Leftover Stuffing Strata – A Great Use for That Leftover Thanksgiving Stuffing!!!

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Cooking, Dressing, Egg, Food, holiday, recipe, Strata, Stuffing, Thanksgiving leftovers

Leftover Stuffing Strata

I had a bunch of my Southwestern Cornbread and Chorizo Stuffing leftover from Thanksgiving. We had enjoyed some of it as is and I was ready to try something new. I had seen a different strata recipe on one of my favorite cooking shows (Food Network’s The Kitchen) and a lightbulb went off in my head! Why not use my leftover stuffing (or dressing!) as the bread component of a strata?!? This would be an awesome brunch dish for Black Friday!

I think this would work well regardless of the type of stuffing you made. You could change the flavor profile by changing up the veggies and cheese you use. I went with the Southwestern theme of my original stuffing recipe and this strata was fabulous!!! I have tried to write the recipe in a way that will help you work with what you have.

Enjoy!

Leftover Stuffing Strata

2 1/2 – 3 cups of leftover stuffing/dressing

4 small green tomatoes, diced (You could change this up to tomatillos, red bell pepper, or even leftover green beans!)

1/2 white onion, diced (This could also be red onion, green onions or leeks)

5 -6 eggs

1/2 cup half and half

1 – 1/2 cups grated cheese (I used pepper jack. If you had a more traditional stuffing recipe, jack, cheddar or even grayer cheese would be a great add)

Dash hot sauce

Paprika or hot Hungarian Paprika

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, cook veggie of your choice (I used green tomatoes) and onions in a tablespoon or two of oil or butter until softened. Drop spoonfuls of leftover stuffing/dressing into a greased casserole dish, leaving some space between spoonfuls. Spoon veggies from skillet over stuffing. Do not pack down. You want to leave room for the egg mixture to seep down into mixture.

In a mixing bowl, crack eggs and beat lightly. Add half and half, a dash or two of hot sauce (optional), grated cheese and a bit of salt and pepper. Mix together and then pour over stuffing and veggies in casserole.

Sprinkle a little paprika over the top of the casserole. Cover dish with lid or foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Christmas Tree Crudités – A Simple Holiday Twist to Dazzle Your Guests

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appetizer, Christmas, Cooking, crudites, dip, Food, holiday, recipe, vegetable platter, vegetables and. dip

 

Who doesn’t put out a platter of fresh veggies and dip during the holidays? As the fancy people call it, a crudités platter! It’s a great light start to big family dinners! For our family Christmas dinner we decided to get artistic with it! I don’t know that the artistic impression made it taste better, but nonetheless, it was devoured and it sure looked festive!

I do have to admit that I cannot take credit for the idea. I saw a picture floating around on Facebook several weeks ago and took a screen shot. I’m not sure where to give credit or I would!

Anyway, it was fun and festive and took maybe 10 minutes to put together. I prepped the veggies yesterday and tossed them into individual bags in the fridge and then it took about 5 minutes before the family gathering to arrange. My grocery didn’t have any white cauliflower, so I grabbed the purple. I thought it would add a different color.

Basically, as I like to say, play with your food! Play with the look! Play with the flavors! If things don’t work out, laugh it off and chock it up to a lesson learned! This was one I would do again though!

I served my veggies with red pepper hummus and I made a simple yummy dip by mixing a packet of ranch dressing mix with a container of fat free sour cream. Everyone seemed to enjoy and we got some fresh, organic veggies into everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Question for the Blogsphere – What is your traditional Christmas dinner???

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Christmas, Christmas dinner, Cooking, Food, holiday, question, Traditions, What's for Christmas dinner?

  
Our family has a traditional dinner of split pea soup for Christmas Eve, but our Christmas Day dinner is up in the air! Where we spent Christmas Day used to change year to year, but over the last few years we have settled into a routine of staying home and having an intimate gathering of immediate family. We need a new traditional dinner for Christmas Day! So my question to all my friends in the food world is this: What is your traditional Christmas dinner?

I don’t want to just re-do Thanksgiving with a turkey, as good as that is! Do I want to keep it simple and relax or do I want to get fancy!?! Beef Wellington sounds good, but that’s a lot of work and kind of tricky.

I’m really curious! What do you do or what are your suggestions?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Merry Christmas!!!

P.S. Never fear! I’ll post my split pea soup recipe some time soon! It’s super easy and just as delicious!!!

How Was Your Thanksgiving?

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Cooking, family, Food, holiday, Thanksgiving

  
How was your Thanksgiving? Blessed and delicious I hope!!! Please let me know if you tried any of the recipes I shared and how they turned out! If you did choose to use them, I hope it added to your enjoyment of the holiday!

We had a pretty small group at our house. There were only 6 of us, but it was a great time and the food was delicious! I definitely have some new recipes to share next year.

   
    
    
 

Thanksgiving Tips Part 3 – It’s All In The Prep!!!

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Cooking, Food, food prep, holiday, Holidays, meal planning, preparation, Thanksgiving, Tips

  
The planning and shopping are important, but it’s the prep that will really reduce the stress of preparing a large dinner like Thanksgiving. As you do your prep, try to think of every litle thing you can do ahead of time. Even if it doesn’t seem like much, unwrapping your butter to put on a dish or opening the cans of cranberry sauce, will shave minutes off your Thanksgiving Day work. Trust me! It all adds up and you’ll cherish those free moments on the day of thee holiday!

Let’s Get Prepping!!!

My key to a relaxing Thanksgiving day is to hit the prep activities hard. I usually take the day before Thanksgiving off from work and work my rear off that day  Go dish by dish and think about what you can do in advance

• Brine your turkey?

