I've been being much healthier and been blogging at my new blog about my weight loss adventures. I'm headed there to update next, but wanted to swing by here and put my recipe for stuffing on here before I forgot. Our Thanksgiving dinners were pretty basic: Green Bean Casserole, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy (from a jar...next year I WILL tackle making homemade gravy...next year), homemade cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Oh, Turkey as well and corn for the boys.
I've never made homemade stuffing before, and usually I think it looks disgusting and won't even try it but this year, I branched out. I actually saw a recipe in a HyVee Ad that looked delicious (Ok, so Curtis Stone was in it lol) but I didn't have all the stuff to make it and decided to adapt it. I looked at several recipes online to get an idea and made my own.
1/2 lb bacon, browned
1/2 lb ground mild Italian Sausage, browned (I actually used about 3 sausages, cut them out of their casings)
1/4 onion chopped
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 bag of unseasoned stuffing
2 normal sized (15 oz?) cans of Chicken Broth
2 eggs
I first browned the sausage then let it drain (random tip I learned: put about a tablespoon of water in while the sausage is cooking, it helps pull the grease out).
Then I browned the bacon, but kept the bacon grease.
While the grease was still hot, I dumped in the onion, celery and apple chunks and cooked them until they were brown and softened.
I then added 2 cans of broth and 2 eggs, mixed all the ingredients up well. I dumped the bread into a giant bowl, dumped the other stuff on top and mixed well. Tossed in a pan and baked until done (probably like 30-40 minutes?...enough time to shower, get dressed, toss dishes in the dishwasher and mash the potatoes).
It was deeelish! I cheated the second time I made it, I mixed up the cooked meats and veggies, kept in the fridge covered over night, then added the liquid ingredients the next day with the crouton thingies right before tossing it into the oven.
oh! And the cranberries.
SUPER easy. I will never buy a can again!
1 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 bag of cranberries.
Mix the sugar and juice until the sugar is dissolved and boiling.
Toss in the berries. Cook until the berries are popping (trust me, you'll know...) Use a splatter screen, by the way...and a deep pot. Please learn from my mistakes, your stove will thank you!
Toss in your serving bowl and let cool to room temp, then toss in fridge, covered, over night. I think the recipe I found said chill about 4 hours, I made mine the night before, so yummy!)
Off to enjoy some time with my little boys that I am super thankful for. NIght, kids!
