Momma’s Cooking

It's what you crave when you are homesick or recovering from the Flu. It's the reason you look forward to the Holidays. Momma's cookin'. Every mom has her specialties and my mom, affectionately referred to as "Momma Sue" by her grand-babies makes a couple masterpieces: Chicken N Dumplings and The Best EVER Chicken Dressing (my grandmother's recipe).

For her dumplings my mom uses a mixture of Bisquick and Flour (2/3 to 1/3) and she boils leg quarters. All she uses for spice is pepper, salt and milk. Sometimes she adds some Morton's Natures Seasoning. (This spice mixture is my kitchen must have. It is excellent on baked potatoes!)

No one does it like mom does it. I remember being at a friends house for Thanksgiving one year and his mom made her "famous" dressing that she left out on the stove all night long, with chopped chicken livers in it. As I sat at that table the next day, I kept wondering what the gristle type thing that was shooting around in my mouth every time I bit down was--I was almost frantic, trying to talk myself into swallowing his mother's dressing. . . I nearly cried. No one does it like mom. That was the last time I cheated on my momma's dressing.

Now, the dressing took my mom years to re-create. My grandmother was an excellent "meat and potatoes" country cook. Unfortunately she did not write down all her recipes. My mom finally got grandmomma's 'Chicken N Dressing' perfected after what seems like hundreds of attempts. This is a fabulous one dish meal that my mom bakes all year round. The only problem is, mom only knows how to make it in bulk--but, it freezes very well. Once, my mom couldn't find the cornmeal that she normally uses and I (the bloodhound) asked what she changed. Poor mom, she can't sneak anything by us. She uses Shawnee White Cornmeal and throws in a few pieces of torn up sliced bread. The main spices in her dressing are once again Morton's Nature's Seasoning (comes with a lower sodium version too) and Sage.

What are your favorites from your momma?