Thanksgiving Left Overs Waffle/Thanksgiving Redoux

Thanksgiving is easily my most favorite holiday of the year.  Why?  Because we get to see friends and family and stuff ourselves with some delicious food!
I have so much to be thankful for that I attend at LEAST two Thanksgivings...yes.  Full Thanksgivings.  One on actual Thanksgiving and one the Saturday after.  I'm just blessed like that.

If your cup runneth over like mine does,  you probably have a fridge full of leftovers.  After a day or two, the thought of another turkey sandwich or reheated Thanksgiving meal probably has you singing the blues....

So do what I do....Thanksgiving Redoux!

Usually, I take this recipe and I make fried croquettes.  This year, I did both waffles and fried croquettes.  The beauty is that it's the same "recipe".  Why am I putting quotes around recipe?  Because it's kind of hard to call something a recipe when all your doing is throwing everything into a bowl and mushing it together with egg and cheese, but that's really all we're doing here.

Grab yourself the following leftovers:
stuffing
mashed potatoes
turkey
And grab:
1-2 eggs
shredded cheese (optional)
chopped green onion (optional)
panko bread crumbs (if making croquettes)

Plug in your waffle iron so it can heat up while you're mixing up your ingredients.

I eyeballed the amounts.  Just use as much or as little as you like.  You really just want to make sure it's not too much mashed potato or your batter is really soft.  Not unusable, you just have to be more careful with it.

In this bowl, I probably have about 1 cup leftover, cold mashed potatoes, 1 cup of stuffing, and about a cup of shredded turkey.  You can feel free to leave out any of these leftover ingredients.  I've done just stuffing and mashed potatoes and also just stuffing and turkey.  You can use just mashed potatoes, but they won't crisp up in the waffle maker.  If you want to just kick up your mashed potatoes, I would follow this recipe.

To this, I added 2 eggs.  I say use 1-2 depending on how much you're making.

Grab a large mixing spoon or use your hands and mix it all up into one incorporated mass of Thanksgiving leftover goo.

I decided to add some shredded cheddar cheese because...well, just because.  Did you know you can keep chopped green onions in the freezer to use whenever you need them?  You can!  And I happened to have some so I added some in too.  The cheese and green onions are optional.

Now it looks like a party!

By now, my waffle maker is nice and hot so I add in about a cup and a half of Thanksgiving goop.  It smells good IMMEDIATELY.  Spread around and close the waffle maker.  

Cooking time will depend on your waffle maker.  This only took about 7 minutes.  

You can top with gravy and cranberry sauce.  It even tastes amazing with maple syrup!  I chose to eat mine with some leftover collard greens I had.  But I drank cranberry juice while I was eating it.

I made two good sized waffles and still had enough to make croquettes.  Can we ever get enough fried foods?  To make croquettes, simply form your mixture into patties, dredge in egg wash and roll in seasoned bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs.  If your mixture is mashed potato heavy and kind of soft, let it sit in the fridge for about an hour.  Having them be cold keeps them firm and makes them easier to fry.  Then I just give them a quick fry in olive oil.  

Hopefully this will inspire you to try something different with your Thanksgiving leftovers.  

Here's to good eatin'!

Spicy, Garlic Sausage Stuffing with Chestnuts and Green Apples

Wow.  Try saying that 10 times really fast…Or better yet, just make this and EAT it really fast.
THANKSGIVING is TOMORROW!!!!!

I am one of those folks who loves stuffing.  Call it what you will…stuffing, dressing, turkey side dish.  I want it.  I'm not a huge fan of just wet seasoned bread.  I really like to kick mine up.  After a few years of playing around with different variations, this is the recipe that I landed on and stick to.

It involves:
1 12 oz box of seasoned stuffing (any brand will do.  I use Mrs. Cubbison's)
1 12 oz box of corn bread stuffing (or just crumbled up old cornbread)
1 medium to large onion
4-5 stalks of celery
1 Granny Smith Apple

16 oz Jimmy Dean HOT sausage
chopped or crushed garlic
crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 stick of REAL butter
cranberry juice and/or red wine
roasted chestnuts (already roasted)
black pepper
seasoning salt

Okay, ready?


This makes a LOT of stuffing.  I only make it once a year so I just go for it.  Feel free to use only one box of stuffing.  Or to use half seasoned and half corn bread to make one bag of stuffing.

Start by melting your stick of butter in a large frying pan on medium heat.  Please don't use margarine.  Or butter substitute.  I really think it's best to just use the real stuff.  Not just because the flavor is divine, but the fake butter and substitutes have all these weird chemicals and that can't be good.

