Skip to main content

Soggy Pork and Cranberry Stuffing


Stuffing.  I have a love hate relationship with stuffing.  Homemade stuffing rocks but it way to much effort to make, even at Turkey day.  Homemade stuffing placed inside a turkey is a no go but will be eaten if the texture is right and dry enough.  Meat stuffing is a never.  The table counterparts love the stuffing in a box.  Love it as they could just eat for dinner with a salad.  So when Sausage and Apple Dressing with Cranberries was found, I just had to make it.  It was chunky, filled with apples, celery, and cranberries, and had just enough meat to make it more than just bread.  

Modifications Made:
Bread cubes were roasted in oven until dry and crunchy to help eliminate any potential to soggy bread.  

In reading the instructions, I found the order of operations to be backwards.  For my stuffing, the sausage was browned, the set aside to drain of fat.  The onions and celery were cooked till soft.  Apples, dried cranberries, sausage crumbles, and all seasonings, and chicken broth were added to onions and celery.  Mixture was cooked until apples were just tender.  In remaining broth, bread crumbs were added and mixed well.  Mixture was then poured into warmed 12" cast iron skillet and cooked until stuffing mixture was dry(ish).

Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You
In my head I want stuffing.  Bread cubes, apples, cranberries, celery, spices, sometimes pecans, sometimes cornbread.  In actuality, stuffing is for the birds.  The bread cubes became soggy, never to dry out resulting in mush.  The apples reduced to applesauce causing extra liquid inside the cast iron skillet.  If bread was picked around, the pork/celery/dried cranberries were good but not filling.  A serving was had by all and the chickens are the rest.

Popular posts from this blog

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup.  Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too.  Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup  are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water.  Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender.  Green be

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over.  There are so many more potato recipes saved.  Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes.  With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive.   The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half.  Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe.  These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted.  Bummer.  Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough.  Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It  is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6  Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes).  Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft.  Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water).  Bring to a boil and then add potatoes.  Cover and reduc