Classic Comfort: Chicken & Dressing

We were in the mood for comfort food this week. I love eating at

Boston Market and having their chicken and dressing but

 I wanted to see if I could make the same meal from scratch,

no processed packaged food allowed. It went really well.

The chicken came out soft and moist because I made it in

the crock pot.  The dressing was so much fun to make and

came out really good. My grandmother makes the best

dressing and this is my version of her recipe. Together,

the whole meal took me about 1 hour to prepare.

Ingredients for Chicken: 

celery

onion        

fresh parsley  

salt & pepper

garlic powder

carrots                             

Ingredients for Cornbread:

(I used the recipe from the cornmeal bag)

1 cup of pure cornmeal

1 cup of flour

2 TBS sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg



I cooked this on high in the crock pot for about 6 hours.
 It came out tender and moist. The carrots, celery, onion,
 and parsley flavored the stock perfectly. I used the stock
 later to make the dressing! This was my first time making
 homemade chicken stock and it came out way better than
 the canned stock from the store. I think I am going to make
 some more in the near future and freeze it.

 Yum!.......

 Next step.....make the cornbread......

Mix the cornmeal, flour, egg, sugar, oil, salt, and milk together.

Pour into a pan and bake at 425 degrees for approximately

15-20 minutes or until golden brown. I used to use the corn

bread mix from the store which contains lard and preservatives.

I never knew making cornbread like this was so easy!

Next.....the dressing........

Ingredients for Dressing:

Cornbread

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

1/2 cup onions

1 1/2 TBS flour

salt and pepper

2 tsp sage (optional)

2 + cups chicken stock

3/4 cup milk

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

In a saucepan on medium heat, mix celery and onions with 1 TBS

extra virgin olive oil. Add salt and pepper and cook until onions

are translucent. Add flour to the mix and cook for a couple of

minutes. Then, from the crock pot, pour out the chicken

stock and mix it in with the celery and onions. Add the milk

and let boil for a few minutes...

With a fork, crumble the cornbread into small pieces. Pour

the chicken stock mixture on the cornbread and mix well.

Bake uncovered 375 degrees for at least 40 minutes or

until it is dark golden...

And it's done....delicious dressing and I didn't use any

ingredients I couldn't pronounce!

Learning how to cook is so much fun... some things I

learned along the way:

-crock pot chicken is extremely soft and moist

- the dressing needs some time so this isn't

something I will make on just a regular week

day.

-chicken stock is really easy to make