• I usually stuff my turkey with fruit, so I have that all chopped and in a zip lock ready to go the next                     morning.

• Mashed potatoes? When you peel potatoes they will turn brown, BUT if you submerge them in water they won’t turn, so I peel mine the day before the holiday, put them in the pot I’ll cook them in, cover with water and stash in the fridge.

• Stuffing and Sweet Potatoes? I do all the dish preparation and cooking, except the last baking step. I cover them, put them in the fridge and then they are just ready to slide into the oven the next day. Just keep in mind the baking time will need to be extended due to the refrigeration and if you’ve increased the recipe.

• Anything you can put in a bowl, cover and refrigerate? Cranberry sauce? Olives? Appetizers? Do it!!! Any little bit of work you can do, will decrease your stress on the day of the holiday!

• Have your recipes pulled out and ready to go.

• Line up your spices and any cooking tools you’ll need the next day.

• Beverages? Be sure to chill those that need to be and set out what you plan to serve that doesn’t need to be chilled. You can find an excellent recipe for non-alcoholic sangria in one of my previous blog posts. This is great for company and you can make it ahead of time!

• Set your table! I’m good in the kitchen, but I’m not the most visually creative person. My husband and daughters do have that gift! I usually recruit them to set the table and get creative with decorating that! My 16 year old has discovered a passion for napkin folding!

• Try to think of any little thing you can do the day before! You will be so well prepared that your guests will ask how they can help, but you’ll have nothing for them to do and you’ll have plenty of time to visit with them as you leisurely take care of your last few tasks!

Thanksgiving Tips Part 2 – Making That Grocery List and Shopping

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Cooking, Food, groceries, grocery, holiday, Holidays, list, menu, planning, Thanksgiving, Tips

  

Here are my Thanksging tips continued from yesterday’s post…

1. Decide what to make and what to buy. I’m not a great baker and my husband LOVES the sweet rolls from our WinCo grocery store, so I buy the rolls. I also haven’t been blown away by homemade cranberry sauce, so I use the canned stuff and maybe just add some orange zest to it. That’s just me! You might have some awesome recipes for these items, but if you can shave time off for yourself where it makes sense, it’s helpful.

3. Make your grocery list

a. It’s a big dinner, so attention to detail on this step is important. You don’t want to have to run to the store at the last minute, so plan your grocery list carefully.

b. Go dish by dish and carefully write down every ingredient you’ll need for each dish, including any toppings, seasonings, or sides. Of course, don’t buy stuff you already have, so pay close attention and even if you already have it, make sure you have enough.

c. Consider the number of guests you’ll have and if you’re doubling/tripling recipes and take this in to account as you plan the ingredients you’ll need and make your list

4. Shop! 

This can be done a few days in advance, especially if you’re buying a frozen turkey as those take a few days to defrost. I always try to buy a fresh turkey though. You don’t want to shop too far in advance though and have produce go bad.

Thanksgiving Tips Part 1 – The Details of Menu Planning

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Cooking, Food, holiday, Holidays, menu planning, Thanksgiving, Tips

  
It’s probably no surprise that November is this foodie girl’s favorite month to cook. In addition to it being the beginning of soup and slow cooker season, it also means Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner!!! I love cooking it and I love eating it! Because I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner numerous times over the years for groups both big and small, I think I have really developed my large meal preparation skills. Over the next few weeks, I would like to write a few blog entries highlighting recipes, strategies and techniques that you all might find helpful in preparing your own Thanksgiving meal.

My goal for the Thanksgiving meal is to serve delicious food, while trying to keep it healthy and not killing myself with the stress. This is where careful planning comes into play. My Thanksgiving days are usually pretty relaxing as I get the bulk of the work done ahead of time, so on the special day I’m just taking care of a few basic things.

So where to start? I guess we’ll start where I usually start and move on from there! I found these instructions got pretty lengthy, so I think I’ll split them up in to a couple of blog posts!

Thanksgiving Planning Part 1 – Menu Planning

1. Get that menu started!

  a. Are you cooking everything or are other people bringing dishes?

• My motto, is that if I’m hosting the event I get to decide what I would like to cook and then I can give others a few choices of what to bring. Over time, I’ve found out what type of dishes my various family members are comfortable making/bringing and so I try to play to their strengths.

   b. Figure out what you’re making

• I usually stick to the foundational dishes; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (I usually only make these in addition to mashed potatoes if it’s a decent size group), gravy, cranberry sauce.
• Search your cookbooks and online resources for the recipes you will use. Over the years, I have assembled a few recipes that are made every year. I’ll be sharing these special recipes with you in future blog posts! Hint: One of these includes cooking our turkey on the grill. It tastes great, takes the same amount of time as the oven, and it keeps your oven open for cooking other dishes, like stuffing and sweet potatoes! Plus, it keeps the men occupied and out of your hair!
• Write out your menu making note of what you’re making and what others are bringing. This will give you a visual of your meal and make sure you’re not missing an important component. For the things I’m making, I also write down the name of any cookbooks, with the page number and/or print out any online recipes. Here’s a sample:

          1. Turkey stuffed with fruit – Weber Cookbook, Page 20 – Me

          2. Stuffing – Me

          3. Mashed Potatoes – Me

          4. Sweet Potatoes – Me

          5. Gravy – Me

          6. Cranberry Sauce – Sierra

          7. Hot Vegetable Side – Stephanie

          8. Side Salad – Cathy

          9. Rolls & Butter – Me

          10. Desserts and Any Toppings – Grandma Barbara