Happy Wednesday everybody!!..Today I am totally re-posting this recipe from last year, because, as I will mention here in a bit, this is one of my most favorite foods of all time, and holy cow next week is Thanksgiving.  This will be perfect for your Thanksgiving table y’all, enjoy!!!….

Yes, I am going to say it…this is the best dressing you will ever, ever, eevveerr have in your life.  You know how I know this? because as a whole, I don’t like dressing, it’s too dry, too weird, too something, and don’t even get me started on folks who put dadgum oysters or some other awful in it…for reals,  this dressing is on my list of favorite foods of all time. 

Did you hear that? I said one of my favorite foods of all time, and y’all, I know some food.  Also, I have never seen dressing anywhere made like this, but that probably has something to do with the fact that my great great grandmother Josie (on my mom’s side) made up this recipe and lucky for us passed it down to the ladies in the family.  So this is basically a secret family recipe, but to heck with the secret part, this is just too darn good not to share y’all.  I have had people who despised dressing who I force fed coaxed into trying it and are now dressing converts and request it every year.  Yes, there are some steps involved in this recipe but it’s worth every damn darn delicious bite.

Let’s make some cornbread shall we?..Let’s start with some good ole Crisco and an iron skillet..

Cornmeal and eggs…

Then your sauteed onions and celery…

Then throw in the rest of your ingredients, mix well and throw in your iron skillet…

Bake it up until it looks like so…

After sitting overnight (preferably) finely crumble your cornbread in a bowl…

Add  your melted butter and eggs…

Then add the rest of your ingredients and the texture should look like this, real ‘liquidy’…

Place all in your pan…

Then pour your butter on top…

While baking, stir intermittently as the sides start to set…

And enjoy!

The Best Dressing Ever

2014-12-04 11:00:49

The most moist and flavorful cornbread dressing you will ever have.

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FOR THE CORNBREAD

1. 1-12" Iron Skillet or Pan.
2. 2 Cups Chopped Celery, sauteed.
3. 1 Large Onion Chopped, sauteed.
4. 6 1/2 Cups of Self-Rising Cornmeal.
5. 3/4 Cup of Crisco, melted and divided evenly.
6. 4 Large Eggs.
7. 4 Cups of Milk.

FOR THE DRESSING

1. 1-9x13 Pan.
2. The Cornbread, crumbled.
3. 48 Ounces of Chicken Broth.
4. 6 Eggs.
5. 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda.
6. 2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter, Melted, Poured in Mixture.
7. 1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Melted, Poured on Top After in Pan.

CORNBREAD (Make Day Before)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl place your measured out cornmeal.
3. Melt your Crisco and pour half in your iron skillet or pan, coating the pan well.
4. In a pan, saute your celery and onions until soft.
5. To your cornmeal add your eggs, then place both your celery and onions in your bowl.
6. Now add your milk and the other half of your melted Crisco and mix until all well incorporated.
7. Bake your cornbread for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. After your cornbread has cooled completely, wrap thoroughly and tightly with cellophane and let it sit overnight on your countertop (it isn't absolutely necessary to sit out, but it does give the best taste because it lets all the flavors really seep into the cornbread).

DRESSING

1. In a large bowl, with your hands, finely crumble your cornbread (I had about 1/3 of the cornbread left because it makes such a large serving of cornbread).
2. To your crumbled cornbread, add your 2 sticks of melted butter, eggs, chicken broth and baking soda, and mix until well incorporated (yes it is supposed to be very liquidy).
3. Add salt and pepper to taste (I add quite a bit of both).
4. Pour your mixture into a well buttered 9x13 pan.
5. Evenly pour your 1 stick of melted butter on top.
6. Bake your dressing for about 30 minutes, but start checking after 10, because when the pan starts to slightly set around the edges you need to stir the whole pan, put back in the oven, and keep repeating the stirring every time it starts to set until it's done. The key to this dressing is not to over cook this dressing, it will be super moist and awesome if you don't.

Notes

1. I shouldn't say this, but if you're feeling hurried, lazy etc. instead of sauteing the onions and celery you can totally microwave the heck out of them, just as long as they're soft you're good.