As your butter begins to melt, dice your onion into smallish size pieces.  Think bite sized.  I don't particularly enjoy having huge pieces of onion in my stuffing so I keep that in mind while I'm chopping up my veggies.  Add into your pan with the melted butter.  Try to keep you heat medium to medium low so that you don't brown the butter (though that is delicious too!) or crisp the onions.

I also clean and chop the celery, also remembering to keep the pieces bite sized.  You can feel free to use more or less celery.  I know celery can be a point of contention for some folks (ah hem…Argelia, I still haven't forgotten about the celery incident of 2009).  I happen to love cooked celery so I like to use a good amount.

Add the chopped celery into your butter and onions.

I take the opportunity to season my veggies now.  I don't use seasoning at any other point in this recipe for two reasons:  1) I think seasoning while cooking the veggies are the optimal time to incorporate seasoning into your dish and 2) the seasoned bread crumbs have a lot of good seasoning in them so I don't want to OVER salt this dish.

I use course ground black pepper and Lawry's seasoning salt.  Feel free to use kosher or sea salt if you'd rather skip the seasoning salt.  (Lawry's seasoning salt uses no MSG so I like to use it often.)

While your onions and celery are getting yummy in the butter,  grab your stuffing.

Pour into a LARGE bowl.  Notice this is corn bread stuffing and seasoned traditional stuffing.  You can use one or the other.  I like to use both.  I should mention that it's super easy to just cube up stale bread, but that would mean I would need to plan ahead and buy bread or make corn bread, remember NOT to eat it,  let it get stale, cube it up, yadda yadda...and who really needs to add a whole bunch of extra steps to this?  Not me!  BUT if you're more put together than I am, you should totally do it.  

And look…our celery and onions are beautiful.  

I cook them until they are soft, but not browned or crispy.  

Pour on top of your bread and corn bread mix…and yes, there is a good deal of melted butter.  

It all goes in over your stuffing.

In the same pan you just used, start to cook up your sausage.  I like to use this kind:

You can use any kind of sausage you want.  I like this kind because it's easier to crumble up while cooking.  I've used andouille, kielbasa, chicken sausage and they are all good.  I just love the pork sausage and the way it works with the 

Use a spatula to smash into smaller pieces.  It's up to you how large or small you want your sausage pieces to be in your stuffing.  I like a combo of both good sized chunks and crumbles.

When it's almost done, I add an obscene amount of crushed garlic.  This was about 2-3 large tablespoons.  Again, this is my chance to get a lot of flavor in the stuffing without using salt.

I also like to add some more crushed red pepper to the sausage.  I don't find the Jimmy Dean sausage to be that spicy even though it's labeled as HOT.  I don't need this to burn anybody, but I do like a nice spicy bite so I like to add it.  This is totally optional and you can feel free to avoid it like the plaque if you want.

Cook for another 4-5 minutes.  Mmmmmm.  Spicy, garlic and sausage.

Add that into your bowl of fun.

For years, I used to peel and roast my chestnuts.  Nowadays, you can buy already roasted chestnuts.  I got these at the Korean Market near me, but I think you can buy them in non-Asian stores too.  DON'T use the canned ones.  They are mushy and overly sweet from being stored in light syrup.   If you can't find these, feel free to substitute walnuts or sliced almonds.  You can skip them too if you'd like.  The reason why I use them is I love, love, love roasted chestnuts.  They are soft and starchy and I grew up eating about 2 thousand pounds of them.  If you've never tried them, you should.  They remind me of baked potatoes with their starchy texture (no wonder I love them).   I used 4 out of the 5 packs that came in this bag.  I use a lot because I like to get a bite of everything when I eat this stuffing.  You can use more or less depending on what you like.

I like to chop about half them and keep the other half whole.

Like this:

Now is that part where you need to add some liquid to get the bread crumbs moist. 

 I call it my "wet-ner".  I use cranberry juice.  Why?  Well, I've already added a lot of butter and sausage fat so I don't really think my stuffing needs anymore flavor.  I like the IDEA of cranberries in my stuffing, but I don't really want cranberries in my stuffing.

I poured in about 2 cups to start.  You may or may not need more.  You can decide as you're mixing.  Some people like their stuffing crumbly and some like it really moist.  Get in there!  Start mixing.

I almost forgot!  Wash your Granny Smith apple because we're going to use the skin.  I like the way it looks and it helps the apple pieces keep their integrity and not turn to mush.

Chop into bite sized pieces.

Add into your stuffing. 

