The Finishing Touches to Mr. Tidbit’s Holiday Meal

Well, folks, it's the last installment to Andre Taylor's Tasty Tidbits before I sit down to enjoy this dinner with the family.

To wrap up the dinner, I figure I need one more dessert, a second meat and some good old comfort food. So, to fill out the menu, here are my recipes for banana pudding, grilled salmon and my momma's cornbread stuffing.

Here's what you'll need:

• 3 cups of milk
• 2 packages of cook and serve vanilla pudding
• 1 large box of vanilla wafers
• 5 large bananas

In a pot on the stovetop, bring the milk to a boil and slowly add the pudding mix. Constantly stir the pudding into the milk for approximately five minutes. Once you have done that, turn the flame from under the pot off and let the pudding sit for at least five minutes.

Once the pudding has cooled, pour some into a round aluminum pan. It should be just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Then slice enough bananas to cover the layer of pudding.

Use vanilla wafers to cover the bananas and repeat this process until the pudding is gone.

After you have created your layers, let the pudding chill in the refrigerator for two hours before serving.

Now no holiday meal is complete to me without my momma's homemade cornbread stuffing. It just goes so well with everything, in my opinion.

Here's that recipe:

• 3 cups of cornmeal
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 1 stick of melted butter
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1 pound of sage sausage
• 1 cup of diced celery

In a large mixing bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, butter and eggs. Once everything is mixed together, pour the mixture into a large, well-greased pan and put the pan into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the cornbread is baking, in a pan on the stovetop, fry the sage sausage until brown and chopped.

Once the cornbread is done, let it cool for at least 25 minutes Then crumble the cornbread in the pan it was baked in, add the sausage and celery and chicken broth then mix everything together.

Place the pan back into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Once you take that pan out of the oven for the last time, stand back and watch your family rush the stove!

Now, I love fish and there is no better fish that salmon to make a dinner complete. Here's a quick recipe that won't take all day to prepare.

You will need:

• 3 pound salmon filet
• 2 sticks of melted butter
• 2 tablespoons of season salt
• 1 tablespoon of onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1 cedar plank (used for grilling)

Make sure you get your grill hot and ready first.

Soak the cedar plank in water for an hour to make sure it's moist enough.

Mix the season salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper and brown sugar in a small bag or bowl.

Place the salmon onto the cedar plank on the grill, rub the salmon with the butter and then apply the dry rub you made and let the fish grill for 15 minutes.

And there you have it, the completion of the Tidbit family dinner.

If you try any of these recipes, let me know how they turned out for you, or if you want to share one of your special dishes with me, send it onto andre.taylor@patch.com.

Until then people, have a safe and happy holiday season and remember, keep on burnin'!