Mom's Thanksgiving Dressing

Thanksgiving Day is almost here!

In less than a week, we'll all be sitting around with full bellies, 

trying to stay awake after the tryptophan kicks in.

Several of you have asked me if I would share my mom's dressing recipe.

As promised, I will do my best.

There never was an actual recipe...nothing written down anyway...

I learned by watching and helping her for many years...and then doing the taste test.

I will try my best to give you an idea since I don't really measure the ingredients.

I make two good sized pans because someone in the family is a real pig has to have their own.

You will need:

• 2-4 loaves white bread (more or less depending how much you want to make)
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 small onion. chopped
• butter
• turkey neck, giblets, broth from cooking them
• 2 large containers chicken broth
• 2 large eggs (maybe 3, depending on amount you're making)
• salt, pepper, poultry or other seasonings to taste

I start out by toasting the bread at least the night before. I wish I had a 16 slice toaster (as if they made such a thing) since this is the time consuming part. I let the toast cool off before ripping to pieces. 

So if you think about it, you get to put a lot of yourself into the dressing since you've touched every. single. piece. of bread. 😉 Maybe that's why it became the star of the show...because Mom's hands touched every piece. So then you will need to find a big ol' pan or dish to hold all of this toasted goodness. As you can see in the photos, I used the foil turkey roasting pan before using it for the turkey!

This year I am cooking two smaller turkeys in an electric roasting pan. This will be a first for me...wish me luck! So...back to the dressing...

In a large saucepan, saute celery and onion in butter until soft. Add a couple of quarts of water to the saucepan and bring to a boil, add raw turkey neck and giblets and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is cooked, remove from heat. Now, Jim loves the giblets (gag) so I save them for him for a little pre-dinner snack and I fish out the neck and let it cool. After cooled, I pull off all the meat I can get...and there really is quite a bit, believe it or not. Back into cooled cooked broth it goes for now.

So now comes the fun part...putting it all together. In a large mixing bowl start by adding part of the bread followed by all cooked broth with meat. This is where much of the guesswork comes in. Add more bread followed by store-bought broth, repeat until all of the bread is mixed with broth and it a soupy, sloppy (sorry) consistency. Not enough broth will make the dressing too dry and too much...well, you see where I'm going with this. Taste along the way and add seasonings to your liking. After that, beat the 2-3 eggs in a small bowl and add to dressing mixture, stirring well until all combined. Place mixture in greased baking pan(s) or casserole dish(es). Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until brown and it releases from sides a bit. I always do the "knife test" to make sure it is done in the middle. And that's it!

Sorry the photos are not the best...they are copied from Facebook posts.

But if you decide to try it, I hope you enjoy it!

~

We all have so many things to be thankful for, don't we?

Well, I am also very thankful for YOU GUYS, my blogging buddies!

Thank you so much for your encouragement and just making my life so much richer.

May God richly bless you ALL this Thanksgiving!