Quick Thanksgiving

Work is having a potluck tomorrow and because I love Thanksgiving foods, I went a little crazy and I am bringing 3 things tomorrow.

1) Sausage, Cranberry, Apple Stuffing
2) Sweet Potato Casserole
3) Red Velvet Cake Balls

The cake balls are kind of a mess and I'm a bit embarrassed to bring them in (but I don't want to keep them because I'll eat them all). The cake mix / frosting ratio was off in the recipe, and I wasn't paying attention and added too much frosting -- so the cake was a gooey mess to work with, even after leaving it in the fridge to harden up a bit. This is what I get for relying on a boxed cake mix and canned frosting. Then the chocolate bark stuff didn't melt well, and in a rush to finish it all up, they just don't look that nice. But they taste fine.



The sweet potato casserole went off without a hitch, but it's a no-brainer recipe.



I'm most proud of the stuffing, which turned out great, and I kind of did up my own recipe based on two similar ones -- recipe 1 and recipe 2. Here's my combo version which I will definitely make again in the future:



Sausage, Cranberry, Apple, Stuffing

About 6 to 8 corn muffins (1 box of Jiffy)
Loaf of hearty bread (the one I got says 24 oz -- 1 pound 8 ounces)

2 leeks (chopped)
3-4 stalks of celery (diced)
1/2 onion (diced)
6 T. butter

Minced fresh sage, rosemary, thyme (maybe about 1-2 Tbsp worth) -- use more sage & rosemary than thyme

1 pound sausage (I used Jimmy Dean sage sausage)

1 Granny Smith apple (diced)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup flat parsley (Italian parsley)

2-4 cups chicken broth

1) Break corn muffins & loaf of bread into small chunks and dry out in the oven/lightly toast -- use a low temperature, like 300 degrees. Put the bread chunks in a large bowl.

2) Cook leeks, celery, and onion in the butter for about 20 minutes (add some salt and pepper). Break sausage into vegetable mixture and cook sausage through. Add the sage, rosemary, and thyme and cook for 2 more minutes.

3) Add sausage mixture to the bread chunks. Stir in apple, cranberries, and parsley. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and assess the moisture of the mix.

4) Spread stuffing into shallow baking dish and cover with foil. Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour. Take off foil in the last 15 minutes or so to crisp up the top.