Till Then Smile Often

Homemade Sausage Stuffing

All my memories of Thanksgiving, are of spending it at my Aunt and Uncle’s house up on the North Shore. Only one do I remember when my Dad decided to try it at home and it put me off Turkey since I was 12 years old. Poor guy. Either way it is built on tradition and they cook all the food. What better way to go!! Kidding! I do make some of the desserts though. I have thought of doing a friends Thanksgiving though and this recipe would be a great addition. I have included below some things that I want to try adding to this when I make it again! This is based off this original recipe.

Homemade Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients: 1 loaf ciabatta bread torn or cut into bite-size pieces ~ 1 package of sausage ~ 1  cup chopped onion ~1/2 cup chopped celery ~ 2 teaspoons    thyme ~ 1 teaspoon sage ~ 1/2 teaspoon Basil ~ 2  tablespoons olive oil ~ 1 egg, lightly beaten ~ 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used a Horseradish Cheddar) ~ salt and ground black pepper to taste ~  1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken broth

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 2-quart shallow baking dish; set aside. Spread bread pieces evenly in an ungreased Cookie sheet/baking pan. **Cut the pieces a little smaller than I did.
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Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until bread is dry, stirring once. Transfer to a very large bowl; set aside.  Cook sausage over medium-high heat until brown. Drain off fat.
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Transfer sausage to the bowl with the bread pieces. In the same skillet, cook onion, celery, thyme, sage, and basil in hot oil over medium-high heat until onion and celery are tender.
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Transfer onion mixture to the bowl. Stir in egg, the 1/2 cup cheese (I used a Horseradish Cheddar – it added a very nice punch of flavor, but any cheese will do), salt, and pepper. Drizzle with enough of the chicken broth to moisten, tossing gently to combine.
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Transfer bread mixture to the prepared baking dish.* Cover and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until heated through.

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The original recipe also stated that this can be used to stuff a turkey up to 12 pounds but is a great stand alone dish too. This is optional but I finished it off with a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese.
Homemade Sausage Stuffing
Items I want to add next time: Apples, cranberries, mulled wine in place of the chicken stock, use Chorizo in place of sausage.
What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Linking up with Jessica and Ashley.

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Nesting and Cleaning

I have a feeling that for the month of November my Weekend Updates may be really boring! I have a feeling I am kinda nesting. It is getting really cold here, and my friend Lynn even got some snow in New Hampshire! So I will try and spare you from too much boredom!

Friday: After work I was so tired I was practically falling asleep at my desk, so once I got home I took Seamus for a walk, then poured myself a glass of champagne. I am trying a few new brands in preparation for New Years. Never to early to start taste testing, right?! It was decent but don’t think it will make the cut. I also got caught up on my shows that I DVR’d.

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Saturday: I can’t say that I took many pictures because I was crazily getting stuff done. I hit some shopping first thing in the morning. First it was to the Christmas Tree Shop to snag a Christmas present for someone. I then went to A.C. Moore for a few supplies for cake decorating class. I then went to the Dollar Tree to pick up some storage bins. I ended up getting about 20 of them. I am using them for my pantry, for my basement, and for my toiletry closet.

storageAfter a few hours of doing laundry, cleaning my bathroom, baking cakes for my last cake decorating class (insert sad face), dusting every available surface in my house, and cleaning my humidifiers I watched the movie Mud (with Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon) while re-designing my blog header and sidebar. What do you think of the changes?

Sunday: I tried to hit the grocery store early because Sunday is always a little crazy. Then I had to rake my lawn. In my town the month of November is the only time when they pick up leaves curbside so I have to get it done since I refuse to put them in my car and take it to the dump. After about an hour I filled up 9 bags and ran out so I will have to resume next weekend. Did I mention I don’t have any trees in my yard??? This is all from neighbors trees or overhang from neighbors trees!! (Update: Getting into my car this morning there was a ton of leaves covering what I managed to rake up! 🙁

yardI cooked up some eggs for egg salad for the week while I took a quick shower. Then I made a quick lunch of egg salad on romaine lettuce leaves.

