Remembering Great Mama and her Dressing Recipe

In honor of Thanksgiving week, I will share a couple of recipes. The first recipe of the week is Great-mama's Dressing. Great-mama was Karl's grandmama on his dad's side. He grew up just down the road from her house and she was known for her good cooking. She used to make one cake each week and it would last the whole week...(how they had a cake to last a whole week is beyond me...a cake might last 2 days here). LOL My oldest, named her "great-mama" cause great grandmama was just too much of a mouth full so he chopped it to Great-mama. (and she loved her new name). My Karlie almost shared the same birthday with her. Karlie was born on the 24th of November, Great-mama was born on the 25th, both Thanksgiving babies.

Great mama's dressing was always moist and melt-in-your mouth. I asked for the recipe and she wrote it in a letter and sent it to me. I have kept her letter in a safe place, so safe that I couldn't find it to scan and share on the blog.  I always made it for our Preschool Thanksgiving dinner back when I taught weekday preschool at my church. And it was always a hit.

Great mama died in May 2001 while I was pregnant with my third. He was named Shek after her husband, Karl's Pa Berry. (Shek means dwelling place of God, as in Shekinah Glory!)

Great Mama and Pa Berry in their younger years. 

Here's her recipe...it's the same as hers except that I add Jimmy Dean sausage to 'kick it up a notch'

Great-Mama's Dressin'

1 skillet of cooked corn bread
1 tube of cooked Jimmy Dean sausage (sage or regular) do not settle for cheap sausage!
1small onion diced finely in a food processor and sauted  in butter
1 small bell pepper, diced finely in a food processor and sauted
1/4 cup of mushrooms chopped finely in food processor and  sauted (opt)
1 package of cooked mushroom or chicken rice (knorr brand)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
2 cans of chicken broth
3 boiled eggs (chopped finely)
3 raw eggs
garlic salt and black pepper to taste

Cook cornbread. Crumble cooked cornbread in a large bowl. I tear off the hard top and discard. This step makes the dressing soft and moist. I saute the mushrooms, peppers and onions in butter and  I make sure they are chopped finely (food processor or blender on chop works great) so that they are not "hunky" in the dressing. Add rice, cooked sausage, bell pepper, and onion. Stir in soup and broth. Mash up or chop in food processor the boiled eggs and add to mixture. Stir in raw eggs. Mix all ingredients well. Pour into a buttered 13x9 baking dish. Top with pats of butter. Bake 350 until brown for about 30-45 mins.