Thanksgiving Recipe

Nov 20, 2013 | Food | 3 comments

Every year, my family begs me for the same dressing. It's got Cajun sausage in it and it's sort of spicy. I usually end up making a double batch if we have guests, and it makes great leftovers. I adapted a recipe from a Bon Gourmet magazine about 10 years or so ago. The family fell in love, and it's been a tradition ever since.

Since people have been asking me, I'm sharing it here with you today. If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy! And please, share recipes with me in the comments! I love recipes!

Sausage Dressing/Stuffing

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 pound smoked sausage or polish kielbasa sliced into rounds (or Cajun andouille if you want to spice it up! I get Ragin’ Cajun brand)
1 12-ounce package breakfast-style bulk sausage
3 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped red bell peppers
1 cup chopped green onions
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
12 ounces dry corn bread or regular bread stuffing mix (I’ve used both at different times; Mr. Harris seems to prefer the regular bread, so that’s what I use. I usually get Pepperidge Farms)

Up to 1 1/2 cups (approx) canned low-salt chicken broth

Melt butter in heavy large skillet or Dutch oven over med-high heat. Add all sausages and cook until brown and cooked through, breaking up bulk sausage with spoon or spatula, about 5 minutes. Add onions, celery and red bell peppers. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes. Stir in green onions, thyme, hot sauce, and sage. Transfer sausage mixture to large bowl. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Just reheat mixture when ready and proceed.) Stir stuffing mix into sausage mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

You can bake the stuffing in a turkey, or separately (dressing). I usually like to do it separately. Preheat oven to 350, generously butter a baking dish that will fit all the dressing. Add enough broth to moisten (that’s where the broth comes in, use as much as necessary–I’ve never used all of it, btw). Put dressing in dish. Cover with a piece of buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is crisp and golden, about 20 more minutes.

Enjoy!

While you're cooking that day, try to sneak in some quality time with the HOT, SEXY & BAD men in this set!

Wednesday Recipe

Sep 21, 2011 | Food | 5 comments

I'm back today with another recipe! This isn't something I will likely do every week, but I was talking recipes with my friend Jean Hovey on her blog, and I mentioned this one. She said she thought it was something her husband would like, so I was inspired to go searching for it.

This recipe is from Betty Crocker and comes from a Holiday book of recipes.

Slow Cooker Hot Reuben Spread:

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese (6 ounces)
3/4 cup drained Sauerkraut
1/2 cup Thousand Island dressing
1 block (8 ounces) low-fat softened cream cheese
2 packages thinly sliced corned beef, chopped (I used the Carl Buddig brand)

Cocktail rye bread slices or crackers

Spray inside of small slow cooker (1 to 2 1/2 quart) with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except crackers in a bowl and then pour into Crock-Pot. Cover and cook on low setting for about an hour, or until cheese melts. Stir until smooth, then cover and cook for another hour. Scrape down sides of cooker with rubber spatula from time to time to prevent edges of spread from burning. Serve spread with rye bread or crackers.

I made this for a party once, and it was very yummy! If you like Reuben sandwiches (and I do), you will probably like this. This is great party food, of course. Good for a football party, a shower, or a cocktail party. I remember it being pretty thick. I might consider modifying it in the future to make it creamier, but not yet sure what I would do.

Let me know if you try it!

Wednesday Recipe

Sep 14, 2011 | Food | 4 comments

Today, I decided to share the crawfish dip recipe with y'all because several people have asked me for it!

Crawfish Dip

1 2-lb block of Velveeta
1 can Campbell's Cream of Shrimp soup, undiluted
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added
1/4 cup of dried onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1 can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
8 ounces (1 block) low-fat cream cheese
1 pound frozen, cooked crawfish tail meat, defrosted and drained (not rinsed!)
(Can also substitute 1 pound chopped shrimp meat; I've even thought of using crab for a different flavor but haven't tried it yet.)

Place all ingredients except for meat in a medium sized crock-pot. Depending on how fast you need the dip, you can use either high or low setting to get the cheese melting. Once everything is melted, stir together and let simmer in the crock-pot for a couple of hours or so on low. If you need to serve it soon, add the tail meat and let that simmer too. If you start it really early and won't need it until later, add the tail meat about a couple of hours or so before you want to serve. Once it's all warm and melty and yummy, serve with Frito Scoops. I leave it in the crock-pot on the warm setting, but you could put it in a serving dish if you wanted.

This dip is truly awesome! It's not cheap to make if you use crawfish, as that runs about $14 bucks a pound or so, at least in my neck of the woods. But you could change it to shrimp and cut the cost a little.

I adapted this recipe from one I found in a cookbook. I've changed enough of it (including using crawfish instead of shrimp, and using a crock-pot to prepare it) to probably call it mine, but there was an original I was inspired by. My understanding of recipe copyright is that lists of ingredients are not protected while original language is. Further, when one adapts a recipe, if you significantly change it, you don't have to attribute. I looked all this up before sharing because, yes, copyright is something that concerns me a great deal.

That said, if you wanted to purchase the cookbook I used, it's called Pirate's Pantry and is published by the Junior League of Lake Charles, LA. There are lots of fabulous recipes in this book!

Hope you enjoy! If you make it, let me know how it went over! This would make great football party food, but as always make sure you warn any guests with seafood allergies. 🙂