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Happy holidays everyone! We have officially hit the weird parallel universe that is 2020 meets the holidays. This year may be vastly different for a lot of people and for safety sake it should. We are only having our littles and they are not bringing a plus one with them. We will also be masked the entire time, until we settle in to sit on our covered porch in the open air to eat our feast. Lord help us, in NH in November eating outside will be different. I am trying to think of it as going back to what the first Thanksgiving may have been like. At any rate it all makes memories and isn’t that what holidays are for after all?
One way I am attempting to keep the holiday feel is by making everyone’s favorites for the holiday. Neither of our girls lives with us, so I have told them to bring their own large to go containers, because they will be leaving with whatever food isn’t consumed at dinner.
Thanksgiving happens to be my youngest daughter’s favorite holiday. I think she rolls Thanksgiving and Christmas into one big holidaypalooza, but she has been recorded as saying if she had to pick between the two, she would choose Thanksgiving. I decided today to share with you her favorite dish at Thanksgiving, because I couldn’t choose one dish that I would say is my favorite. They are all yummy and essential to make the holiday what it is in my memory.
So, what is her favorite food? You may think it is the pie. Most people love the desserts, but this kid isn’t into sweets. Have I mentioned she’s a strange one? Nope, her favorite dish for Thanksgiving is my homemade sausage stuffing. She loves it so much I make a huge batch and she will eat that as a nighttime snack with some cranberry sauce and gravy on it. And let’s be clear I bake it in a pan I do not stuff the turkey, so I do understand half the world would call that “dressing”, but I was brought up calling it stuffing, so that is what we use in our house.
When I found out I had celiac I was worried that I would no longer be able to enjoy such things as homemade stuffing. However, have I mentioned I have a degree in culinary arts? Challenge accepted. No one can tell the difference once it is cooked and I don’t have to go without. I just buy a few loaves of my favorite gluten free bread (they are small loaves, and yes it makes stuffing a more expensive side dish for sure) cut them into cubes to make up the 8 cups required and spread them out on cookie sheets a couple days before to dry them out and make them hard, then I go to work.
Another big thing that makes this dish perfect for the holidays is the flavor of sausage. I buy sage sausage. One year my daughter drove all over the place because she couldn’t find sage sausage. We finally found it. Sage to me is the flavor of the holidays and it just adds such a nice warm flavor, not to mention the smell is projects throughout the house.
I hope you enjoy my version of Thanksgiving stuffing. From my family to yours! Happy Thanksgiving!
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Up next I can't wait to see what Leslie Hachtel has as her favorite Thanksgiving dish! Check it out here!