Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing

I guess I should have worked a little harder to get this particular recipe posted before Thanksgiving in case anyone was short on oven space and needed a crockpot side dish. Oops. This is another recipe I found via my friend Heather. She shared a link from recipes inspired by the book and movie, "The Help." I've read the book (fantastic!) but haven't seen the movie. I love southern food and culture, so I was all over the link and went crazy pinning (as in, pinning to Pinterest.com) most of the recipes featured. Normally I prefer regular stuffing, like with normal bread, not cornbread. But I'm game for anything when it comes to stuffing/dressing, so I figured it was worth a try.

Crockpot Cornbread Stuffing
Source: MyRecipes.com


5 cups crumbled cornbread
1 (14-oz.) package herb stuffing
2 (10 3/4-oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
2 (14-oz.) cans chicken broth
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 cup diced celery
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter, cut up
Preparation

1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour cornbread mixture into a lightly greased 6-qt. slow cooker. Dot with butter. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until set and thoroughly cooked.

*****

I'll be honest, I was a little nervous this was just going to be a soggy, disgusting clump when I opened the crockpot to serve this up with our dinner. I'm happy to report that I was proved wrong and it was quite tasty! I love stuffing, so it was great to just let this cook all day and then serve it up with a pork roast for dinner. I made up two boxes of Jiffy cornbread and used a box of Stove Top for the bread components. I forgot to dot the top with butter, but I don't think it made a huge difference. This would also be tasty with some Craisins and toasted pecans mixed in at the end, maybe even some cooked, crumbled sausage. I'll definitely make this as a side dish again. But be warned--it makes A LOT!

My Grandma's Super Yummy Dressing

Dressing, stuffing...my family always called it dressing because we didn't stuff the turkey with it, but I always wonder if people will think I mean salad dressing if I say dressing instead of stuffing. I know, random things that go through my head. My grandma's dressing is one of my all-time absolute most favorite foods. I could eat an entire pan of it. Although it does make me a little sad now because my grandpa felt the same way about it as I do, so now eating it (and when I was making it) made me miss him a lot. Every year my grandpa would be in charge of toasting the bread for the dressing and he'd always want to do way more loaves of bread than my grandma thought was necessary. I always sided with my grandpa because more dressing is never a bad thing.

I had made this once before, I think for Thanksgiving at my parents' house one year when my grandparents weren't there for Thanksgiving. It was only okay--I think I forgot to add the salt because something was just off. I hadn't attempted to make it since then, just enjoyed it when I could get it. It used to be when we'd go to TX for Thanksgiving, my grandma would make up a plate for me from my family's Thanksgiving dinner and save it for me when we got back because they'd always keep our dog while we were gone. When I could I'd take leftovers home and eat it cold for breakfast the next day. This dish is probably the #1 thing I miss about not having Thanksgiving with my family.

Now that I've waxed poetic and gone on and on about the dressing I guess I should just get down to posting the recipe. I was really pretty surprised with how easy this was to do. Let me tell you--the next time I'm on my own for dinner (although I have no idea when or why that would ever happen) I may just make up a 9x13 pan of this to eat...and I won't even use a plate!

My Grandma's Super Yummy Dressing

1 loaf white sandwich bread, toasted and broken in small pieces (my grandpa usually did 1-1/2 loaves, so that's what I went with)
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion

Saute celery and onion in 1/4 stick butter until it looks tender.

Add celery and onion to bread. Add about 1-1/2 Tbsp sage and a little salt. Mix with broth until it looks damp. You may need to use a can of chicken broth if there isn't enough turkey broth, but don't add it all at once--wait and see how much you need. Bake about 35 minutes at 350.

*****

Let me tell you...I was tempted to eat this straight out of the bowl once I had everything mixed together. Then I was tempted to eat it straight out of the pan before I put it in the oven. Then I was tempted to dump the entire pan out on my plate at dinner--but I thought that might be a little rude since my mom and brother love grandma's dressing, too. But it would have only been a little rude because Jen had made dressing too.

