanilla
- seasonings, to your liking: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg

Either use 12 individual graham cracker bowls, with a bit left over, or fill a regular 9 inch pie shell.

Mix ingredients together, add to crust(s), bake at 350 degrees. For individual pies, 20-35 min. For large pie, 50-60 min. (Just make sure the filling stops wiggling)

What a great Thanksgiving celebration. I'm very fortunate and thankful for my family and friends...and bacon.

Oh, oh! Although I forgot to take a picture of it (blonde moment), I did make eggnog "waffles" Black Friday.

I took the remaining white bread from the dressing and added it to a mixture of:

- eggnog
- 1 egg
- cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
- orange zest
- touch of brown sugar

Drench the bread in the mixture and add to a waffle iron. You can also add it to a griddle to make french toast, if you do not have the iron. Add syrup to the finished product -- or -- the remaining orange-ginger cranberry sauce. yum