Easy Unstuffed Cornbread Stuffing

When I was first married, I wanted to impress my husband with my talent in the kitchen. On our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, I decided to go all out with the Turkey, sweet potatoes, vegetable casserole - the works!

There was only one problem. I was a not a "stuffing" fan. But I knew that stuffing was one of my husband's favorite parts of the meal. I needed to come up with something easy that the both of us could enjoy not only with our Thanksgiving meal, but also with the requisite Thanksgiving left overs. It need to look good, taste good and fit well with our meal.

Then inspiration hit...and Easy Unstuffed Cornbread Stuffing was born.

The combination of ingredients was a little different than my husband was used to. But, being the good husband that he is, he tried it. He liked it! It has been a staple at our Thanksgiving dinners ever since.

You can make Easy Unstuffed Cornbread Stuffing to by using the ingredients and directions below. Enjoy!

Easy Unstuffed Cornbread Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 12 oz. box or bag of stuffing croutons
1 box store-bought cornbread mix prepared according to directions
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white zinfindel or white wine
2 cups chicken stock (fresh or from the can)
1/2 cup melted butter
salt and pepper to taste
Serves 12-14

Directions:

The night before the dish is to be served, prepare the cornbread according to the directions on the box. Leave the prepared recipe on the counter uncovered until you are ready to use it the next day.

The day the dish is to be served, crumble the cornbread mix into a large bowl. Add the stuffing croutons to the crumbled cornbread and set aside. Melt 1/2 cup of butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the onions, garlic and celery to the pan and cook while stirring until the onions are translucent. Remove the mixture from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Once the mixture has cooled some (not too hot to handle), pour it over the cornbread and croutons. Mix the ingredients until well combined. Pour the 2 cups of chicken stock and the 1/2 white zinfindel/wine over the mixture and stir until evenly moist. Add salt and pepper to your preferred taste.

Pour the entire contents into a large aluminum or glass baking dish and cover the top. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove the cover and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the top of the stuffing is toasty. Serve directly from the baking dish or transfer to a serving dish, garnishing the finished recipe with parsley.

This is an easy Thanksgiving recipe to make. As you get more comfortable making it, you can add variations, such as cranberries or sausage to the recipe. Enjoy!

Autumn is Upon Us!

It's here! It's finally here!

Our desert southwest weather has finally cooled down to a bearable 74 degrees during the day and in the 50's at night. I love it!

To celebrate, I'm pulling out my holiday decorations...not the tree yet, but some of the pretty holiday foliage that will take me from now through the winter holidays. I am incorporating my left-over autumn array of squash - especially the green and white ones and creating a festive, but not necessarily Christmas feel in my home.

I am pulling out the scented candles in the various spice "flavors". Lighting them creates not only a beautiful glow but an beautiful aroma in the house. It really gets me into the holiday spirit!

Crafty Cam Comments

Hello everyone...please leave a comment and let me know how you like the new Crafty Cam features and the video tutorial on the Faux Quilted Pumpkin and the Fall Gourds. Thanks!!!!

EEEEK! Pumpkin Carnage!

What did these poor pumpkins ever do to us?

One day they are sitting in their patch with all their pumpkin friends. They are basking in the warm summer sun, growing fat and happy from the warmth of the season and the water their farmer has so lovingly(so they think) given them.

Then one day, out of the blue, Whack! They are cut off, severed from the vine, all ties to what they had known sheared away.


They are hauled away, first in farm trucks, then in semi trucks, and then in SUV's only to end up on the kitchen tables of people intent on making lanterns of them.

Men, women and children, carving tools in hand descend upon the poor orange squash. Helplessly it sits there as it's stem is cut off and it's insides are scooped out with spoons, spatulas and dirty hands.

The carnage continues as the poor pumpkin is carved and cut, minced and mutilated - until at last it is over. The pumpkin that once sat so proud, orange, happy and warm in his patch is reduced to nothing but a shell -- with a silly face.

Just when it seemed that the poor pumpkin has suffered enough, it is hammered with another blow. The same men, women and children that had so brutally gouged a face into it's side, smile with joy as photos of the battered pumpkin are taken to place in scrapbooks as memories of this day of pumpkin carnage.

Once nightfall comes, poor pumpkin is put out in the cold, all alone, while his humiliation is illuminated for all in the night to see by the small candle that has been placed inside him.

I'm sure glad I'm not a pumpkin!

Happy Autumn!

Happy Autumn!

Yes I know that the fall is almost half over, but here in my part of the desert southwest, we don't have much of an autumn.

We don't have any trees that change from green to beautiful reds and burnt oranges. We don't have the piles of fall leaves on the ground.

What we do have are cactus that shrivel, ocotillo that lose their leaves, and ragweed pollen that would choke a giraffe - does that make sense?

Anyway, as October is drawing to a close, our days are VERY SLOWLY getting cooler. Today's daytime temperature was only 94 degrees. Our evening temperatures are falling into the low 60's. It is almost time to put away our tank tops and shorts and take out our t-shirts and capri pants and enjoy very comfortable weather.

With turkey day just around the corner, we can finally get into the spirit of Autumn.