By Tanya

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

Happy Monday everybody!  I’m hearing parts of the country are getting snow already (yikes!) but around here it has rained/sprinkled/misted/monsooned pretty much nonstop for what feels like forever (okay, for about a week, but still). 

Anyways, given the current mood the dreary weather is causing, I figured some soup with a kick would be perfect.  This soup has been a long time favorite that my mom makes, and I will admit I make mine a bit spicier than her and you can totally change that to your liking as well. 

This is a seriously easy soup to throw together and so perfectly savory, and may I suggest enjoying with a side of cornbread? Yummy! 

Hopefully you can whip some of this up tonight for dinner on this (possibly) cold night 🙂 Have an awesome start to the week y’all.

Butter & Onion into the pot…

nice and browned…

now add the water and the chicken…

once the chicken has cooked, take it out and shred it up…

place the chicken back in and the rest of the ingredients and dunzo…

then enjoy!!!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

2015-11-07 17:39:25

A deliciously spicy and flavorful soup.

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Ingredients

1. 1 Medium Onion, Chopped.
2. 2-4 Tablespoons of Unsalted Butter.
3. 10-12 Cups of Water,
4. 2 (14.5 Ounce) Cans of Chicken Broth.
5. 2 (14.75 Ounce) Cans of Cream Style Corn.
6. 2 (10 Ounce) Cans of Enchilada Sauce.
7. 1 (4.5 Ounce) Can of Chopped Green Chiles.
8. 2 (8 Ounce) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts.
9. 1/2-1 Cup of Small Egg Noodles or Angel Hair Pasta, Broken Into Pieces.
10. 1.5 Teaspoons of Cumin.
11. 1/2 Teaspoon of Dried Oregano.
12. Salt and Pepper to Taste.
13. Shredded Cheese For Garnish (Optional).

Instructions

1. In a large pot place your butter and chopped onion and put on medium high heat and sauté your onion until browned.
2. Now add the water to the pot and bring to a low boil and add the chicken.
3. Slowly boil the chicken until cooked through, then remove the chicken to a plate and shred/cut the chicken into pieces and place back into the pot.
4. Now add the rest of the ingredients to the pot, adding salt & pepper to taste.
5. Once the noodles have cooked, the soup is ready to serve.

Notes

1. I used half the can of the green chiles and it was still very spicy, if you like more or less spice just adjust how much of the green chiles you put in.

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

Happy Wednesday everybody! I have an awesome recipe I’m gonna share with you guys today!  This recipe maybe a cornbread, but it is certainly not a side. 

This cornbread is so hardy and full of awesome stuff it is definitely a meal all by itself, I mean, you’re certainly welcome to make this as a side dish but you will be stuffed to the gills if you do (not that that is always a bad thing).  This cornbread has boatload of cheese, onions, corn and sausage yum! 

Of course I had to make this cornbread in an iron skillet because I have yet to mess up a cornbread made in one, always perfectly and evenly cooked and always moist. Obviously you are welcome to cook this bad boy up in whatever you have but an iron skillet is always a good idea 🙂 

I have to mention that I had a hard time deciding on a title for this cornbread. I wanted to denote the hardiness of this recipe but I’m sure you can understand why I didn’t call it man sausage cornbread (yikes!!!).  Hope this cornbread can warm up your hump day dinner table tonight and let me know what you think if you make it!  Have a great day y’all!

Alrighty, sausage into the pan…

when you have cooked the sausage down a bit, add your onions…

  nice and cooked up…

set your sausage/onion mixture aside in a separate container, now for the cornbread…eggs, cornmeal, buttermilk, corn etc.

all mixed up…

now 1/2 of the cornbread mixture into the skillet…

now layer 1/2 of the sausage/onion mixture & cheese…

now the other half of the cornbread and the other half of the sausage/onion mix & cheese

then into the oven (which I forgot to photograph, oops) then enjoy!!!

Man Cornbread

2015-10-01 14:04:25

Delicious and hardy cornbread filled with cheese, sausage and corn.

