It’s November already! How the hell did that happen? I mean, wasn’t it just the fourth of July like a week ago? I can’t believe the holiday season is just around the corner! The next time you blink you’ll be in the middle of a flurry of day-long cooking, hair-pulling, holiday stress… er… fun, before sitting down at the Thanksgiving table and enjoying a feast with your loved ones. It goes by so quickly that sometimes it’s hard to slow down and remember to actually be deeply thankful for all that we have. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the trials and tribulations of day-to-day life that you forget to stop and smell the roses, to appreciate the changing colors of the leaves or the glory of an icicle. Alright – you caught me. I’m spending the year on the coast in Puerto Rico, there are no leaves changing and a zero percent chance of snow that might form into an icicle. But I am thankful to have the opportunity to live in such an amazingly beautiful place and be surrounded by the welcoming arms of a genuinely warm culture. Where ever you are in your life or whatever your circumstances maybe, there are always things to be thankful for. While I think we should find the glory and appreciation for these things everyday, it’s nice to have a holiday that brings us all together so that we can share in our thanks outwardly and uplift each other.

Having a food blog means testing recipes for holidays WAY in advance. Sometimes there are recipes that you develop that you like, some that you can’t stand, and others that you flat out love. This Thanksgiving recipe that I developed for Knorr using their Homestyle Chicken Stock falls into the love category! Have you ever cooked your wild rice in orange juice before? It give it a sweetness and glazes the rice as it reduces and is absorbed. The dried cranberries add to the whole sweet-tart profile of the dish, while the fennel bulb and seeds play off the savory hot Italian sausage side. Really – I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say I might not miss stuffing on the Thanksgiving day table if this wild rice dressing were present. Okay, that might be a load of BS because I love stuffing, but this was sooooooo delicious. Good enough that over the course of two days my roommate and I polished off all ten portions and were sad when the last grain of rice was gone.

Have you planned out your Thanksgiving dishes yet? Do you try out the recipes in advance or just wing it and hope it all goes well the day of? I’d love to hear what you guys have lined up!

*I am a professional recipe developer being paid by Knorr as part of the Knorr 4 promotion. While Knorr is footing the bill, all recipes, content and opinions comes directly from my (sometimes offbeat and slightly cheesy) brain.

Recipes in this post:

• Sweet & Savory Wild Rice Dressing w/ Hot Italian Sausage, Orange, Dried Cranberries & Hazelnuts

Related posts:

1. Kickass Mexican Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Holiday Recipe: Cheesy Chile, Fennel & Potato Gratin

We’re eating Mexican chorizo cornbread stuffing filled with sweet white corn kernels, roasted poblano & jalapeno peppers, cilantro and roasted garlic.

You can’t have a holiday meal without the stuffing (or dressing depending on your semantics of choice)! At least that’s my opinion. Since I wanted to play with the Mexican theme and I knew I had the frozen mole I made earlier this year, what I really wanted to do was create a cornbread dressing that, when eaten with the turkey and the mole, would remind you of a tamale. It utterly delighted me when Justin said (without me prompting!) that it reminded him of tamales! YAY! Success! The chorizo cornbread is great without the mole since it’s choked full of delicious chorizo and fresh corn but if you’ve already gone through the trouble of making the mole you should definitely try them together.

As a side note – I have to admit to eat T & I eating a little slice of the cornbread when it was fresh out of the oven the night before so maybe to keep it legit you should “sample” a small slice of bread when it’s still warm and delicious.

Recipes in this post:

• Mexican Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing

Related posts:

1. Knorr Homestyle Stock Sweet & Savory Wild Rice Dressing w/ Italian Sausage, Orange, Dried Cranberries & Hazelnuts
2. Butternut Squash Succotash w/ Sage Brown Butter
3. Holiday Recipe: Cheesy Chile, Fennel & Potato Gratin