The New Addition

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving? We sure did. I want to share some of our life and times with you, if you don't mind. Oh, and a recipe. A couple of people have asked for it, so I only thought it fair to share with all. :)

Yes. Those are cows on my coffee table. My very messy coffee table.

The Evil Sister and her husband came into town Tuesday night. She and I tooled around fabric and craft stores on Wednesday. Thursday we all, including my mom and my brother's family, got down to the business of eating Thanksgiving dinner. At the end I'll include my moist cornbread dressing recipe.

Friday my brother's family got a new dog. A baby dog, just barely three months old. Isn't she a doll baby?

Her name is Lucy.

And obviously, Libby has already adopted her as her own. The two were inseparable all weekend.

My Evil Sister also has a soft spot for Lucy. She's sporting her evil grin.

I think all is now right with the world. Oh! And we exchanged gifts Saturday night, since we'll be out of town at Christmas. Look what my mommy gave me!

And because I promised, my cornbread dressing recipe. It's a cheater recipe, since I used more of what was in my pantry than what was in the recipe, but it turned out better than usual, so I give you the pantry edition. Enjoy!

Southern Living's Moist Cornbread Dressing, The Good Flea's Way

3 boxes of cornbread mix, made following box instructions

1 box of garlic butter flavored croutons

1 box turkey stuffing mix, with seasoning

8 slices wheat bread, torn or cut into small pieces

3 cans chicken broth

4 stalks celery, diced

1 onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

3 cloves garlic

1 pound pork sausage, sage

salt

pepper

chicken seasoning (I used what I had in the cupboard - couldn't tell you what it is)

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

I baked the cornbread and browned the sausage while mixing everything else. You could do that earlier in the day or the day before, but you'd need to reserve the sausage fat.

In a giant mixing bowl, mix together croutons, dry turkey dressing mix and seasoning, bread, nuts, apple, seasonings (I just sprinkled till it seemed right - probably a teaspoon per seasoning).

Once the sausage is browned, use a slotted spoon to move it to the bowl, leaving the fat. Saute the celery, onion, bell pepper and garlic in the fat till slightly translucent. Move veggies to bowl and mix in.

Crumble in all of the cornbread once it's done and cooled. Stir in.

Finally, add beaten eggs and broth, stirring well. If dressing doesn't seem moist enough, feel free to add more broth.

Ladle all into a lightly greased 13x9x2 casserole dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Very yummy. Probably too moist to stuff the turkey with, though.

See? I had the croutons and the turkey stuffing in the pantry, waiting to serve a purpose. They worked out pretty well. So did the apples. Mmm!

Until I write again ...

Flea