Anyway, this is super easy, super tasty, and I'm sad I finished off the leftovers for breakfast this morning. Let me tell you--I savored that last bite for a ridiculously long time!

Bread and veggies, just waiting on the broth...


Mmmm...pre-baked dressing...


The finished product (after dinner, we were all too hungry for me to take pictures before we ate)...

Chicken Casserole Surprise

I forgot to post this last night after I made it. Darn, and I had been doing so well this week! I had planned on making something slightly different but when it came time to start dinner, I realized I didn't have some of the ingredients. Oops. So I came up with this all on my own.

Chicken Casserole Surprise
2-3 cups cooked chicken
1 can green beans (or half a bag of frozen, defrosted)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 box Stove Top, prepared per pacakage directions

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together chicken, green beans, soup, and cheese. Spread in 11x7 casserole dish. Top with Stove Top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

*****

Pretty easy. It was really good, too. I didn't really know how long to bake it for, so I started with 20 minutes and checked it every five minutes from there. The boy didn't really eat it, but he's had a fever off and on for the past couple days, so his eating habits have been a bit unusual. The husband and I both really liked it. And it didn't make an insane amount, so we won't be eating it for days and days.

I won't be posting for a few days...I don't have to make dinner again until Sunday!! Tonight I'm going out with some friends, tomorrow is the husband's last day at his current job so he's going to happy hour with friends, and Saturday he's playing golf and won't be home until after dinner. I guess technically I'll be making something for the boy and me, but it won't be anything fancy. So, enjoy the long weekend, and I'll be back on Sunday!

Stuffed Pork Chops

I was going to post this earlier today, but it was something I was creating as I went, so that wasn't going to work. I had this idea for pork chops a couple weeks ago but kept pushing it back on the menu. Plus I wanted to come up with a sauce and wasn't tasting anything in my head that went with it. Tasting in my head? You know what I mean.

So I knew the basics of what I wanted to do but looked for a recipe anyway. I found one on the Whole Foods website (who knew they had recipes on there?! Guess what I'm doing during nap time tomorrow!!) and one with a sauce kind of like what I was looking for from a Google search (here it is). The second one I liked the idea of the sauce, not the actual recipe. The Whole Foods recipe was pretty close to what I wanted to do.

Darn...I meant to write down what I was doing as I did it. I think I remember all of it.

Stuffed Pork Chops
1 box cornbread Stove Top
2 handfuls Craisins
2 handfuls pecans
4 pork chops
3/4 cup apple juice
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Prepare Stove Top according to package directions. Chop pecans using food processor or food chopper. Add Craisins and pecans to Stove Top and mix. Make a pocket in each pork chop (similar to how I did the chicken in this recipe) and stuff with Stove Top mixture. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray the pork chops with canola oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. In a medium size skillet, sauté each pork chop for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove each pork chop and place in a sheet pan. Cook the pork chops in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the apple juice, syrup, mustard, and butter. Whisk together until almost boiling. Add in corn starch, whisk, and heat until sauce is thickened. Spoon sauce over pork chops.

*****

I hate having to write out my own recipes. I hope it makes sense. The Stove Top was kind of bland, which I probably should have expected. I was originally going to add apples to it but only had Gala, and I thought they'd be too sweet for this. I also meant to use chicken stock instead of water, like in the Whole Foods recipe. I thought after I had stuffed the pork chops some flat leaf parsley would have added some fresh flavor. I wanted to add some sage but didn't have any. Note to self...add sage to grocery list.

So...I'm ridiculously pleased with myself for the sauce. It was AWESOME. I could have eaten the whole saucepan of it and skipped using it on the pork chops. The pork chops were really good too. I assume part of the goodness was the awesome sauce. Did I mention how awesome it was? It was awesome...in case I hadn't made that clear. ;)

All in all, this was a really good dinner. We had the leftover Stove Top on the side along with Color Glazed Carrots. I would definitely make this again!!

(BTW, the husband said he gives it four thumbs up...which I guess is good.)