A friend of Beverly Ann Moore, a Dallas resident, came to her with a culinary emergency: She’d been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with her boyfriend and needed something to wow his family. Moore turned to her mother, Lily, knowing she always had the perfect solution. Lily thought about it, and then wrote down her recipe for her crowd-pleasing jalapeño cornbread dressing, adding, “Trust you will find it delicious.” Not surprisingly, the dish was a hit, and Moore’s friend and boyfriend eventually got married.
Lily died in 2015. She didn’t write down most of her recipes; this is one of the few that survives. Moore makes the dressing every year, especially for Thanksgiving. “My mom thrived—living beautifully and making the best of it,” she says. “She was witty, clever, always wore high heels, and rarely wore pants. I considered her a diva.