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I then had to make more icing for my class and do a crumb coat on the cakes I made earlier. I put together a new recipe too for Homemade Sausage Stuffing. It was really good, and of course I’ll be sharing the recipe.

stuffingThe night was filled with dishes, and more dishes and watching some tv while writing a few blog posts. I do not know how people do it! I am just one person and a dog household and I feel like my whole weekend is full of cleaning.

When do you clean?

How do you balance fun with getting chores done?

Linking up with Sami at Sami’s Shenanigans and Leann at Join the Gossip .

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Buy Me Things, please!

Happy Friday!! How is everyone recovering from Halloween? I managed to escape with having only eaten 3 Almond Joy’s and I didn’t take home any of the leftovers. Emily from Beauty and the Greek posted about doing a Favorite Things post, so I have to join in the fun! So here are just a few of my favorite things, because honestly I am exhausted and still recovering from near to no sleep!!

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This scarf is now on my Christmas list!! My Dad won’t buy anything online so this is up to my family or friends so if anyone needs ideas, this scarf is perfect and it’s on sale for $29!! Can’t beat it. The one below from the Gap runs a close second!

Gap Cozy Plaid Scarf - minty teal

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I am loving my cake decorating class and getting different ideas on Pinterest on even more ways to decorate cakes and cupcakes.  I saw this pin and immediately thought about my niece who loves Disney princesses. With a little more practice I am confident I could do this one.

Cupcakes!

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Via

What more can I say about the Red Sox that hasn’t already been said ….. Boston Red Sox Champs!!! Exactly, nothing else needs to be said!

Halloween

Seriously Halloween is my favorite Holiday!! I love dressing up and figuring out what to wear and decorating the yard. Seeing what all the kids dress up as, and the looks on their faces when I open the door all dressed up.

Now I am going to mope that it is over, but it’s time to start thinking about what i will be next year! It must be without face paint because that stuff starts to itch!!

Beauty and the Greek

Happy Halloween

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday! So while I am celebrating here is a quick picture of my costume! I will be posting more pics throughout the day on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so be sure you are following me if you want to see more of my costume! I will also be posting my Dad’s house after I finish up the decorations this afternoon.

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Have a very happy and safe Halloween!!

Healthy Train Pulling In

Sorry guys but I am going to be a little short and sweet today since it has been a hectic week. It’s feeling like I didn’t even have a mini-vacation anymore!! Between my cake decorating class, the creeper who followed me out of the gym on Monday and blew kisses at me at the stop light, and trying to finish up my Halloween costumes I am beyond tired. So So minus a few indulgences during my vacation I am back on the healthy eats train and here is what I ate in a day.

 Breakfast: I am going with my regular shake, it is the only thing I can stomach eating so early in the morning. It is protein powder, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup of almond milk, and 16-18 oz of water. Depending on the day I will add peanut butter or skip it and go with 12 almonds.

Mid-morning snack: This is 3 oz of chicken (leftovers from my Greek Chicken Gyro) and 1 cup of broccoli in cheese sauce.

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Lunch: Another 3 oz of chicken and 1 cup of mixed veggies. This was just a frozen mix bag but for some reason it tasted funny so I didn’t finish it! 🙁 It may be because I am not a fan of cooked carrots. I love raw carrots though, go figure!

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Mid-Afternoon snack: This is one scoop of protein powder and about 12-16 oz of water. I also had 5 oz of Greek yogurt with my sugar free jello powder (not pictured).

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Dinner: My go to for dinner is usually egg white scrambles or protein pancakes. This is 3/4 cup of egg white and 1 whole egg scrambled, with a small side salad. This was post gym so I basically woofed this down in 3 seconds!

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For those of you who missed it I also had a Greek Chicken Gyro that I whipped up this weekend. The recipe can be found here.

Greek Chicken Gyro

Since you have been kind enough to stick around this far, if you haven’t already please go over and like my facebook page that i just created this weekend. I know I am a little late to the game since this little bloggity blog is 10 months old but whatevs I do what I want! 🙂 Smooches!!

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Do you have any go to healthy meals?