What We're Eating - A Food & Recipe Blog » stuffing

Knorr Homestyle Stock Sweet & Savory Wild Rice Dressing w/ Italian Sausage, Orange, Dried Cranberries & Hazelnuts

Amanda — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:14:23 +0000

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

Knorr Contest Entry: Seared Mahi w/ Chorizo, Poblano & Caramelized Onion Stuffing & Roasted Garlic Tomatillo Sauce

Amanda — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:00:20 +0000

Oooo! Oooo! Pick me! I'm deeeeee-icious! ;)

We’re eating seared mahi mahi with chorizo, roasted poblano, caramelized onion sourdough stuffing drizzled with roasted garlic tomatillo sauce and garnished with a watercress salad tossed in a lime vinaigrette.

I’m super excited! SUPER! You heard me right. I am in the process of moving (semi-permanently) to Puerto Rico!!!, leaving my beloved San Diego behind. Technically I’ve actually been out of San Diego for a month now, traveling around the States visiting friends, old and new. I’ve only been away this short time and I already miss San Diego So Freaking Much. I was in the middle of having one of those nostalgic moments when an email popped into my inbox a few weeks ago from Blogher describing a Knorr contest calling for bloggers to develop a recipe using their new Homestyle Stock Concentrates. Now, normally a recipe contest doesn’t really get me going, but the prize for this one… oh the sweet sweet prize for this contest sure did! The top eight contestants will be cooking their recipes live at the Blogher 2011 convention in SAN DIEGO!!!! What! What! For me, that would mean a free trip home! I can’t imagine a better prize! I mean, other than a really large sum of money that would allow me to travel all over the world, San Diego included. That would rock too.

Anyway, the recipe below is my entry for this contest. I diluted the chicken stock concentrate with freshly squeezed orange juice and water then used it in both the chorizo, poblano & caramelized onion sourdough stuffing as well as in my roasted garlic tomatillo sauce. I really hope that the judges like this as much as my dinner guests did so that I’m given a chance to fly back home to San Diego in September and join all the awesome folks at the Blogher Conference and be a member of the Knorr Four Panel!

Recipes in this post:

Kickass Mexican Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing

Amanda — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:08:59 +0000

Stuffing on the plate. Tamale in your mouth!

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

Holiday Recipes: Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing

Amanda — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:00:11 +0000

Stuffing or Dressing? Call it what you will - it's damn good!

Mmmmmm mmmmm who doesn’t love stuffing(aka dressing)?!? Stuffing has to be one of my all-time favorite parts of any holiday meal. Moist, carbalicious, frequently involving some kind of pork product – honestly, what’s not to love?!? We happen to love stuffing so much, that for our pre-holiday gorge-fest Nicole and I made two different versions. I went for a southern classic: good ol’ cornbread stuffing. My stuffing was made with day old cornbread, garlic sausage, sauteed onions, celery, leeks, garlic and peppers. The outcome – a moist, savory sausage cornbread delight perfect for drenching with gravy! (Did I mention that’s one of my favorite things about stuffing? Eating it with lots of gravy!)

Nicole made a sourdough, apple & bacon stuffing that was also out of this world! I was surprised at exactly how much I loved the flavor that the sourdough added to the stuffing. I shouldn’t have been surprised considering how much I love sourdough and bacon, but I’m kind of dense. Perhaps we should start a new tradition of having two different stuffings at every holiday meal! Even if there are only two people in attendance.

*In case anyone hasn’t been to What We’re Eating in a while, this is part of a special Holiday series featuring recipes that Nicole, from Pinch My Salt, Tyler and I cooked and feasted on together! Here’s a list of all the dishes in the series so far:

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes Wrapped in Prosciutto
Extra Creamy Mashed Potato Casserole
Sweet Potato Buttermilk Rolls
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast
Sourdough, Bacon & Apple Stuffing
Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing (your reading it!)