A Thanksgiving Game Changer

For me, Thanksgiving is all about the food. I know, it’s bold statement but it’s one I will stick by. Family, being thankful- all of that rocks- but I love my family and count my blessings every day. The Thanksgiving Feast, on the other hand, is a once-a-year thing.

I think we need more feast days on our calendar but for now, we only have the one and I try to make the most of it each year. I especially enjoy the cooking on Thanksgiving. Spending the day in a cozy kitchen while first the parade, then the football game play barely audibly in the background is well up my alley.

But, as you know, I am always one to try and improve on a good thing, to give the envelope a tiny nudge, to gild the lilly. And I thought that I might just be able to improve on nature’s prefect food: stuffing. (Or dressing if you prefer; I want to go on record here as saying that  both are correct and that I wouldn’t take a side in that particular civil war for love nor money.)

There are nearly as many recipes for stuffing as there are cooks and every family has there own sacrosanct version. My family has two, actually. My dad makes an oyster dressing that’s so good I some times have actual dreams about it. My Mama, Carrie and I have a super-secret traditional stuffing recipe that we adore and which we share with NO ONE. Not since my Mama gave it to her sister Shirley, who then promptly submitted it to her church’s self-publish, fund-raiser cookbook. (Apparently there are no secrets between Aunt Shirley and the Southern Baptist Ladies Auxiliary.)

So why, you are now asking yourselves, am I even bothering with a new stuffing recipe? Because I must. The idea for this stuffing came to me a couple of weeks ago and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. So I scheduled an early Thanksgiving for last Monday (widely referred to as ‘Fakesgiving’ by those in attendance) and spent the day perfecting my recipe.

And now, I present it to you, my lovely, loyal readers.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 box Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread and Muffin Mix (if you don’t live near a Trader Joe’s, substitute another brand)

2 French baguettes, torn into bite-sized pieces and allowed to sit out overnight to dry out

1 skillet of corn bread (home made or from a box, it matters little as long as it isn’t sweet)

1 pound breakfast sausage, browned (or 2 pounds if you really like sausage in your stuffing as I do.)

4 cups chicken or turkey stock

1 handful dried cranberries

1 heaping tablespoon dried sage (or more to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Prepare Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread Mix according to the package directions then pour into a large glass pyrex dish and cook until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Meanwhile, prepare a skillet of corn bread according to your favorite recipe, omitting any sugar.

If you failed to leave your baguette pieces out overnight to dry, now is a good time to pop them in the oven at 350 for ten minutes or so to dry them out. Then place them in  a large mixing bowl.

Crumble and add one half  the pan of pumpkin bread to the bowl, along with all the crumbled corn bread and a handful of dried cranberries. (Save the other half of the pumpkin bread for breakfast tomorrow.)

Add the browned sausage to the bowl and a couple of teaspoons of the fat from the pan.

Add a tablespoon of sage.

And three cups of the chicken stock.

And two eggs to help bind everything together.

Stir to combine. The stuffing should be damp but not wet. If you’re stuffing is too dry, add more chicken stock, a bit at a time, until you active the dampness you want. Then taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe made enough stuffing to stuff a ten pound bird with enough left over to fill a large casserole dish that we cooked alongside the turkey.

We were so hungry by the time dinner was ready that we completely forgot to take any pics of the finished turkey. D’oh!

The stuffing that comes out of the bird is just. so. good. It’s like all of Thanksgiving condensed into a delicious, complex dish. Although it’s not sweet, there are sweet undertones that combine so nicely with the savory, sausage-y, sage-i-ness. Pumpkin, cranberries, sausage and turkey juices…what’s not to love?

Give it a try on your next Fakesgiving or even on Thanksgiving Day itself. In the meantime, help me come up with a name for this recipe? Leave your suggestions in the comments.