Thanksgiving: Stuffing Edition

Oddly enough, I have never made a dish to bring to Thanksgiving. It wasn't until a few years ago that I really started to get into cooking and it's just never come up. This year Thanksgiving is my holiday to work and we're all bringing something to share, so I chose one of my favorite parts of the feast: stuffing. I think I enjoy stuffing so much because I really like bread. Bread and I have had a love affair for years. I also like the variety you can put into stuffing. In the interest of having enough to go around I chose to make two varieties, classic sausage and cranberry pecan.

I got smart and realized that I could make one in the crockpot and the other in the oven, thus cutting the prep and cook time in half. Genius!

Let's start with the cranberry pecan. I will thoroughly admit that for both of these recipes I cheated and bought prepackaged stuffing. I know, I know. But it's a lot more cost and time effective. One day I'll make it completely from scratch.

You will need:

1 14oz bag of herb seasoned stuffing
1 cup of diced onions
1/2 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/2 cup of chopped pecans
3 cups of chicken broth
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp of ground mustard

Mix the first five ingredients in your sprayed crockpot. Then in a medium bowl whisk the chicken broth, eggs, salt, pepper, and mustard together. Pour over the stuffing mixture, mix, and cook on low for 3-4 hours. Easy as can be!

The second stuffing is a little more involved but still extremely easy. Sausage stuffing is served pretty routinely at my family Thanksgivings and one of my favorites. No worries if you're a vegetarian, simply leave out the sausage. It tastes just as good without it.

You will need:

12 oz pork sausage roll (I used sage, you can also go with plain)
3/4 cup of diced yellow onion
1/2 cup of diced celery
Coarse salt and black pepper
1 14oz package of herb seasoned stuffing
2 14oz cans of chicken broth
3 tablespoons of melted butter

To start, brown your sausage on the stovetop over medium heat. Once done empty into a large bowl and reserve about a tablespoon of grease in the pan. Saute your onions and celery until tender, then add them to the bowl with the sausage. Add in the package of stuffing, then cover with the chicken broth and melted butter. Mix well.

Spray a medium sized baking dish with cooking spray, then coat with the stuffing mixture being sure to spread evenly. Dot with a few pats of butter and bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

The result? Savory, crunchy delicious stuffing. I really like the extra kick the sage in the sausage gives it. You can add whatever you want to this stuffing, the options are endless!

For this Thanksgiving I'm headed to my aunt's house before work for dinner number one. I'm going to try not to eat too much so I make it through the night! I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday. What are some of your favorite holiday dishes? Please comment, I would love to hear!