A good hearty, southern chicken stew, made from a stewed chicken, fresh potatoes and your choice of veggie add-ins.

Homemade Chicken Stew

A hearty stew is a good thing when the weather turns cold and this homemade chicken stew sure made me happy today.

It's been a bit gloomy around here for a few days - overcast, rainy and then cold weather moved in here last night with a vengeance. I stepped outside with the pup - gotta watch over him because we've had a couple close-up encounters with possums and raccoons here lately - and brrrrr y'all.

The temperature must've dropped 40 degrees in just a few hours! I was happy that I had this stew made up, that's for sure.

The shortcut version of chicken stew that I have posted before, is a super easy and flavorful recipe for anytime you're in a hurry for a quick stew, but when you have a little more time on your hands to stew down a chicken, the added flavor from that homemade stock is just amazing.

My Roasted Turkey and a Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Oven Roasted Turkey

How to Roast a Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving! We are lucky to spend these major holidays with family every year, so I don't host the typical large spread at my home. I do, however, always do a little mini spread either before or after the main event, just for The Cajun and me, where I roast a turkey and do some of my favorite sides, including homemade turkey gravy from the drippings (sometimes with giblets, sometimes without), homemade mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, because I have to have my green bean casserole and dressing at the very least. What else I add depends on my mood, or if I'm trying something new.

I've outlined the entire turkey process, step by step, here, and provided a great printable too. Just click the link!

I just want to express my gratitude for all of you. Thank you for visiting my little site here, for having confidence in my recipes, and for being a part of this experience here and on the Facebook page. Thank you for your friendship, for your sweet comments and heartwarming emails sharing bits and pieces of yourselves and for the tears we sometimes share together. You are all truly a joy and I am grateful to have met you. Go. Enjoy your family and make some memories. Food. Family. Memories. Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Love and hugs, Mary

☛ Are you on Facebook? If you haven't already, come and join the party! We have a lot of fun & there's always room for one more at the table.

Posted by Mary on November 23, 2011

Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, but please do not repost or republish elsewhere such as other blogs, websites, or forums without explicit prior permission. All rights reserved.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

191114BHP

.

Waldorf salad is a fruit salad of apples, grapes or raisins, and nuts, tossed with a mayonnaise dressing. Served alone as is, or over a bed of shredded or whole leaves of lettuce, it's a holiday favorite. Add chopped, cooked chicken for a great main dish salad anytime of the year!

Waldorf Apple Salad

Like the Hot Brown, Waldorf Salad comes to us from the kitchen of a hotel, this one the Waldorf in New York City. It is said to have been created oddly enough, not by the chef, but by the maitre d'hotel, or kitchen manager, Oscar Tschirky for a 1893 society party. I actually have made two different varieties of this salad, trying to get one that looked good in a photograph. Just ain't happening y'all, though I tried! Some foods just refuse to be photogenic.

A traditional old fashioned yeast roll, made a bit easier by using the equally old fashioned pan roll method.

Old Fashioned Pan Rolls

I will be the first one to say to you, please make my homemade yeast roll for a holiday meal. They are fabulous and worth every ounce of energy you will put into them.

Apple Dapple is a well loved heritage cake made with apples and pecans, and glazed with a crunchy brown sugar maple topping.

Apple Dapple Cake with Maple Glaze

This is such a tasty and moist apple cake, and you can make it a day ahead, because it gets even better, making it a perfect addition to the holiday table. I first met this cake 30 years ago, though frankly I'm sure it's been around even longer than that, meaning you can count on it being well-tested and reliable too.

A vegetable medley casserole with a classic mixture of pimentos, carrots, peas and corn, transformed with a few simple seasonings and a fabulous cream sauce into a wonderful vegetable casserole, topped here with panko.

Mixed Vegetable Casserole

One of the most popular canned peas in this part of The Deep South is a petit pois variety, literally translated from French as little pea. They are the tiniest, sweetest little baby peas and not at all cheap either, but when you realize just how many peas have to be shelled to just feed a single person, like fresh crabmeat and pecans, you appreciate the labor that goes into them and happily pay the price because you understand. The petit pois have a very short fresh season, only a few weeks in early June, so we enjoy them mostly canned down here. These are the tiny little peas that usually grace the southern holiday table and thanks to their delectable sweetness, I'm not at all surprised. We do love sweet in The South.

Butter Bombs - Mini Bite Sized Biscuits

Little bite sized biscuits made with plenty of butter and sour cream, enough that I had to call them Butter Bombs. I feel pretty certain these would make Paula Deen a happy gal.

Butter Bombs

If mixing up, rolling out and baking traditional southern biscuits makes anxiety rise in you, these little bite sized drop biscuits are so easy it's sinful.

It's also sinful the amount of fat in them, so if you're a deputy on the fat police patrol, just move along please. There's nothing for you to see here.

 

A gumbo of beef, made with a 7-steak, and cooked down with The Trinity trio, okra, and a little bit of chopped tasso for some heat.

Seven Steak Gumbo

As far as I can discern, 7 steak gumbo had to have been born out of frugality.

Unlike its more pricey seafood cousin, it is a gumbo of beef and okra, but of a fairly inexpensive cut of beef, similar to round steak. Seven steak requires slow braising or stewing in order to bring out it's delicious, tender flavor, making it a suitable candidate for a gumbo.

It's called 7 steak because of the bone in it that is shaped like the number 7, when you can find it where the butcher hasn't removed it already, that is. I fix it most often as a Cajun smothered steak, but it can be used pretty much anywhere that you would use a braising steak.