Simple Sausage Cornbread Stuffing

This is an easy stuffing recipe that is delicious and has an additional re-use I'll mention at the end. First off, since I cut my turkey in half and barbecue it my stuffing does not go inside the turkey, so technically it is "dressing". Bull. Dressing is something you put on salad and we don't go there on Stuftivus. It's stuffing whether in or out of the turkey.

My assumption is that you will have prepped your turkey by now and will have used the innards to make a nice flavorful stock, if not have some chicken stock in a can or carton ready (we prefer the Swansons cartons, no MSG and can seal and re-use).

Make your cornbread the day before. I always make two pans and use about one and a half. Let sit out uncovered all night as you want it to dry up to make bread crumbs/chunks out of them. Heat oven to about 350 degrees. Cut, chop one of your cornbreads into pieces that are forkful, a size you feel comfortable with eating in one bite; some like small, some like medium, some like large so it needs to be your "just right." Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Pull them out and check them, soft and moist? Stir them up on the pan and spread back out and into the oven. Crunchy? Perfect. You want the bigger crumbs to be crust on the outside and a bit soft on the inside so they don't turn to mush when the stuffing is put together, but also absorb juices and stock.

While your bread crumbs are getting toasty start your sausage. I use a tube, one pound, of Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage and one pound of sweet Italian sausage--out of the skin. Put the sausage in your big ole pan and cook it thoroughly. As you cook chop it up with your spatula to crumble to small pieces, remember it will be eaten with the cornbread crumbs so keep in mind what a forkful should look like. Once the sausage is finished take it out and drain on paper towels. Drain the fat from the pan and add about a half a stick of butter. Add a chopped onion, not diced, chopped, depending on taste you can add another. As the onion softens add chopped red pepper and diced Anaheim chili (unless you like a lot of spice then you can add chopped, we serve this to kids so go a little more mild on the spice). When all the players are nice and soft add minced garlic to taste (3 cloves for me) and seasonings.

In a large bowl put in your cornbread and onion mixture, mix thoroughly. Does it appear to have the right balance? Too little cornbread? Take your extra cornbread, cut it in half, give it a nice rough chop and add to the bowl--if you wish you can toast these as well, I usually don't as it is not that much and there is still the crunchy cornbread. Still too little to your liking? Keep adding from your extra pan of cornbread.

Once thoroughly mixed add about a cup to a cup and a half of your turkey or chicken stock.

You can now refrigerate until about an hour before dinner. Put in a covered casserole and put in a 325-50 oven (depending on what else you need your oven for that day) for about 45 minutes. Stuffing comes out hot and moist and crunchy and incredibly delicious.

This can definitely be made a day or two before Thanksgiving and kept in the fridge.

Bonus use with leftovers: My post-Thanksgiving soup is something I start craving about Halloween. Once I have my stock and all the meat and veggies in I put in a cup or two of the leftover sausage cornbread stuffing for flavor and also as a thickener. A few are not loving the texture of the broken down cornbread, but I love it.

Ooops! Mistakes Create Opportunity for Innovation: Pumpkin Cream

Sometimes our best ideas in the kitchen come because we made a mistake and need to correct something. This Thanksgiving I had a whopper of a mistake, such a whopper that when I told my haircutter (I can't say hairdresser) while having my hair shampooed the elderly lady getting shampooed next to me laughed so hard she got water down her neck. "I can't believe you admitted you did that!" she laughed at me.

On the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving it is my tradition to make the staple for our dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake. Over the years it has gotten better and better as I have practiced and learned about cheesecakes. The latest and best change has been the switch from graham cracker based crust to ginger snaps thanks to my friend Susan.

This Thanksgiving Eve was particularly trying with a lot on my mind and my stress level was extremely high. Usually spending time in the kitchen and cooking relieves that stress. This year that did not occur.

I went through my normal routine of making my ginger snap crust and getting it out to cool. Then put together my batter, poured it into the spring form pan and placed in the oven. About ten minutes later I smacked myself in the head.

I forgot to put the pumpkin in the Pumpkin Cheesecake!

It was too late to add it to the batter and there was no way I was going to start another one. What to do?

How about making a pumpkin whipped cream to put on the pumpkin spiced cheesecake? Perfect!

Here's how we put it together (Blaire assisted):

Take several tablespoons of canned pumpkin and put in a bowl. Whisk it to break it up and add a little cream and whisk to incorporate, then add a little more cream, whisk, and once more a little cream and whisk. During this process you can add just a dash of pumpkin spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, not too much as you don't want to overpower the pumpkin). You should have about double the amount of volume you had when you first put the pumpkin in the bowl. Whisking in the cream breaks up the pumpkin and incorporates some cream to lighten the mixture. Set aside for a minute or two.

Start your whipping cream in your mixer, add your powdered sugar to your taste. When the cream just starts to thicken and get to "whipped" stage add your pumpkin cream mixture. Continue whipping until you have your final whipped cream. Chill and serve with your dessert!

We made a couple of whipped creams for Thanksgiving, using pretty much the same process. To save for clean up we started with a plain whipped cream, then made a coffee whipped cream and then a pumpkin. Having flavored whipped cream options was fun and our guests had fun tasting the different creams with the non-pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie.

For the coffee whipped cream I added about three tablespoons of coffee to the whipped cream when it began to thicken. For the coffee I set aside the left overs from our morning coffee, about half a cup, and put in the fridge to make sure it would be the same temperature as the cream. As the finished whipped cream chilled the flavor became stronger and with the coffee, cream and powdered sugar it tasted like a wonderful cup of cafe au lait. Served with the apple pie it was a perfect match--the all American diner experience of a cup of coffee and a slice of pie!

Other options to incorporate into whipped cream to make it flavorful are: Maple syrup, about two tablespoons. Perfect for waffles or cheesecake or pie or...? Add citrus zest about one whole fruit's worth depending on size orange, lemon, lime to have a fresh taste. Maybe a few spoons of bourbon or rum for a flavored cream for coffee after dinner?

The great thing about whipped cream is the containers we buy always provides more than we need making it easy to experiment. Make your plain old whipped cream first and then start playing with your left over cream, your equipment is already dirty so why not start adding flavors and whipping away?

Don't let a mistake in the kitchen get in your way, use them to try something new.

Now I'm off to experiment with maple-bacon whipped cream for waffles. About a teaspoon or two of bacon fat whisked with a few tablespoons of maple syrup.....