Thanksgiving Recipe: Stuffing to Inspire

For me, Thanksgiving has always been a holiday that has varied across the years. There was never a real set house, style, meal or tradition that endured year after year as our family changed. When my honey was little, he used to do the traditional turkey thing with his family and his neighbor. Once he was a teenager, he and his mom used to jet off to Mexico to lay by the water and drink margaritas every Thanksgiving.  I even went with them in 2004 for a nice change and we had a fantabulous time. There might have been an incident where I ended up spitting margarita down the side of the rock hot tub, but I blame E entirely for not telling me it was alcoholic.

Whenever someone mentions Thanksgiving, there's inevitably at least one person who goes "Oh stuffing!! yum!". To inspire your Thanksgiving table, I present a couple different stuffing recipes from all over depending on how much work you want to do.

Caramelized Onion with Pancetta & Rosemary Stuffing


Level of difficulty: Quick and Easy
Source: The internet, somewhere lol

Ingredients:

•     6     tablespoons butter
•     2     large sweet onions, diced (about 3 cups)
•     1     package (4 ounces) cubed pancetta (about 1 cup)
•     4     cloves garlic, chopped
•     2     stalks celery, diced (about 1 cup)
•     2     tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves  
•     3     cups Chicken broth   
•     1/4  cup sherry   
•     1     package (14 ounces) Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned stuffing (YUM)

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Heat the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 15 minutes or until well browned, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir the pancetta, garlic, celery and rosemary in the saucepan and cook until the pancetta is well browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in the broth and sherry and heat to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the stuffing and mix lightly. Spoon the stuffing mixture into a buttered 3-quart casserole. Cover the stuffing with buttered foil.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until the stuffing mixture is hot.

Sourdough, Cornbread, and Sausage Stuffing

Level of Difficulty: A little more time consuming
Source: The Picky Palate

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Sourdough Loaf, cubed
• 12 oz baked cornbread, cubed
• 14 Tablespoons butter (1  3/4 sticks)
• 1 large onion, diced (about 1 1/2 Cups)
• 1 bunch of celery, chopped (about 3 Cups)
• 3 large carrots, chopped (about 2 Cups)
• 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped (about 1 1/4 Cups)
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 1/2 Cups chicken broth
• 1/2 Cup fresh chopped parsley
• 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon fresh sage
• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme (or 1 Tablespoon fresh)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 lb Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage I am not a fan of breakfast sausage so I used mild italian sausage 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.   Place cubed sourdough and cornbread onto a large jellyroll baking sheet.  Bake for 25 minutes, until lightly toasted.  Remove from oven.
2. Melt butter into a large dutch oven or large rimmed skillet over medium heat.  Saute onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms for about 10 minutes or until veggies turn tender.  Stir in garlic and cook for another minute then pour in chicken broth, parsley, rosemary, sage,  thyme, salt and pepper.  Stir and reduce heat to low to simmer.
3. Brown sausage in skillet, drain if necessary then add to vegetable mixture.  Place bread cubes into a large bowl and slowly pour mixture over cubes gently stirring throughout to ensure all pieces get coated.  Taste a couple pieces and season with additional salt and pepper according to taste. 
4. Divide stuffing into a 9×13 inch baking dish and a 11×7 inch baking dish.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until just golden brown on top.  Should still be nice and moist.  Remove from oven and serve.
5. 12 servings, each dish