Friday Favorites: Stuffed

As most of you know, yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Mr Chiots and I celebrated as most folks, with a big turkey meal with all the trimmings. I’m not a big fan of turkey, or most poultry for that matter, so Thanksgiving meals aren’t that exciting for me. I am however a HUGE fan of stuffing, or dressing.

I make mine with homemade bread, usually a mix of whole grain, white and sourdough. It’s easier if I have saved stale bread for the last couple months, but Mr Chiots and I are bread lovers, so we rarely have bread go stale on us. I ended up baking a few batches of bread for our stuffing (at least I was able to put half of the loaves in the freezer for Mr Chiots to take hunting).

I like my stuffing with lots of celery, onions and sage. This year I harvested fresh sage and celery from the garden for my stuffing. My sage was planting just for this meal, and this was one of the celery’s main purposes as well (along with my tomato soup).

I really like my stuffing to be more like bread pudding, really soft and wet on the inside and crispy on the top and the edges, and smothered with good gravy on the my plate. I use turkey or chicken stock as the liquid and sometimes a little cider. I ate my fill of stuffing Wednesday and yesterday and have a big container in the fridge to feast on for the rest of the week.

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving side? If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, what’s your favorite side dish for poultry?

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Giving Thanks

The history of Thanksgiving is a blurry one, once you start reading up on it you realize it wasn’t necessarily a feast between pilgrims and Indians sharing food after the harvest. Regardless of what really happened, today is a day in the United States set aside for giving thanks and sharing a bountiful table of food with friends and family.

I’m very thankful for: Mr Chiots, my family, my friends, my little garden, and of course all the delicious food I’ll be enjoying today. Happy Thanksgiving to you all from all of us at Chiot’s Run.

What are you thankful for on this day?

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A Flurry of Activity

Yesterday I started getting ready for Thanksgiving. This year we’ll be having dinner on Thanksgiving day with my family and we’ll be having a Thanksgiving dinner with our friends this evening. For my family Thanksgiving I’ll be making: the turkey, stuffing, rolls, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. I’ll be making the same, minus the turkey for our gathering with friends.

I started making the bread for the stuffing yesterday. I usually save dry bread for a month or so, but we haven’t had any leftover bread recently, so I had to make some. I’ll use part of a sourdough loaf I had in the cupboard and I’m making some 100% whole grain and some wheat bread as well for this. I’ll use sage and celery from the garden and onions from the local farmer’s market for the stuffing. I also made several batches of rolls for a Christmas dinner my sister’s church is hosting for the local children’s home.

I also have to start making food for Mr Chiots to take hunting. I’m planning on making up a few big batches of stew and a few loaves of bread. I’m also making him some carrot oatmeal cookies to carry in his pockets for quick snacks while sitting in his deer stand.


Of course tomorrow my day will be filled with cooking the turkey, making gravy, rolls, and eating all this wonderful food.

What do you make for your Thanksgiving dinner(s)?

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Quote of the Day: Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka)

“If you want to view paradise, simply look around & view it”

~ Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka)

The flowering kale is particularly lovely after the frosty weather we’ve been having. It’s so amazing how a little cold weather makes them burst into color.

What’s particularly lovely in your area right now?

For the quote lovers among you I made a quote calendar as well (40% off coupon works for these as well).
Large 13.5 x 19 Inspirational Nature Quote Calendar
Small 11 x 17 Inspirational Nature Quote Calendar

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Friday Favorites: Fabulous Fungi

I couldn’t do Friday Favorites for very long without talking about mushrooms. I’m a huge fan of mushrooms, one of my favorite ways to eat them is simply sauteed in butter, I could eat them every day, and do several times a week.

I love mushrooms of all shapes and sizes from the regular old white button mushrooms to the lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms that I buy at my local farmer’s market. I think my favorite of all are crimini, or baby bella mushrooms. There’s just something about these little beauties. Recently I just discovered hen of the woods mushrooms and I’ve been enjoying them in some mushroom lasagna.

In the spring we hunt for morels, but not for any other varieties. This winter I want to spend some time reading about growing my own mushrooms and hopefully in the spring I’ll inoculate some logs and give it a go. I’m hoping to go visit our local mushroom grower to get some tips and maybe I’ll be able to buy spawn plugs from them.

One of the best parts about loving mushrooms so much is that they’re super good for you. Eating mushrooms regularly can help you fight off the cold and flu and help you fight all sorts of things like cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, etc. Here’s an interesting article about mushrooms and immunity.

So what about you, are you a mushroom lover or a hater?

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