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Ingredients

1. 8 Ounces of Mild Country Sausage.
2. 2 Cups of Mild Cheddar Cheese, Grated.
3. 1/2 Cup of Chopped Onion.
4. 2 Cups of Self-Rising Cornmeal.
5. 1 Cup of Buttermilk.
6. 15.25 Ounce Can of Whole Kernel Corn, Drained.
7. 2 Large Eggs.
8. 10" Iron Skillet.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In your skillet start cooking your sausage, when it is almost all browned, add your onion to the sausage and cook until onions are soft and slightly browned, now remove your pan from the heat and place the cooked sausage & onions in a small separate bowl.
3. In a large mixing bowl place your corn meal, buttermilk, corn and eggs, and mix all ingredients together until combined.
4. Now pour half of your cornbread batter back into your skillet, topping with half of your sausage/onion mixture then top that with 1/2 of the cheese.
5. Now pour the other half of cornbread batter on top of the cheese/sausage mix, then the rest of the sausage/onion and cheese on top of that.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
7. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly and enjoy!

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

Happy Monday y’all! I will be sharing a recipe today that is a little unorthodox (to say the least) from what I normally do, because it’s not a cheat day treat for people but for the fur babies in your life. 

Well, I wouldn’t say these were a treat in the sense that they’re bad, because these are definitely not, these are totally filled with healthy but definitely tasty stuff for your pooch. 

These were so much fun to make for my sous chef, who was extra helpful in the kitchen that day because she totally knew these were for her and she just loooves sweet potatoes…look at that precious face! Btw, totally not asking her to do a trick, that’s just how she begs haha.

A heads up though, this dough is super duper sticky, so most definitely flour the bajeez out of your counter before rolling it out,  otherwise you’re going to have a heck of a time getting your cookies out in one piece to bake–not that I had that problem or anything hehe.   Lacy just loves these treats, so much so that I had to hide the container because she would sit, stare and sigh very loudly for them haha.  I think the doggie in your life will also love these too! Have an awesome day!

Start with your cooked sweet potatoes (sorry, just one here)…

scooped out and into the bowl…

now add your eggs…

now the applesauce and coconut oil…

all mixed up…

now for some whole wheat flour…

and mix again, then place onto a well floured counter…

all rolled out…

cookie cutter into the dough…

onto your pan…

yummy for your doggies tummy!!

Homemade Doggie Treats

2015-08-13 12:56:19

Yields 32

A perfectly healthy and yummy treat for your fur baby.

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Ingredients

1. 2 Medium Sweet Potatoes, Cooked.
2. 3 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour, Plus More for Counter.
3. 1/2 Cup of Unsweetened Applesauce.
4. 2 Eggs.
5. 2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil.

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. You can either boil your sweet potatoes until fork tender or microwave on high until tender.
3. Cut your sweet potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh and place into your bowl.
4. Now add your eggs, applesauce and coconut oil to your potatoes, mash together with a fork or potato masher until well blended.
5. Now add your whole wheat flour and mix until blended.
6. Turn your (very sticky) dough out onto a very very well floured surface and with a well floured rolling pin, roll your dough to about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.
7. Using whatever cookie cutter shapes you like, cut out your cookies and place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the desired consistency you like is reached.
8. Let cool and store in airtight container until it's your dog's treat time 🙂

Notes

1. If you want your cookies really crisp, you can bake for 25-30 minutes, I wanted mine to be a little soft so 18 minutes was sufficient.
2. After you have cut out as many treats as you can, you can totally ball up the dough and re-roll it out to cut out more.

By Holly

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

I’m just going to be honest and admit that some good, nasty (a good nasty) fair food is just needed, weelll, maybe not needed but definitely wanted.  This last cheat day I wanted a corn dog bad don’t judge me. 

I’m sure it had something to do with the Fourth of July being a couple of weekends ago, and per usual, hot dogs were everywhere. 

I like hot dogs just fine, but a corn dog is a whole other story; the crunch of the fried corn bread batter, the slight sweetness of it that pairs so well with the hot dog, and just so awesomely handheld and dippable in ketchup or mustard. 

