A few Thanksgiving recipes

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to share a few recipes with the ladies at Immanuel. It was such an honor for me to be asked to do this and I had an awesome time. I thought I would pass along some of those recipes to you! Today, I'll start with one of my favorites that makes every holiday meal special. I will have more to share as the holiday season rolls on. I'm gonna be busy this week decorating for Christmas, and I can't wait! I'm so excited about it!! (And no, I'm not crazy ;)
I love baking and trying new things for the holidays so I'll be sure to pass along the good ones!

Cornbread Dressing and Gravy

1 recipe of cornbread (store bought or your favorite recipe) crumbled
6-7 slices of bread, toasted and torn into piece/ or about 5-6 leftover biscuits
1 sleeve of saltiness crackers, crushed
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 large onion, diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery coup
5 eggs, beaten
2 large cartons of low sodium chicken broth (For the dressing I use store bought broth and use the homemade broth for the gravy-recipe following)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crumble your cornbread, toast, and saltiness in a large bowl and mix well. Sauté onions and celery in 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add to corn bread mixture. Add your soups, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and about 1 1/2 cartons of broth and mix well. Taste at this point to see if it needs more salt, pepper, or herbs. Then add your beaten eggs, shredded chicken (2 of the chicken breasts used to make the stock in the recipe following) and more broth if needed. Pour into a large, greased baking dish and bake, covered for about 1 1/2 hours. I like to stir the dressing after the first 45 minutes (to pull the crispy edges into the dressing) and continue to do this about every 15-20 minutes until it's done. Leave the foil off for the last 15-20 minutes.

Chicken Stock:
4 chicken breasts
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

For the stock, place chicken breasts, place all ingredients in a stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, about 40-45 minutes. Remove bay leaves and discard. Shred chicken breasts, adding 2 to the dressing and the other 2 back to the broth.


Gravy:
4 boiled eggs
Cornstarch
2 chicken bouillon cubes
Chicken broth (strained)
2 shredded chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper to taste

For the gravy, bring the broth back to a boil and add the bouillon cubes; stir to dissolve. Then add the chopped, boiled eggs. Put about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a bowl and add about 2-3 tablespoons of cold water; stir to combine. Stir cornstarch mixture into the boiling broth and cook about 5 minutes over medium high heat. If your gravy isn't as thick as you like after 5 minutes, repeat the step with the cornstarch. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.