Spit Flings & Other Things...

For Thanksgiving this year, I got off easy since Jennifer is hosting it at her house. So, all I had to make was the stuffing. Stuffing is my absolute favorite holiday food. What’s not to love about seasoned bread mixed with all kinds of yummy goodness?

Since I love stuffing so much, I am perfectly content with Stove Top. But, since it is the holidays, I thought I would make a more traditional stuffing. The good news is that this stuffing couldn’t be easier to make! It is virtually impossible to mess up. I would know because I have messed up stuffing before.

I remember the first time I made Stove Top. I was probably about 17 years old. The box said to use “1 2/3 cups of water”. Like a numnut, I read that as 1, 2 or 3 cups of water. So, I thought since they gave me a choice on the amount of water to use, I would use closer to three cups because I like my stuffing to be moist. Well, moist it was! It was like stuffing soup. Fractions were never my thing.

Since then, I have perfected my Stove Top making skills and even moved on to make the following stuffing recipe. And, no, it isn’t soupy at all!

Here’s the ingredients you will need:

-Diced Celery (I use the hearts - about 4-6 stalks)
-Two 14 oz. cans of LOW SODIUM Chicken Broth
-1 lb. Sausage (I love the Jimmy Dean All Natural Sausage)
-a couple of medium Yellow Onions, diced
-Mushrooms (I like to keep it simple, so I buy them already cleaned and sliced)
-1 box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Dressing or Stuffing (the Dressing is like bread crumbs. The Stuffing is in cubes. I like the Stuffing better - for this picture I grabbed the wrong box. Either will work fine though).
-Some seasoning like Parsley, Basil and Sage
-Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
-Butter

Normally, I would spend all kinds of time dicing celery...

... and the onions. I HATE dicing onions. I am really sensitive to them so they bug the heck out of my eyes. So, a lot of times, I will buy pre-diced onions. This year, I found a real treat! Pre-diced celery AND onions!! This made my Stuffing-making a breeze! I am a lazy cook, so this was perfect! I used one whole container for this recipe.

These are hard to find any other time than Thanksgiving, so I bought two of them and popped the other in the freezer for Christmas Stuffing.

Fire up a couple of large skillets. One for sausage, one for the veggies.

Brown the sausage till it’s cooked through.

Once the sausage is done, I drain it off on some paper towels and set it aside for a bit.

Then you are left with all the sausage drippings. I suppose you can use this to cook the veggies in.

But, I like to keep it light and healthy so, I just cook up the veggies in another large skillet with half a stick of butter. (She says sarcastically.)

As it cooks down, add two or three good-sized pinches of Kosher Salt...

... and some fresh ground Pepper.

After the veggies cook down, grab the sausage and mix it in. Then, turn the stove off and set this aside for a few.

Next, mix in your seasonings from your spice rack. I use Parsley Flakes, Basil Leaves and Sage. Normally, I’m a freakshow about measuring when I cook. I always want the EXACT measurements in a recipe. But, for this, I just sprinkle in some of the Parsley, Basil and Sage. Don’t go crazy, just give the spice cans a few shakes and it will turn out right in the end.

Next, grab a large mixing bowl and pour in your entire package of Mrs. Cubbisson’s Stuffing. Moisten the stuffing cubes with an entire 14 oz. can of the LOW SODIUM Chicken Broth. I usually end up opening a second can of broth and using about a quarter of it as well. Mix the broth into the stuffing cubes and let it soak up the broth for a few.

After the stuffing cubes have soaked up some of the Chicken Broth, stir in the cooked veggies and sausage mix.

After it’s all mixed, pour it into your baking dish (I spray my dish with Pam cooking spray first).

You can either bake it immediately or do this ahead of time and heat it in the oven later. When it comes time to get everything warm for dinner, pop it (covered) in the oven (around 350 degrees) and let it warm up till it is hot through.

And that’s it! You can add anything you like to this dish. The mix-in possibilities are endless. A lot of people add freeze-dried cherries to their stuffing. I have always wondered what Craisins would taste like mixed in. So, I grabbed a little, tiny baking dish and threw in some of the stuffing mix with the Craisins to give that a try.

I wasn’t bold enough to Craisin out the whole Stuffing dish. I thought I should try it first. I will let you know how that works out.

Enjoy all your Thanksgiving eats!