We have to have a cooking thread. There are too many good cooks here with too much useful knowledge to leave lying about unused. We are required by humanity to share our recipes, techniques, experiments, results, failures, and successes. So, 'fess up! Tell us what you've done, what works, what doesn't, what's fun, etc. Be sure to include all those high-fat, high-sodium, high-calorie lovelies you got from granny, too...
♪ 'Tis the season to eat stuffing
Falalalaaa la lalalaaa ♫
Or, something like that.
Anyway, I've always found bread stuffing to be too boring, and it not only adds unnecessary work to making a decent bird, it forces you to cook the poor bird longer than necessary, which is usually too long to begin with if you want any edible white meat out of the deal.
So, here's an answer. Stuffing that you don't have to stuff anywhere, prepared as a side dish. Gather up:
1 (15 oz.) seasoned bread stuffing mix
2 lbs. savory sage sausage, such as Bob Evans
2 c. celery, diced small
2 c. onion, diced small
several tablespoons of butter
Prepare the stuffing mix according to directions, and set aside. Notes: don't be afraid to add a couple chicken boullion cubes to the boiling water the stuffing mix will call for. Also, use a bigger bowl than you think you need - we're going to add to it.
Cook the sausage until done, using a wooden spatula or something to break it up into small parts, as if you were going to make sloppy joes or something. Use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage bits to a bowl, and set aside, keeping the delicious pork fat in the pan. Pork fat rules, you know...
Add a bit of butter to the pork fat, and saute the celery and onions until tender and translucent. This will take a good 10 minutes to do right.
Add sausage and mix. Add the onion/celery/sausage/drippings mixture to stuffing mix and toss. Pack all that into a casserole dish, and bake uncovered at 350° for 20 minutes to a half hour.
As an aside, this is meaty enough to make sandwiches out of. Hot dog buns are handy holders for the stuff, too. Another good use for it is to stuff cheese omelettes. Put some salsa on top of that, and you're good to go.
From: akaBeaVis (CRAIG) [#3] 29 Dec 2007 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#1] 29 Dec 2007
High fat, sodium enriched, high calorie recipes?
This is quite the coincidence ;)
Here are some recipes I've had up on my site for quite a while, I'll list them individually (and no, the whole grain is not for health reasons, it just goes with the taste of the recipe, so don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a good triple-Whopper w/cheese and bacon on a white-flour bun soaked in grease, washed down with a king-size fry, 12pc chicken-fries, a fish filet, and a Hershey pie)
So, here's one of my all-time favorite home grown recipes,
Craig's Tunamelt Pizza it's a seriously heavy package, and even I (who eats only once a day) can't eat the whole recipe (both pizzas) in one sitting.
Of course, there are also my "famous" bizkits (yeah, it's spelled biscuits, but I'm giving props to the band). I made this recipe 3 times in 2 days this Christmas and would you believe, the family managed to add another 2 sticks of butter on top of them? (actually, in between) along with blackberry jam and honey. If it sounds heavy that's because it is. In addition to Christmas Eve dinner, We had them for brunch Christmas Day (baked fresh of course) along with much of the Honey Baked Ham that my very generous boss(es) like to give to us every year, and we have never taken that sweet and succulent ham for granted. What we don't pick off the bone of course goes into a nice split-pea soup, also not to be missed, recipe forthcoming.
I have other recipes, most of which aren't on my site, but these 2 truly define the term "comfort food" (there's always my chili and jalapeno cornbread too), and to me, there's nothing more satisfying than baking something and having it come out right, it makes the house smell like home.
Give 'em a try, unless of course you don't have a KitchenAid Stand mixer, they can still be done, but it takes a lot more elbow-grease and the bizkits will decidedly not be the same if done any other way.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#5] 29 Dec 2007 To: akaBeaVis (CRAIG) [#3] 30 Dec 2007
I've seen those recipes on your site, and intend to bring them to life soon. They sound too good to just think about. We do have a KitchenAid stand mixer here - in fact, it's the bigger unit - the 750 watt version? Has the bowl lift and so forth. I'd have to look it up. It's a beast, though. Plus, we also have all the fun accessories for it, like the pasta maker and the meat grinder and the extruder that all run off the PTO on the front of the thing. Went a little overboard - the pasta thing works well, but unless you're making a ton of the stuff, it's hardly worth what it costs.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#6] 29 Dec 2007 To: akaBeaVis (CRAIG) [#4] 30 Dec 2007
Definitely the sage variety. That's what I called out in the recipe. Otherwise, you'd have to add some sage to the thing.
One caution - between the stuffing mix, the sausage, and the bouillon, you don't need to add any salt. I did because to my taste, everything needs salt, but I was almost sorry. I'm a salt monster, but even I had to wonder what the hell I was thinking there <grin>
From: Doc (DOC3402) [#10] 30 Dec 2007 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#2] 30 Dec 2007
I would be willing to bet anything that that recipe is not plagiarized from the American Heart Association Cookbook. It looks way too tasty to be good for you.
From: Doc (DOC3402) [#14] 30 Dec 2007 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#13] 30 Dec 2007
One more job for me, and then I'm going to be doing some serious eating. I have to stay lean and mean for New Years Eve, but I'll make up for it over the next week or two.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#16] 30 Dec 2007 To: Doc (DOC3402) [#14] 30 Dec 2007
The holidays are always inspirational for me. I think I'm going to work with sweet potatoes next. I love those things. No reason I should wait for Thanksgiving or Christmas to have 'em.
From: dthompson [#17] 30 Dec 2007 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#16] 30 Dec 2007
Ah, sweet potatoes.
I began working on barbecuing two years ago,
And to make a long story short,
Here is my recipe for grilling sweet potatoes:
Grab a couple of those bad boys and wash them a little,
Then slice into coins about a half inch thick.
Place each one on a square of foil,
Laying a pat of butter on top of each.
Then wrap them up.
Place them on the heated grill about 15 or 20 minutes before you put your steaks on,
Turning once when they begin to get soft (cooked).
The grilling cooks/frys/sears the two flat, cut sides.
After they're done, place on the back upper rack or a portion of the grill that's not real hot, to keep warm.
Then unwrap 'em and eat.
I'll often do this with grilled corn on the cob and steak with my Cajun style rub on a couple of steaks.
And yes, even in the midst of winter.
In fact if my friends come over tomorrow evening or New Years day, I'll be grilling steak.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#18] 30 Dec 2007 To: dthompson [#17] 30 Dec 2007
Sounds good. I'll have to try that, come summer. Can't really grill very easily now. That's one thing I miss about my house in GR - the back deck. We used to grill all through the winter on that. Doorwall was just off the kitchen. Pretty handy.