Well, I don’t know about y’all,  but I don’t have a fryer lying around my house to make corn dogs, so I think these mini corn dog muffins are the next best thing (maybe better). 

These were beyond easy to make, and soo freaking good y’all.  Since they’re baked,  they don’t taste exactly like a corn dog, but the corn muffin part is slightly sweet, soft and the perfect amount of hot dog in the middle…yummy!! Happy Monday!! 

For the cornbread start with melted butter and sugar…

  all whisked together…

  then add your eggs…

then add your buttermilk…

then add your flour and cornmeal…

all mixed up…

cut up your hot dogs into 1″ pieces…

place 1 Tablespoon of your batter into your mini muffin pans…

put your hot dog pieces into the batter…

baking…

and enjoy!!!

Mini Corn Dog Muffins

2015-07-09 10:13:07

Yields 36

All the flavor of delicious corn dogs in mini muffins.

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Ingredients

1. 6-8 Hot Dogs, Cut Into 1" Bites.
2. 1/2 Cup of Unsalted Butter, Melted.
3. 1/2 Cup of Sugar.
4. 2 Eggs.
5. 1 Cup of Buttermilk.
6. 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda.
7. 1 Cup of Cornmeal.
8. 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour.
9. 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt.
10. Mini Muffin Pan(s).

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, add your melted butter and sugar and whisk together.
3. Then add your eggs and whisk together.
4. Now add your buttermilk and mix again.
5. Now add your cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt and mix together until combined and set aside.
6. Cut your uncooked hotdogs into 1" pieces and set aside.
7. Spray your mini muffin pans well with baking spray, then place 1 tablespoon of the cornbread batter into each tin and place one piece of hot dog into each tin leaving the top of the hot dogs out of the batter.
8. Bake your corn dog muffins for 9-12 minutes (I took mine out at 10) or until the cornbread is slightly golden around the edges.
9. Cool slightly, serve and enjoy!

Notes

1. You can use either beef or pork hot dogs, these mini corn muffins were made with beef hot dogs.

Adapted from IowaGirlEats.com

Adapted from IowaGirlEats.com

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

Happy Friday Y’all!!  I may not be bringing you a cocktail today for your weekend, but I’m certainly bringing you a recipe I’m super excited to share with you guys. 

Today’s recipe comes courtesy of a happy accident.  I had had this amazing idea (if I do say so myself) of making mini mac-n-cheese calzones.  I figured, homemade mac-n-cheese is awesome, calzones are awesome, and mini foods are super awesome, how could this be wrong? 

Well, it’s still definitely a great idea, but my attempts at making them were extremely frustrating…I’m just going to chalk it up to my continuing issues working with dough.  After an hour, I finally eeked out a few that didn’t completely fall apart before baking, and they looked, well, interesting to say the least…ok, let’s be real, they looked terrible.  Seeeee…

     the one in the front left looks like a deranged taco, and the others…murdered clams…

So, I totally wanted to scrap the whole thing, but realized I still had an entire bowl of mac-n-cheese awesomeness, as well as an entire pound of dough and didn’t want to waste it, so I thought throwing it all in my iron skillet and baking that up would make for an amazing savory treat. 

Guess what?  I was right haha, this was soooo dang delicious y’all, and I couldn’t believe how perfectly it cut into perfect deep dish slices.  Y’all just make this, for reals, it was decadent and awesome. 

 Cook some macaroni…

drain it and add to your bowl…

add butter…

add eggs…

add all the cheese, milk and salt and pepper to taste…

all mixed up…

dough on a floured surface…

all rolled out (I rolled it even more to make it thinner after this pic btw)…

into the skillet…

then mac n cheese into the pan…

bake, bake, bake and enjoy!!!

Mac N Cheese Pizza Pie

2015-07-08 11:13:49

A deep dish macaroni and cheese pizza.

