I have my notes from the day here beside me now – the only thing that is “exact” measurement was the sausage – everything else was an estimate.  I later made this recipe again, being much more careful about measurements, and the note taking. 

One thing I will say about this recipe —  it goes fast, and I do mean that.  Super fast.  Make extra if you want leftovers.  This recipe should serve 6-8 easily.

Sausage, Mushroom & Sage Dressing

1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 pound mushrooms – sliced
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1 medium onion – chopped
salt and pepper to taste
6-7 cups dry bread, cubed
1/2 teaspoon dried sage or 1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced fine
2 1/2 –3 cups chicken stock
drippings from the turkey

In a frying pan, brown the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks.  Once the sausage has cooked, remove the sausage and set aside. Drain away the grease from the frying pan, leaving a bit left in the pan.  Add the butter, and melt it.  Add in the onion, celery and mushrooms and cook 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is clear. Add in the sage, and then salt and pepper.  Add the sausage back in, add the cubed bread, and enough of the stock to moisten the bread. 

Place in a greased baking dish.  2 quart casserole dish is best, but a 9×13 cake pan will work fine, too. Cover and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  Add in a few teaspoons of drippings from the turkey once or twice, just to give that extra depth of flavor.  Uncover and bake about 10 more minutes.

Notes:

• If the Italian sausage you get is in casings, just remove it and break it up as much as possible.  Well.. cut it into tiny pieces, as it is impossible to actually “break” up.
• Mix up the sausage – use sage sausage, or your favorite sausage
• I don’t really like poultry seasoning, which is why you see drippings from the turkey added into this recipe, but if you do, add in about 1 teaspoon when you mix in the sausage to the onion-mushroom-celery mixture.
• Try other additions:  raisins, currents, any kind of good fresh mushrooms, water chestnuts
• One final note – you can easily double the amount of sausage in this recipe, and it’ll be just as fantastic (if not better – but then again, you all know I love sausage!! :D )

Roasted vegetables are almost always on my Thanksgiving table.  First off, because they are so quick and simple to do.  Second, because they taste great, and third, because they make a really nice presentation.

Any vegetable can be roasted — peppers, parsnips, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes – it all depends on timing them right, and consistency of the size.

Simply Roasted Vegetables

Heat the oven to 400F

Choose the vegetables — Any dense vegetable can be roasted — squash, zucchini, onions, potatoes, asparagus, peppers.  I always like to have interesting colors, so for Thanksgiving, I’ll choose Yellow  and Red Peppers, Carrots, and Zucchini.

Once you’ve selected what you’d like, prep the vegetables — wash and cut them into pieces.  The best is to cut them into uniform sizes, which works best for roasting.

Use a baking sheet, or roasting pan – as long as it is shallow.  Drizzle oil over the bottom of the pan, and add in the vegetables.  Mix them around to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle with kosher salt.  Spread the vegetables out so they are in an even layer, and not too close together — they need room to roast, rather than steam.

Place the vegetables in the oven. Stir every 10 minutes.  These should take about 30 minutes.  However, the size matters here — if the pieces are small, the roasting time will be less, if the pieces are larger, the roasting time will be more.  Just keep your eye on them once the time has reached 25 minutes, checking for doneness.

Serve immediately.  Roasted vegetables look great on the table, especially when they are mixed colors, and always taste yummy. 

I’ve made this the day before Thanksgiving, and kept it refrigerated, until about 1 hour before I want to put it into the oven.  Allow it to come to room temp before you bake it.

Simple Baked Cream Corn

2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 cans of creamed corn (14.75 ounce cans)
2 tablespoons butter, chopped in pieces
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2  teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with the milk.  Mix in corn and butter.  Blend in remaining ingredients.

Lightly spray a baking dish — I use an 8×8 dish, or a pie pan.  Transfer the corn mixture to the baking dish, and bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 50 minutes, or until it is bubbly and golden brown.

Let this sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

The original recipe called for soaking the cranberries in ‘grape juice’, but that just seemed so odd to me.  I then experimented with cranberry juice and orange juice.  Both work really well.   See below for some variations.

Acorn Squash with Cranberry and Apples

2 acorn squash
6 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup cranberry juice (or orange juice)
3 medium apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Prep the squash by cutting it in half, and cleaning out the seeds & strings.  Brush the top

with melted butter. On a baking sheet, place the squash face down, and pour 1/2 cup water onto the baking sheet – it should be just enough to cover the bottom.  Bake for about 30 minutes at 350F.

Meanwhile, soak the cranberries in the cranberry juice (or orange juice).  Peel, and chop the apples until they are about 1/2 inch or so.  Melt the remaining butter (about 4 tablespoons) in a frying pan, and add the apples.  Cook about 5 minutes.  Stir in the brown sugar and lemon juice.

Once the squash has baked for about 30 minutes, flip it over.  Drain the cranberries, and mix into the apples.  Fill the squash with the apple-cranberry mix, and return to the oven, baking about 30 minutes more, or until the squash is tender.

Garnish with a bit of cinnamon.

Note:

• You can replace the cranberries with raisins or currents.
• Soak the fruit in red wine
• Add some chopped walnuts to the apple cranberry mix before you stuff the squash