For Thanksgiving this year, I got inspired to make Cornbread Bowls inspired by @therealbigpay on TikTok for me and my siblings. If you haven’t already read my last post where I explained what I planned to cook for Thanksgiving this year, don’t worry, I’m going to brief you on it here, but you should totally check it out!
The Menu
Since my family is forever asking me to make my Honey Butter Cornbread for family holiday meals, I thought that I’d find a creative way to incorporate it into the meal presentation. After coming across a video on TikTok for Cornbread Bowls by @therealbigpay, I fell into a rabbit hole on Pinterest looking for the perfect recipes to fill our cornbread bowls.
To go inside our pans of honey butter cornbread, I’m making Cranberry Honey Glazed Salmon based on the recipe by Oriana Romero of Mommy’s Home Cooking (for me), Slow-Roasted Smoked Bourbon Turkey Wings based on the recipe by Cindy’s Online Recipe Box (for them), Baked Bourbon Candied Yams based on the recipe by Amanda of The Chunky Chef, Oven-Baked Macaroni & Cheese based on the recipe by Heather Johnson of The Food Hussy, and Collard Greens and Cabbage based on the recipe by Shauntay of The Glam Kitchen (minus the meat for this one).
In addition to the cornbread bowls, for me personally, I can’t have Thanksgiving without my dressing! So, I also made a personal-sized pan of dressing for me to eat, based on my mother’s recipe that I love!
How It Went
The Trip
Getting to my sister’s house was a journey!
Once I finally got to her house, it was time to start cooking! Since I had to get the ingredients, pack my bag, and pack a bag for Bandit ahead of time to drive to another state, thinking to prep the food was the furthest thing from my mind. In hindsight, I wish I had prepped things a bit so the process would’ve been a little smoother.
My sister’s kitchen doesn’t have as much counter space as I’d prefer when cooking (mine doesn’t either, to be honest), so it was a mess after all of the shuffling of things on her counters, but we made it work!
Getting Started
Based on the recipes I planned to use, the turkey wings would take the longest time to cook, so that’s where I wanted to start. Also, since everything but the greens needed to go in the oven, I knew I wanted to get as many things ready for the oven as I could as quickly as possible. When I first got into the kitchen, the first thing I did was set the oven, then I cleared the counters and grabbed all the utensils I needed to cook. After getting set up, I was ready to get cooking!
Act 1: The Turkey Wings and Salmon
Preparing the turkey wings for the oven only took 5-7 minutes, so I prepped them and set them aside until the oven was ready. Next to the turkey wings, obviously, the most important thing I had to make was the cornbread. Not only did I need it to fill three separate pans for our meal, but I also needed cornbread to make the dressing. Since the macaroni, salmon, and candied yams also needed to go in the oven, they were the next things I turned my focus to.
Next, I started the marinade for the salmon, since I wanted to let it sit for at least 30 minutes before it hit the oven. Once the salmon was marinating, I put a pot of water on the stove to boil the macaroni noodles. By this time, the oven was done preheating so I popped the turkey wings in while I got everything else ready. After that, I prepared a pan for the salmon and dropped the noodles in the water before starting the cornbread.
Act 2: The Cornbread and Macaroni
I didn’t plan on having much help cooking, especially since my sister is not fond of being involved with cooking AT ALL, and my brother is just nonchalant about the whole process (even though he went to culinary school). To my surprise, my brother stepped in to lend a hand by cutting up all the vegetables for me while I prepared the cornbread.
By the time I finished pouring the cornbread into the 5 pans, the noodles were done boiling. After straining the noodles, I got the salmon ready and put the cornbread into the oven, before I moved on to prepare the macaroni. Even though the cornbread would have to be sat aside until the rest of the food was done, I figured that putting it in early would free up space for everything else to be in the oven together. Also, I could use what I cut from the middle of our individual pans of cornbread to make the dressing.
Act 3: The Yams, Greens, and Dressing
Once the macaroni was done, I moved on to the candied yams. After the macaroni and yams were prepared and everything was ready for the oven, I started putting the rest of the food in the oven with the turkey wings. By this time, the turkey wings had been in the oven for at least an hour, so I planned for everything to be done within similar timeframes.
While I got everything in the oven, I was relieved that my brother backed me up again by washing some dishes so I’d have a clean pot to use for the greens. Once I got the greens going, the last thing to do was prepare my dressing. Since the dressing was mainly for me, I didn’t mind waiting to get it started until there was space in the oven.
Final Act: Preparing the Cornbread Bowls
One by one, I got everything out of the oven. Starting with the turkey and salmon, then the macaroni, and lastly, the yams. After everything was out of the oven, I had space to put the dressing in while I waited for the greens to finish.
Once everything was done, it was time for me to construct the cornbread bowls! Since I had already cut out the middle of each pan of cornbread, all I had to do was add all the sides to the pans — it was super quick to put together!
After all of our pans were filled, I popped all of the finished cornbread bowls in the oven one more time just to bring everything to a consistent temperature.
My Thoughts
Now, after all the cooking that I did, by the time I finished, I was TIRED! Honestly, I briefly got distracted while waiting for the cornbread bowls to heat up, so they were a bit darker around the edges than I’d usually like due to the honey butter.
All in all, I’d say that this recipe remake was a SUCCESS! There are a lot of things that I will do differently the next time I try this recipe like purchase my ingredients earlier, pre-prep the veggies, have the kitchen set ahead of time, and don’t forget that I am still cooking, but everything tasted great, nonetheless! I’d definitely try this again!
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