Archive for November, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28th, 2008

Sorry, I’m a little late, but better late than never right? Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday! I know Thanksgiving is over, but I wanted to share this stuffing recipe I found recently…you can keep this recipe in mind for next year’s Thanksgiving or whenever you feel like eating some good stuffing. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and the title immediately caught my eye, “Awesome Sausage, Apple, & Cranberry Stuffing“. With a title like that and 5 stars with 900+ reviews, I had to try it. So, I decided to make this “Awesome Stuffing” for a friend’s potluck Thanksgiving party last weekend and I must say this stuffing is pretty awesome. I’ve always made stuffing out of the box, so this made from scratch stuffing was entirely new to me. I think this recipe has certainly changed my mind about making boxed stuffing ever again, the flavors were great and the addition of apples and cranberries made this a perfect autumn dish. I made a few shortcuts (how very semi-home made of me…haha) and changes…I didn’t add a couple of the ingredients (sage and the turkey liver). And I also recommend that you use fresh herbs, rather than dried. Anyway, here’s my take on the “Awesome Stuffing”:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Dressing
  • 1/2 box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Cornbread Stuffin’
  • 1 pound ground Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 3/4 cup chopped celery
  • 3 teaspoons fresh rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • 1 large Fuji apple, cored and chopped
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 1 1/2 cup chicken stock (use more if needed)
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

  1. In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
  2. Place boxed stuffing in a large bowl and pour sausage mixture over it. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, and parsley. Drizzle with chicken stock and melted butter, and mix lightly.
  3. Place stuffing mixture in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Then remove foil and bake for another 15 min.


All the ingredients in one bowl, ready to be mixed.


The finished “awesome stuffing”

Posted in baking, cooking, food, holidays | Comments

Halloween Treats

November 4th, 2008

I hope all of you had a great Halloween! Mine was especially great because I got to dress up in 3 different costumes haha. Anyway, this year I decided to try making caramel apples for Halloween. I love caramel apples, but I don’t really love having to try and bite into a huge apple or slicing it and taking the risk of any chocolate, caramel, and nuts pieces breaking off. So to avoid the mess, I wanted to try something new and make miniature versions. After some research, I found that a lot of mini caramel apple recipes started with a large whole apple and scooping out apple pieces with a melon baller. Sounds simple enough, but the results just didn’t look as appetizing as a whole caramel apple.

So, I decided to go on a search for the smallest apples I could find. Luckily, Whole Foods had a huge selection of small apples and I finally found what I was looking for. I ended up buying “crab apples” which are the smallest apples I’ve ever seen. Most of the crab apples were slightly larger than ping pong balls, and they tasted a little sweet and tart.

The whole process of making the mini caramel apples took longer than expected. Mostly, due to the fact that I had about 20 apples, and each took a while to prep and dip. The hardest part was sticking the lollipop sticks in…my hands were so sore from having to shove those little sticks in and you had to be extra careful because they bend so easily. I suggest wearing oven mitts while doing this or something to protect your hands. But after all the hard work, the best part was the decorating. I went a little overboard and decided to try and come up with every caramel apple combination I could think of (caramel, chocolate, nuts, m&ms, sprinkles, etc.). Overall, the outcome was a success and I’m happy to say that my friends enjoyed these mini caramel apples more than those ginormous ones haha.

Mini Caramel Apples

Ingredients:
about 20 crab apples
20 lollipop sticks
2 bags of caramel bits
1 bag of chocolate chips
an assortment of toppings (m&ms, sprinkles, nuts, etc.)

Directions:
1. Prep apples (wash, dry, and de-stem)
2. Place lollipop sticks into the center of apple where the stem used to be.
3. Place wax paper on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
4. Melt caramel and dip apples into the caramel. Place on baking sheet. Let apples cool.
5. Melt chocolate and dip the caramel apples into the chocolate.
6. After dipping into chocolate, immediately place any additional toppings on the apple.
7. Place finished apples on baking sheet and let them set in the refrigerator.
8. Take apples out of fridge 15 min. before serving.


Cute tiny crab apples


Prepped and ready for dipping!


These caramel bits were very easy to use and tasted great.


The finished product!

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