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Ingredients

1. 1-16 Ounce Publix Premade Pizza Dough.
2. 1 1/4 Cup of Dry Macaroni, Cooked.
3. 5 Tablespoons of Cold Butter, Thinly Sliced.
4. 4 Ounces of Mild Cheddar Cheese, Shredded.
5. 2 Ounces of Parmesan Cheese, Shredded.
6. 4 Ounces of Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded.
7. 1/2 Cup of Ricotta Cheese.
8. 4 Eggs.
9. 1/2 Cup of Milk.
10. Salt and Pepper to Taste.
11. 10" Iron Skillet.

Instructions

1. Take your dough out to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a medium/large saucepan cook your macaroni until soft and drain.
4. In a large bowl, place your macaroni, then add your butter, eggs, cheese, milk then salt and pepper to taste (I usually salt pretty liberally).
5. Mix very well and set aside.
6. Place your dough on a floured surface and using either a rolling pin or your hands flatten and stretch out your dough until large enough to be placed in your iron skillet with a slight overhang that you can trim off or just fold over which I did.
7. Pour your macaroni and cheese mix into your dough and bake for 30 minutes uncovered, then loosely place foil on top and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
8. Let cool slightly and serve.

Notes

1. You can put more or less cheese, or any variation of types of cheese that you may like better 🙂

By Holly

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/

One of my favorite go-to salty & savory cheat day yummies is garlic & parmesan breadsticks, I mean do you blame me? Carbs, cheese and butter are always a good idea.  Anyways, there is this absolutely fabulous Italian restaurant near me that makes everything super fresh, including all of their dough for their pizzas and their breadsticks. 

I can’t tell you how many times I have ordered and picked up their amazing food for my cheat day.  Well, as much as I could eat there every cheat day, sometimes I don’t feel like getting out in the traffic –if you live in the Atlanta area, I know you feel me on this.  I figured since I had had such good luck using Publix’s fresh pre-made dough for my Easy Skillet Pizza, that this would definitely be my starting point for my breadstick bites. 

I know, I know, I totally cheated by using this dough, but I’m not quite there yet to tackle making a from-scratch dough.  Y’all these breadstick bites are going on my mental list of super easy peasy things to make but are also crazy stupid delicious.  These are beyond addictive, seriously,  my little sister had one, then proceeded to inhale eat the rest of them.  They are soft, garlicky, buttery, cheesy and basically perfect,  so just go ahead and make these asap.  🙂

dough all smooshed out, sorry hard to see the dough,  a thunderstorm had rolled in and it was dark…

all cut up…

baking up so nicely…

while baking, place cheese into a bowl…

now the melted butter and garlic powder…

throw in some hot breadstick bites…

all mixed up and ready to eat…

sooo delicious y’all!..

Garlic Parmesan Breadstick Bites

2015-06-11 10:02:13

Deliciously soft breadstick bites, filled with all of the flavors of garlic and parmesan.

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Ingredients

1. 1 (16 Ounce) Bag of Pre-Made Publix Dough.
2. 1 Stick (1/2 Cup) of Unsalted Butter, Melted.
3. 1 Cup of Parmesan, Finely Shredded.
4. 1/2-1 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder (depending on how much you prefer).
5. 1-2 Teaspoons of Salt, or To Taste.
6. Large Sheet Pan.

Instructions

1. If using pre-made dough, let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
3. On a floured surface, place your dough.
4. Using your hands flatten and stretch it out into an even shape at 1/2 inch in thickness.
5. Using a bread knife, cut your dough into desired size bites.
6. Place your dough pieces onto your non stick sprayed pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the outsides are golden brown.
7. While your bites are baking, in a large bowl place your shredded parmesan, melted butter, garlic powder, salt to taste, and mix all together.
8. Once you take your bites out of the oven and while still hot, place them into your butter/garlic/parmesan mixture and mix until all of the bites are thoroughly covered, then enjoy!

Notes

1. I used pre-shredded parmesan, but then used my handheld chopper to get the pieces really small, you could also use a knife.
2. Remember you can use as little or as much garlic, parmesan or salt as you like.

By Holly

HOLLY'S CHEAT DAY https://www.hollyscheatday.com/