I love that I grew up in Iowa. Iowa has a huge chunk of my heart, and it always will. I love that I grew up with two hard working & loving parents, four crazy siblings, dogs, four-wheelers, snowmobiles, ice hockey, rope swings, tree houses, epic games of capture the flag, ice skating, both sides of my extended family in Iowa, paintball, timber runs, lawn mowers, a huge stone fireplace, snow plows, boats, fishing, clay pigeon shooting, gravel & dirt roads, fireworks, muggy summers, massive snow storms/snow drifts, BBQs, bonfires and 80+ acres of land to explore. I was (and still am) very lucky.
I'm still in the chapter of my life where I've not yet partnered up with anyone for good, so I get to head back to Iowa for any holiday I please - and yes, I'm pretty spoiled in that respect. I must admit that, although I look forward to building & sharing a life with someone someday, I do somewhat selfishly cling to my independence at times...but I think that's OK to do right now...and down the road, OK in moderation. It will be a challenge to one day let go of the abundant time with my family, particularly at the holidays, but I'm sure the love I'll get from my other family & my other half (whomever they may be) will surely make up for it. In the meantime, you'll find me in Iowa for the holidays - outdoors shooting clay pigeons on Thanksgiving, tearing up the ice in hockey skates at Christmas, or inside cooking & baking up a storm!
This year my parents hosted Thanksgiving and I was lucky enough to have my grandma Betty show me how to make her famous stuffing. Watching, listening & going through the motions with her - those moments to me are priceless. There are many more of her original recipes I plan on asking her to walk me through for a first go - her famous kolaches, dill gravy & potatoes, and chicken noodle soup to start - recipes I plan to carry with me & keep passing down for generations to come.
If you need a stuffing recipe for any upcoming holiday I've included my grandmother's amazing recipe below, along with some fun photos from Thanksgiving day this year & Christmas day a couple years ago when we had a massively charming white Christmas in Iowa. Fingers crossed for the same thing this year! Enjoy :)
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| Simple ingredients make one amazing stuffing |
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| Learning from a legend | Grandma's girl |
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| G'ma & I on Thanksgiving Day |
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| Those hands have made this recipe over a hundred times |
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| Putting lots of love into it |
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| Notice her accessories | Always the jewelry queen |
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| Right before a trip into the oven |
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| Pies made by my Aunt June with wild blueberries from Canada | Crust-less pumpkin pie by my mom |
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| Clay pigeon time | Me & Big Al (aka dad) |
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| Pull! |
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| Brothers Arp |
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| Sistas Arp |
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| Two peas in a pod |
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| Amazing sunset on Thanksgiving Day #nofilter |
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| Breathtaking trees in my parents' backyard | Christmas Day 2010 |
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| Parents' front yard | Christmas Day 2010 |
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| Uncles exploring | Christmas Day 2010 |
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| Another front yard shot of my parents' house | Christmas Day 2010 |
Grandma Betty's Stuffing
Ingredients
(this recipe made one 9" x 9" glass dish of stuffing - or about enough to feed about 5 people. If you're entertaining more than that, or just really like stuffing, double it!)
- 2 loaves of white bread
- 1 bunch of fresh sage
- 3 tblsp dried sage
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3 cups hot milk
Directions
Cut crusts off all pieces of bread; discard crusts (or use as bread crumbs for another recipe!) & set bread aside. Dice yellow onion and set aside in a small bowl. For fresh sage - rip leaves from stems and tears leaves into smaller pieces.
Tear up bread into chunks (see photos above to get an idea of size) and place in a large mixing bowl. Add fresh sage, dried sage and onion. Add salt & pepper.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a medium saucepan heat 3 cups of milk over medium-high heat, stir often to prevent burning. Remove milk from heat just as it starts to boil, and pour over the bread mixture in large bowl. Stir to combine. Season with additional salt & pepper to taste, if needed.
Transfer stuffing mixture into a greased 9" x 9" glass baking dish. Bake at 350ºF for about 30 mins (check at 20 mins to make sure stuffing isn't browning too quickly; oven heat varies at times). After 30 mins, turn the oven to broil - Hi. You'll want a nice crispy top (but not burned), so for the last 5 mins or so I broil the stuffing to brown it on top. The consistency of the inside of this stuffing is very moist, but should not come out very soggy, so adjust cooking time as needed.
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