Holiday Side Dishes

I'm afraid I am not quite as dedicated, so I make good use of "readjusting" those old recipes by using canned and pre-packaged ingredients, when needed. It's a lot quicker and certainly more convenient.

Here are some great old Southern holiday side dish recipes used often by the women in my family, but updated to make preparation time faster.

Quick Corn Pudding

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup whole milk
1/2 stick of butter, melted
3-1/2 Tablespoons sugar
a Tablespoon flour
1 can of creamed corn (I like Del Monte)

What to do:

Set over to 350 degrees. Add milk, sugar and flour to well beaten egg, then blend corn into mixture. Put in oven for approximately 45 minutes, a little longer if not fully done by then.

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

7-1/2 cups cooked green beans
2 cans cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup
1 cup milk
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
2=2/3 cup french fried onions

What to do:

Set oven to 350 degrees. Spray casserole dish with non-stick canola or olive oil Pam.
In a bowl, mix green beans, soup, milk, 1-1/2 cups fried onions, cheese and pepper and pour into casserole dish. Cook for 25 minutes, then put rest of fried onions on top and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Collard Greens

Ingredients:

5 lbs. of fresh collards, well-cleaned
3 ham hocks
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of garlic powder

What to do:

Cleaning collards, as you know, can be a laborious task. Make sure collards are thoroughly cleaned and rinsed. Slice collard leaves into thin strips and put in large bowl of water, set aside.

Bring ham hocks to a boil in large pot, generally about 1-1/2 hours, reduce heat, add more water and let the hocks cook until they are very tender and easy to stick a fork into. Once the hocks are tender, add salt, garlic and collard greens and let the collards slow cook from a half hour to an hour. It's important that you remember to constantly stir the collard greens.

You can, if you desire, substitute smoked turkey drumsticks in place of the ham hocks, which shouldn't take as long to get tender.

Simple Sausage Dressing

Ingredients:

4 cups stuffing
1/2 lb. crumbled, cooked pork sausage (we like Jimmy Dean the best!)
i cup sliced mushrooms
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped stalk of celery
1-3/4 cups of chicken broth (we use either canned broth or keep chicken stock frozen for just such a use.)

What to do:

Bring mushrooms, onion, celery and broth to a boil on top of stove. Once it starts boiling, cut down to low or simmer and cook for 4 more minutes and add sausage and stuffing. sausage

Three Bean Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb. can red kidney beans
1 lb. can green beans
1 lb. can garbanzo beans
1 thinly-sliced, medium-sized red onion
1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

What to do:

Drain and rinse all beans,put in bowl, then add onions and bell pepper. Mix oil, vinegar, salt and pepper together and add to bean mixture. Cover bowl with cellophane and refrigerate overnight to be served the next day.

Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked carrots, drained and sliced
2 Tablespoons spicy mustard (I like Gulden's)
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
2 Tablespoons butter

What to do:

Add mustard, sugar and salt to melted butter and stir, next add carrots and continue to stir for about 5 minutes. Last, add parsley.