The Worst Ever....What WAS I Thinking?

I used to hate cooking when I was little.  I am the eldest of 7 children.  My stepfather was an alcoholic so, he wasn't able to care for us well.  I always thought of myself as the second mama because my responsibility was to keep the house clean, make sure that my bros and sis took their bath and had on clean clothes, and most importantly make sure they ate.  So, I spend hours in the kitchen cooking.  Then, during Thanksgiving and Christmas I had to help my mother in the kitchen and we would spend hours after hours in the kitchen cooking. I used to hate it.  So when I became and adult, I didn't want to cook.  I wanted to be an independent woman who didn't have to cook for anyone.  But, as I got older, I realized that men loved a woman who could cook and that it is a great skill to have.  I mean, you spend less money cooking your own food than trying to go out all the time to eat good food, right?  So, for the past 5 or 6 years, I've been developing my craft and I can say (if I may) that there are some things that I've gotten pretty good at cooking.  No, I have not become an expert in fried chicken, but my cornbread dressing IS TO DIE FOR.

I first attempted cornbread dressing when Mister and I were together Thanksgiving 2004.  It wasn't that bad, I just put too much sage in the dressing.  And the bread crumbs had not absorbed the stock....Well, it wasn't so good, but I it was a good effort.  Well, I learned not to use sage and I learned some other techniques that have me craving for a good batch of the stuff.  Which is what I did this weekend.

I set out to make some dressing, but I didn't have any cornbread mix.  I know, I know, I use a mix, but it makes it taste good!!  So, looked up a recipe and realized that I had all the ingredients except baking powder.  Hmmm.  I also didn't have any gas or minutes for my prepaid cell phone, so I humbled myself and asked a friend to borrow some money. Well, it was two friends that I asked.  So, I put gas in my car, bought a prepaid phone card and headed to the grocers for baking powder.  I got back home and was excited.  My mouth was watering.  I couldn't wait for my fantastic cornbread dressing with a side of cranberry sauce (even though it needs no cranberry sauce or gravy).

After about 25 minutes in the oven, it was still not done.  Hmmm.  5 more minutes in the oven and it was still kind of odd and something was wrong.  It didn't look nice and fluffy.  It actually looked hard and crusty, but the center wasn't done.  Huh??  What???  WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CORNBREAD??

It was finally done, but it was very dense.  Like pound cake instead of light and moist like regular cake.  Hmmm.  I mixed the cornbread with my bread crumbs, sauteed the onions and celery and cooked and crumbled the italian turkey sausage.  I mixed it all together and UGH!!!!  IT WAS HORRIBLE!!!!!  Even cranberry sauce couldn't make it taste good.  UGH!!!!

I've never made dressing this gross.  I can't remember ever making anything THAT gross.  But, you know what???  I ate it.  HAHAHA.  Yep, I ate it because we dont' throw away good food.  That's the way I was taught.  If it's not rotten, you eat it.

So, I'm stuck with a pan of gross dressing and a craving for GOOD dressing.

Then I got to thinking....Why didn't I just by cornbread mix instead of baking powder???  What was I thinking??  Cornbread mix cost .45.  Baking Powder cost $1.55????  I could have gotten 3 boxes instead of the baking powder.  I have no idea what I was thinking!!!!!!  LOLOLOLOLOL

So, when I get paid on Tuesday, my first thing will be to buy cornbread mix and more sausage and celery so that I can make my awesome cornbread dressing  I might even add pears to it!