A Couple of Mom's Thanksgiving Recipes

Mom's Stuffing/Dressing and Giblet Gravy

There many things my Mom did right. Two at the top of my list were raising her children to be responsible and productive adults and cooking. Some of the stuff she made were stinkers (we all have those moments), but most of her food were home runs. Two of my fav things my Mom made were Thanksgiving Dinner and Tamales. Both I hope one day I will be able to make even half as good as she did.

Growing up with limited funds (poor), my mom did most of the cooking from scratch. Nowadays, cooking from scratch and with fresh product is more expensive then eating the crappy food you can get at the drive through. 

Shameful, isn't it?

Back then cooking was an event and something that tied family together. I love those memories. She was not the easiest person to learn from. She was not the most patient and a little hard core. She expected perfection and I think assumed we could read her mind. Her directions were vague, but I think she was teaching us how to figure things out on our own, not just have everything handed to us.

Well I paid attention and asked the right questions and learned a few of my favorite dishes that she made.



For the Dressing
The Ingredients:
2pkgs of seasoned croutons
1/2lb of giblets
2 carrots shredded
3 celery diced
4 scallions chopped
2 cans of chicken broth
1 bunch parsley
2 can blk olives
1 stick butter, not margarine!
1 bell pepper. I didn't cause I don't like em.
hand full diced yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
salt pepper to taste
Wine to sip while cooking, my choice tonight was a Sangiovese from Boger Winery from El Dorado Co. Mom had beer!
You may need extra thyme, sage and marjoram if the packets in the crouton bags don't season enough. I always add a little more.

In a large sauce pot put the giblets, 2 cans of broth, yellow onion, garlic, salt and pepper. You may need to add just a little water too. Bring to a boil and reduce to medium and cook for about 35min. When cooked drain the giblets, but DO NOT THROW OUT THE JUICE!

Dice the giblets into small pieces and set aside.

While the giblets are cooking, chop all the veggies and put in a bowl until ready to use. Take a sip of wine and continue.

Put an entire stick of butter in a large stock pot and when the butter is melted add all the veggies. Saute the veggies for about 10 minutes until they are reduced and translucent. Add about 3/4 of the chopped up giblets to the pot and cook for another 5 minutes. Lastly add the croutons and seasoning packets that come in the bag and mix, but not too much that the croutons break down too much.

Then add the juice from the gibbets you just cooked. Add a little at a time it doesn't take much about a cup? Nothing worse than soggy dressing. Should look kinda like this. Any extra juice you will use in the gravy, so no worries it won't go to waste.

Give it a taste and add more of these seasonings a teaspoon at at time until it's what you want it to taste like. Remember, the flavors will come out more when you bake it so don't over season.

Put it all in a cooking dish, cover with foil and bake for about 45min. Let set for 15min before serving. Now finish that glass of wine you have been working on and pour another.

For the Gravy

3T butter

3T flour

2c of the reserved giblet juice

salt/pepper to taste

When making gravy always remember that however much butter you use, use the same amount of flour, equal portions.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour. Once the butter is totally melted start the timer for 2 minutes. Very important to cook the two for 2-3 minutes. It will have a floury taste if you don't

Add your reserved juice, salt and pepper. Another thing is any gravy you make needs to come to a full boil. This will ensure you gravy is at the maximum thickness. For this type of gravy, I don't make it very thick. It's a little on the runny side, but that's how Mom made it and that's how I like it. It is packed with lots of flavor!

Wasn't going to make the whole turkey dinner so Mark grilled up some chops and I made some fresh green beans and finished my second glass of wine to accompany the dressing and gravy. About Mark's grilled chops. He sears the chops for 3 min on each side with the grill turned on high. Then he reduces the temp. to medium to finish cooking. This was an additional 8 min a side. We both like a little char on the meat and he is a pro griller. He makes steak the same way.
Not as good as Moms, but gotta say it was tasty.