Thursday, November 26, 2020

Dressing for Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving isn't a thing here nationally, but in our wee home, it is. While everyone else goes about their normal Thursday, we have our favourites and consider our blessings. Our most favourite is the dressing. I always make enough food so we will have leftovers for a few days and we enjoy it. But by the end, we've had enough and are happy enough to not see those particular foods for a while.

As I was making the lasagne in the slow cooker recently, it dawned on me that this would also be a perfect way to cook the Thanksgiving dressing, given the moist heat. In years past, I have found that the fan ovens here dry things out and not using the fan results in an even longer cooking time (which already seems like an eternity most of the time, which is why I rarely use the oven and have made alterative arrangements for most things). So every year, the pan of dressing would have a top crust of blackened bread cubes that were hard as a rock, which I would then peel off and discard. I figured this would not be an issue in the slow cooker.

I had broth and bread cubes in the freezer. When I make bread in the machine, sometimes we don't quite finish it in a timely manner, so I cut it into cubes and freeze it for just this purpose--don't want it to go to waste! So our dressing this year was made entirely of homemade bread cubes. I had just enough. I mixed all the ingredients, keeping it simple as we like it. Bread cubes, chopped onion and celery sautéed in a bit of olive oil, the broth, and herbs. Poultry seasoning isn't a thing here, so I use mixed herbs (thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil), sage, and some granulated garlic. I mixed everything well, put it in the crock and turned it on high, letting it cook away for about 5 hours. It was perfect!
It swelled a bit as it cooked, but I had left a bit of space for that. I think I could have made less and had enough, but if we are really, really sick of it by Monday, I will freeze the rest.

I hope that, whether it is Thanksgiving or a regular Thursday, you're safe and well. 😷

8 comments:

NanaDiana said...

What a great way to do dressing. I like a simple dressing, too. John (and his family) like a more elaborate version. So, that is what I do now. I add sweet sausage, onions, celery, mushrooms, and water chestnuts chopped up. It is really a meal in itself.
I hope you and Bill enjoy every last bite! Hugs- Diana

Shari Burke said...

When I was a kid, stuffing consisted of the basics with Italian sausage and beef mince. It was good and I loved it, but it was a lot with everything else. As you say, a meal in itself!

Vicki said...

I've never made stuffing in my crockpot, but that sure does look good. I think I'll try it soon.

Shari Burke said...

I was very happy when it came out exactly how we like it! I will make it this way from now on. 😋

Lowcarb team member said...

That certainly looks good.
I hope you had a happy Thursday; have a great weekend.

All the best Jan

Shari Burke said...

We did! Enjoy your weekend!

Iris Flavia said...

Dear Shari,
coming over from your Hubby - thank you big for the shamrocks and the bookmark, I didn´t know you have a blog, one that made me hungry and smile straight away, left-over gal here, too (Braunschweig, Germany).
Love your writing style. Thanks for another big smile.
Just had Onion-cake from the freezer - self-made and promised my neighbor to bake some for him as well (huhhh, "pressure", I´ve never made a meal for someone else).

Shari Burke said...

Guten Tag Iris! Thanks for stopping by.

I'm so glad you liked the bookmark and shamrocks! We really enjoyed all of the fun things you sent--the drinking chocolate was so yummy!

I am quite sure the onion cake will be wonderful and your neighbour will love it. No pressure :-) Now you've made me hungry! :-)