Oh, Happy Days

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I love, love, love the holidays. One of the best parts of the holidays for me is the joy of cooking special meals for my family. Yesterday my DH had the three oldest kids at a movie, and my two youngest were sleeping, so I took advantage of that time to turn on a sappy Christmas movie I had recorded and begin cooking for Thanksgiving. (I don't feel the need at this late stage in the game to keep my holidays separated!)

The first thing I made was my traditional cornbread stuffing. Oh, how I love this stuffing. If the truth be told, it is the part of the meal I most look forward to, and truly could stand on its own any other day of the year as a one dish meal. Because I love you, I am going to share the recipe, which is based on one from the 30 Day Gourmet's Holiday Cookbook.

Holiday Cornbread Dressing

2 T. Butter
1 c. diced onions
1 c. diced celery
1/2 t. ground black pepper
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. poultry seasoning
1 c. raisins, or if you wish, craisins
1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I prefer walnuts)
1/2 pound sausage, browned and drained
1 c. tart, cored but unpeeled apples, diced
6 c. stale cornbread cubes
3 c. chicken broth (more or less, just enough to get the mixture very, very moist.)


For the cornbread, either make it from scratch with your favorite recipe, or do what I have done in the past and just bought the little cheap mixes and baked them up. All that matters is that it is stale and cubed. If your cornbread is fresh, cube it up and place it on a cookie sheet in the oven at 300 degrees for about an hour, stirring occasionally until dry and toasty. Then fully cool.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute the onions and celery until they are starting to soften. Add the pepper, salt and poultry seasoning to the celery and onions, and keep cooking it for a few more minutes. At this point you can add the apples, walnuts, sausage and raisins/craisins and cook it all together for 5 more minutes. Remove it from the heat and add in the chicken broth, about 2 cups to start with. Pour all the pan ingredients over the cornbread in a large bowl. If it doesn't seem very, very moist add more liquid until it does. This will dry out while baking so you want it to start out quite moist.

If baking immediately, go ahead and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered. You want the final product to be browned on top and toasty, but moist throughout the inside. If you would like to make this ahead and freeze it, it will work VERY well. Just make it up to the point that you have added the broth, and then cool it completely and freeze it, either in the pan you plan to cook it in, or in a gallon sized freezer bag.

If freezing ahead, just be sure to thaw it out thoroughly, and then set out at room temperature 2 hours before you bake it. It won't get crispy and perfect unless it has come to room temp first.

So, I hope that this recipe will bring your family as much enjoyment as it does mine! If not this Thanksgiving, then maybe one in the future! I am not kidding, with the fruit, veggies, nuts, meat and cornbread, it could be a meal in itself. Many a post-Thanksgiving meal has found me eating the stuffing as my main course!

Now, I head off excitedly into the realm of some new recipes I haven't tried before for dessert this year! I'll let you know how it goes!