Do you have to use a Granny Smith apple?  No.  But I love the tart, crisp contrast of green apple balanced with the savory, buttery, garlic sausage.  So much so that I'll cut thin pieces of green apple from the core and put a bit of sausage on it and eat them right then and there.  They are like little apple and sausage canapés!  I stand there eating a lot of it actually.  Good thing this recipe is gi-normous.

I happened to have a little bit of red wine left over (or maybe I just wanted to be able to say I didn't drink the whole bottle) so I added it into my stuffing to help moisten.  Feel free to use any left over chicken stock or just more cranberry juice if you'd like.  

It's ready for baking.  Stuff into a turkey or spoon into a oven proof dish.  If baking in a casserole dish, bake covered at 350 for about 35 minutes and uncovered for another 10 minutes.  If stuffing into a turkey, be sure to follow directions regarding time and temperature as dictated by the size of your turkey.

Happpppy Thanksgiving!!!!!  Eat, Eat, Eat and be thankful!

Shortcut Chili Verde with Pork

Now that it actually feels like Fall in Los Angeles, it's time for some nice and easy crock pot recipes.  I love/hate my crock pot.  My mom NEVER used one.  I didn't even know what they existed until I was in college and living in my first apartment.  My roommate had one and the first time she pulled it out, I stood there mouth agape while she described the concept of slow cooking.  Mind.  Blown.

I love my crock pot because it's so super convenient to throw a bunch of stuff in there, plug it in, walk away for 10 to 12 HOURS and come home to a wonderful, hot meal.  I mean what kind of cooking sorcery is this?!

I hate my crock pot because I'm always convinced my house is going to burn down while I'm gone.  For the record, it's never happened, but it doesn't stop me from having anxiety about it none the less.  I mean what kind of cooking sorcery is this?!

If you can get over the fear of your crock pot malfunctioning and burning down your house, I find that crock pots are a wonderful way to cook stews and even bake potatoes!  Yes!  Potatoes!!!  (insert sorcery quote here.)  This is a quick and easy recipe for chili verde.  This isn't a chili that has beans in it.  This is a spicy green chili stew with pork (and beef if you want).  This is also a short cut version.  The real Chili Verde recipe involves roasting jalapeno chiles, garlic, and tomatillos.  It's wonderful over rice or even just as a burrito filling.

You will need:
1 28 oz can of La Palma Green Enchilada sauce
1 medium onion
3 to 4 small potatoes
1to 2 pound(s) of pork shoulder or butt
crushed garlic
seasoning salt
pepper
oregano

I'm going to show you the "throw it all in the crock pot" method.  IF you have time, giving your pork and onions a quick saute just to brown the meat will help with making this even more delicious.  I recommend doing it.  If you don't have time,  NO worries.  You can just throw it all in and the magic will still happen.  

Normally, you usually find just pork in Chili Verde.  But I realized I only had half a pound of pork butt in my freezer so I used another half pound of stew beef to make a pound.  You can throw the meat into your crock pot frozen, but I had defrosted my beef and pork ahead of time.  Feel free to use more meat if you like this meatier.  I've used up to 3 pounds of pork in this recipe and it was fine.

I like to layer my meat on the bottom of my crock pot.  

I like to use 3 to 4 small to medium potatoes.  I never met a potato I didn't like....

 

You can chop your potatoes into bite sized pieces or a bit larger if that's how you like them.  Since we're using a crock pot, no matter what size you choose they will cook perfectly.

 Layer them on top of your meat in your crockpot.

 

I chop my onion into small pieces and throw them into my crock pot too.

At this point, you can use salt or seasoning salt to season.

 

I also add a good amount of course ground pepper. 

 

Then I add a heaping tablespoon of fresh, chopped garlic.  You can also use garlic powder.  As much or as little as you'd like. 

 

 Las Palmas makes a wonderful green chile enchilada sauce.  This sauce ranges from mild to hot.  I use the hot.  It's pretty hot so when in doubt, use the mild or medium.  This is the larger 28 ounce sized can. 

  

I open and pour the entire can into the crock pot. MMMMM.

 

I threw in a healthy handful of oregano just for kicks.

Give it a little stir just to show it you care, and that's it!

 

Put the lid on, turn it on.  My crockpot has different settings.  I used the low for 10 hours setting.  It all works though so set according to how much time you have.

 

I can home to this cooking sorcery....I wish you could smellllll it.

 

I blopped in about 2 heaping tablespoons of sour cream to make it a little creamy.

 

Then it looked like this and it's ready for eating.

 

I like to serve it over hot rice with some cheese and cilantro.  

 

You can also just eat it in a bowl with tortillas or tortilla chips.  Remember, feel free to add more meat if you want it meatier.  Experiment with different veggies too if you want.  Enjoy!