A classic cornbread dressing made with day old cornbread, traditional sauteed vegetables and seasoned with sage.

Cornbread Sage Dressing with Gravy

Wow y'all! I cannot believe Thanksgiving is just days away now. Where does the time go? Before we know it, Christmas will be here, speaking of which... I put my tree up and started decorating this weekend, which is the earliest ever for me. There were a few reasons for starting a little early this year, and none of them have to do with blogging.

First, well... we moved this year and I wanted to make sure my tree would fit in the new house! I bought one of those Bethlehem Lights {affil link} LED instant-power trees (LOVE!) a couple of Christmases ago, and while it fit fine in the family room where I had a cathedral ceiling, I wasn't sure how it would fit in the new house that has standard height ceilings.

It fit, yay!

 

A wintertime creamed corn side dish, made from frozen corn and rich with butter and cream, perfect for the holidays.

Winter Skillet Creamed Corn

There's nothing better than fresh corn on the cob in the summer and hopefully you put some up in the freezer for this super easy, winter holiday side dish. If you didn't, don't fret.

It's perfectly wonderful with good ole store-bought frozen corn and you can even save yourself a pretty penny by using a generic brand. The plus with starting with frozen corn, is that it saves you a few steps too, making it the easiest ever creamed corn and a breeze to throw together.

Chicken and Butter Beans - smothered chicken cooked in a roux with baby lima beans, pictured here with creamed brussels sprouts.

Chicken and Butter Beans

I have been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs y'all!! We have the grandkids everyday now after school - which I love, love, love, don't get me wrong. Since our move to be closer to them six months ago, we have seen and spent more time with them from since they were born. It isn't that we were all that far away from them to begin with, but where we did live was off the beaten path and far enough away to be inconvenient for everybody. It does leave me with a small window of time in the mornings to get everything done though, and believe me, it goes by quick! I suppose that some of you moms know exactly what I mean.

Book Review - Around the Table by Martina McBride

If you watch or DVR the daytime shows, you probably remember seeing Martina McBride recently making the rounds with her new book, "Around the Table: Recipes and Inspiration for Gatherings Throughout the Year." Besides having a successful music career, turns out Martina has a passion for entertaining too and, because it's such a daunting process for so many of us, she wanted to bring a book to the public that would show step-by-step how we can do it too.