I am hosting my family for Thanksgiving this year. Holiday Hostess duties are my favorite. It combines all of my favorite things:

• Organized chaos
• Wine
• Food
• Wine
• Feeding people
• Wine
• Football and stories and laughing and memories
• Wine

As perfect as it sounds in my head, the reality is usually less sparkly and shiny. And way more wine-y.

• I get SQUEEEEE excited and make a huge menu for twice the number of people, adding a couple of new dishes because nobody makes a good guinea pig like a person wearing stretchy-waisted pants on Thanksgiving!
• My dad, who hosts every other year, gets upset that I’ve “changed things” on “my” year, and shows up with those couple of same dishes, made his way, even after he told me he wasn’t making anything.
• We now have enough to food to feed half the city of Katy and no one wants to take their own leftovers home, much less mine.
• WINE.
• MORE WINE.
• ALL THE WINE.

This year’s Thanksgiving menu is so far shaping up like this:

Appetizers & Drinks

• Cheese plate (brie, honey goat cheese, chipotle cheddar, berries, crackers, roasted pecans)
• Goat Cheese-Stuffed Peppers with Honey and Bacon
• Veggie platter with Homemade Ranch Dressing
• Cranberry Margaritas, Sweet Tea, Wine

Lunch Menu

• Sweet Tea Brined Turkey (which my dad has declared the best turkey he has ever eaten – even better than his fried turkey so seriously high praise).
• Cheesy Chipotle Broccoli & Rice Casserole (without the chicken)
• Roasted Jalapeno-Cheddar Skillet Cornbread (recipe below)
• The annual rotating door of sweet potato dishes
• Dad’s Baked Beans
• Sweet Kale Salad with Spiced Pecans (recipe coming soon)
• Roasted Green Beans
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce (because it’s just too easy not to)
• Bread basket with: Buttermilk biscuits, Soft Fluffy Dinner Rolls, and sweet brown bread (recipe coming soon)
• And whatever my dad says he’s not going to make 🙂

Dessert

• ALL THE PIES

For the last 6 years, every Thanksgiving and Christmas has included the holiday- and family-hit Roasted Chestnut and Sausage Dressing. It is simply amazing. But I wanted something more “Texas” this year and the arrival of November’s HEB Primo Picks immediately solidified what I was going to do about the dressing: cornbread.

{Side note: wait ’til you see what I’ve done with the Cranberry-Pomegranate-Jalapeno sauce and the Bacon Vinaigrette!}

Cornbread loaded with roasted jalapeno and cheddar cheese and cream corn and heavy cream and butter and sugar.

All baked in a cast iron skillet.

A scoop of warm, cheesy cornbread perfection is amazing all on its own but it’s even better served with chili. And it’s going to be even better than that topped with a ladle of gravy on Thanksgiving Day.

HEB has provided a selection of this month’s Ciao Italia Primo Picks to a lucky reader. To enter the giveaway, simply answer this question in the comments below: What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Me: It’s a tie between Leftover Thanksgiving Sliders and The Cranwich. Because leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving. Besides the wine.

Update: The winner is Katie who loves the good ol green bean casserole.

Print

Roasted Jalapeno-Cheddar Skillet Cornbread

A moist skillet cornbread loaded with cream corn, roasted jalapenos, and sharp cheddar cheese.

Ingredients

• 4 medium-large jalapenos
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) + 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream*
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 14 oz package (or 1 can) of HEB Cream Corn
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cups cornmeal
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• *I frequently sub with fat-free Greek yogurt. But not for Thanksgiving 🙂 The batter is thicker but the end product is still moist (sorry, Kim) and delicious.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a small skillet roast the jalapenos, turning every few minutes, until most of the skin is blistered - you can also do this under a broiler or over open flame on the stove. I find a small skillet easiest while I'm gathering other ingredients.
3. Transfer to a bowl covered with foil/plastic wrap and let cool enough to handle.
4. Scrape the blistered skin, cut in half, remove the stem and seeds, and then dice the peppers.
5. Melt 1 stick of butter and add to a large mixer bowl.
6. Mix with the heavy cream, eggs, cheese, cream corn, and chopped jalapenos.
7. Add the dry ingredients
8. Heat a large cast iron skillet enough to melt 1 Tbsp of butter, swirl to coat.
9. Transfer the batter to the skillet and then bake 35-40 minutes, just until the center is set (a knife will come out with moist crumbs attached).
10. Let cool and serve with a spoon.

Notes

Yields: ~12 holiday side-servings, served spoonbread style

You can earn up to 4 extra entries by:
– Leaving a separate comment below that you follow us on Facebook.
– Leaving a separate comment below that you follow HEB on Facebook.
– Leaving a separate comment below that you follow the blog’s Instagram feed.
– Leaving a separate comment below that you follow HEB on Pinterest.

The fine print:
– Maximum of five (5) entries per person.
– Giveaway ends at midnight (Texas time, y’all) on Saturday, November 15.
– Winner will be selected by one of those cold, soulless, unfeeling random number generator thingies and announced on this post.
– Winners will receive a selection of HEB Primo Picks from HEB.
– Prize must be claimed within 7 days or it will be forfeited.
– Prize can only be shipped to a US address.
– Official giveaway rules can be found here.

This recipe was developed in conjunction with H-E-B and I was provided ingredients as well as compensated for my time. Messy fingers, stretchy-waisted pants, and future therapy bills for my child are all mine. You can find H-E-B on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. And if you’re as lucky as we are, 3 locations within a 5 mile radius.