With Thanksgiving thankfully behind us, we packed up the Thanksgiving decorations last weekend and started hauling out the Christmas decorations. We enjoyed the smaller, saner Thanksgiving gathering this year, and we’re looking forward to spending Christmas with just our immediate family this year. Honestly, I’m appreciating this 2020 “time out.”
So how was your Thanksgiving? Ours turned out OK. My amaryllis cooperated and bloomed on cue:
And I was pleased with my first attempt at making a floral centerpiece using a combination of grocery store flowers and foliage from my yard:
Most of the side dishes were the same ones we serve Every. Single. Year. But I also made cornbread dressing for the first time, and it’ll definitely be making a repeat performance next year. It was moist and savory, and could be a meal in itself. Maybe it was (don’t judge). Some people like to make stuffing cups by baking the dressing in muffin tins, and I’m sure this would be excellent too. Or maybe they just like to do that because it’s so fun to say “stuffin’ muffins.” You know, like “puddin’ pops.” I baked half of the recipe in a pie plate, and it looked nice — the other half went to a friend. This was by far my favorite leftover!
3 slices toasted bread, crumbled or chopped into small pieces
⅓ cup butter
1 medium onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
3 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried sage
2 eggs, beaten
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie works well)
Salt and pepper, to taste
*Prepare the cornbread mix according to package directions at least a day before. When cool, crumble it into a large bowl and cover it with dish towel -- this will allow it to dry out a little before using in the recipe.
Instructions
Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and celery, and saute until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
Place the crumbled cornbread and toasted bread in a large bowl. Add the onion, celery, chicken broth, sage, eggs, cream of chicken soup, shredded chicken, and salt and pepper to taste, and stir until well combined.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish (or two large pie plates) with cooking spray, and pour in the dressing.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until dressing is set and lightly golden brown. (To test for doneness, gently shake the dish -- if the center of the dressing moves, then it is not cooked through and needs to bake longer). Serve hot.
I’ve never met Robin in person. She and I are part of an informal network of recipe contesters, most of whom initially met through conversations on a contesting website. Eventually, most of the conversations moved to Facebook and other social media. Over time, many in the group have forged genuine friendships, looking forward to meeting up at cook-offs, and visiting when passing through. Since I’ve never been to a cook-off, I haven’t met many of the group in person (OK, I’ve only met one in person), but after years of following these cooking friends, and depending, of course, on the frequency and content of a person’s posts, I feel like I have come to know many of them pretty well. Robin was one of those friends.
I remember when Robin was a finalist a decade ago in the Pillsbury Bake-Off — the holy grail of cooking contests — with her Tomato-Crab Bisque:
On more than one occasion she posted photos of perfect eggrolls, which she used to roll by the hundreds:
Robin had a passion for canning and preserving, and had a thriving Etsy shop called Thyme Square Herb Farm. I marveled at the beautiful rainbow of vegetables, salsas, chutneys, and the like that she prepared for her shop:
Robin did not have it easy. She had multiple sclerosis and steroid-induced diabetes, and was confined to a wheelchair. Last year around this time, she was fighting for her life after several surgeries to remove clots in her right leg. Between the poor circulation and other complications, her right leg never did heal, and in October she had a below-knee amputation. We all admired Robin’s determination, her grit, and her positive outlook. When the doctors finally decided that amputation was the only real option, she wrote, “Right now, I have a few days to fall apart and break a few things and punch a few pillows . . . but I’ll be fine.” That was Robin.
Unfortunately, the amputation wound didn’t heal well, and shortly thereafter she had a subsequent above-knee revision. I was aching for her when she wrote: “I’m tired physcially and emotionally. I’ve had enough. When they wheeled me back for the last amputation, I remember the last thought in my head was praying for God to let me go peacefully in my sleep. But in my world, God doesn’t see fit for anything to go smoothly . . . whether it be love or happiness, it is not his intention for me to take the easy road.” And so she persevered, writing “I’m taking it one day at a time. I’m learning to do everything all over again in a different way. It can get frustrating and many, many times I’ve felt like it would just be easier to give up. But with so much encouragement from family and friends and total strangers who have stepped up to help, I can’t possibly let them down. I have to stay strong. One day all of this will be behind me and I will . . . be able to move on and do big and important things with my life.”
As soon as she was out of the rehabilitation hospital, she was frequenting the farmer’s market and back in the kitchen. Look at this beautiful fudge she made for a client’s wedding — 14 pounds of it!
She cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal for her family, including what she described as a “competition ready” turkey, and which her family called a “Food Network turkey”:
On Thanksgiving she wrote, “Thank you God! This time last year, I was in the ICU on life support fighting for my life. Thank God for giving me another year to spend with my family and give thanks. While it may be difficult at times, I thank you for the opportunity to fight the fight and win the struggle.”
On December 15, just shy of 44 years old, Robin had a massive stroke and died shortly thereafter in her daughter’s arms. I was stunned to read that she had passed. Although I never met her, I can’t shake the sadness I feel for her and her family, and that she faced so many devastating medical conditions in the last year of her life. My admiration for her undefeatable spirit, however, remains strong.
Winning a recipe contest is a thrill. Seeing your recipe in print is another thrill. Yet another thrill, perhaps the most personally satisfying one, is to have someone make and enjoy one of your recipe creations. Today happens to be Robin’s birthday — she would have been 44 — and to honor her memory, I made her Spinach and Oyster Dressing, a recipe she said was one of her “most prized recipes.” I’ve printed the recipe here exactly as written. The dressing is delicious, and the smell of the bacon and garlic as it baked had our mouths watering in anticipation.
Arrange bread cubes on sheets of wax paper or foil in a single layer and let dry overnight. (Or place cubes on foil-lined oven racks and bake in a 325 degree oven 25 minutes, or until golden.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and cook until crisp. Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.
Add olive oil to pan drippings. Stir in onion, leeks and celery. Reduce heat to medium and cook until celery is tender, about 7 minutes, stirring frequently.
Combine bread cubes, pancetta, onion mixture, spinach, butter, sage, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss until well blended. Stir in broth and fold in oysters. Spoon mixture into pan.
Bake, covered with foil, 30 minutes, until thoroughly heated. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes longer, or until lightly golden.
On Thanksgiving she wrote, “
