I previously shared the wild morning I had with Parsley as we put together my first ever Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine. To be honest with you she left me completely exhausted. Spent. I needed quiet and tranquility to recover. My gawd did this mean I would need to take my first ever blue pill. Or what color are they anyway?
Hmm…maybe that was just in movie The Matrix.
To add insult to exhaustion my back hurt also.
Phoenix, “Ohhh nooo, not that day.”
Me, “Yep, that day smart britches. Thanksgiving.”
It’s ok, you can bring the children back out of the bedroom. It’s ok to open the blinds. You won’t need to go to confessional this week…well, at least not for this post. Will this one be hot enough to burst your thermometer? Nope, it is not even tepid.
Considering these food photos are from Thanksgiving should give you an idea as to how far behind I am! I had been cooking that entire day and my back was absolutely trashed by the time late afternoon rolled into evening. I was literally cooking while sitting in a chair. Yes, please call the Whambulance for me.
Phoenix, “He was definitely being very whiney. As in annoying.”
I was very excited to make my first ever Skillet Cornbread and a Sausage, Apple and Cornbread Stuffing completely from scratch. A little bit of time was involved to combine the yellow cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, shortening, buttermilk and an egg for the cornbread. Then it gets all mixed together.
The batter is poured into a medium hot skillet on the stove top to get it to set for a minute. What? You can’t seriously want a picture of a bowl of batter, can you? Good, because I’m not putting it up. It’s boring.
Also, you don’t get a picture of it in the pan either. You try taking pictures while sitting a chair in a tiny kitchen when your back hurts. And I don’t hear any sirens dear blogger friends from the Whambulance you were supposed to call for me. Fine.
The skillet was put into a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes to bake. Well, one leettle problem as the recipe said 20-25 minutes and I should have erred towards the 20 minute mark. That would have required scooting the chair over four feet to look. It did come out of the pan easily, was still fairly moist and incredibly delicious with some melted butter spread on top. Regardless of my minor overshooting the time it was serving a bigger recipe purpose that day and was a forgivable slight.
I had been using Stove Top for their wonderful boxes of Mashed Potato and Stuffing made-in-minutes-because-I-was-too-lazy-to-make-the-real-stuff for years. Truth be known if you need something in a pinch they will work great. You can add cheese to the potatoes or some olives to the stuffing it will taste and look gourmet to your guests. I had mastered all sorts of real homemade mashed potato recipe variations and now it was time to conquer real stuffing. Not only would this be my first stuffing from scratch but I would turn it up several notches of deliciousness.
Can I get a back massage please? Anyone out there in blogger land? Phoenix?
Him, “Nope.”
It uses a combination of onions, mushrooms, sausage, cornbread, French bread, Sourdough bread, Granny Smith Apples, numerous spices, white wine and chicken broth. And for all of you mushroom haters out there you could substitute any vegetable you like. Why don’t you like mushrooms…the texture? Your mom forced you to eat them as a kid? You ate too many in college and you’re still having psychedelic flashbacks? Get over it!
There was a ton of prep work and I was already about to gnaw my arm off with hunger as this would take some time. I skipped numerous photo steps because…all together now group…MY BACK HURT! See…you’re getting the hang of it!
Phoenix, “Ahhh…some sunshine and if possible some earplugs would be nice…”
The diced onions and apples were prepped and ready to go.
The apples and onions getting their yumminess on in brown sugar and white wine.
I also sautéed some ground sausage on the stove top and roasted the sliced mushrooms in the oven. Next I cubed up 8 cups of the French and Sourdough bread and Daddy was ready for the home stretch!
Everything was mixed together in this very large bowl. I actually had to use two of these exact same bowls as this recipe makes 16 servings.
And when it’s all done baking here’s what you have! Looks incredible, doesn’t it?
It was! All of those seasonings and the ingredients marrying together gave this such a savory depth of flavor with a wide spectrum of textures from soft to a little crunch. Gawd, it was good. Here are the original recipes from Ree Drummond at The Pioneer Woman. The Skillet Cornbread to start followed by the Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Apples.
I gotta go now….my pinkie hurts.
What is your favorite stuffing recipe?
Phoenix and I wanted to send a thank you to Michelle! She has supported us and become a really good friend as well. She hails from Canada but I was fascinated when we discussed her studying at the Art Institute of Chicago which is a place I toured. She has been working on her Master’s Degree but my biggest delight was hearing that she’s currently living in my #1 bucket list country of Germany. Please hop on over to her blog at Confessed Travelholic and enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you again for everything, Michelle. Learn more about the dishes you can easily make in no time, on this website: www.foody-goody.com