My poor husband didn’t get his usual nap today (he works at 3am). So we went to bed at 6, but I couldn’t sleep. I decided this is the perfect time to pig out on some parmesan pasta, catch up on Prison Break (I LOVE Hulu- we don’t have TV), and blog about our Thanksgiving weekend.

First of all, one my favorite things about Black Friday (and the rest of the week after Thanksgiving) is pumpkin pie for breakfast. Yes, piled with gobs of real whipped cream and a served with a deliciously creamy gingerbread cappuccino (I used to be a barista so I make a mean cappuccino!).

Eric had to work until 2 that day, it is so crazy at the grocery store on Thanksgiving! Then we went to my parents house, they’re an hour away and we don’t get to see them as often as we’d like. I brought the cranberry sauce, which I’ll post soon. It’s delicious!

My grandma was there too, and we got to drop her off on our way home which is always nice to spend some extra time with her. Dinner was really good and we had a lot of fun.

It has been a long standing tradition in our family that the stuffing is the most popular part of the Thanksgiving meal. So it was no surprise, but definitely disappointing, that there was no stuffing left when my mom was packing up leftovers for us.

Now I love Thanksgiving leftovers. I can eat them for days, it’s like tasting the holidays day after day. But it’s not complete without the stuffing. Fortunately, I had some odds and ends at home to experiment in making some stuffing.

We had half a loaf of roasted garlic artisan bread that was getting very hard and stale. Perfect for stuffing! I also had 1 shallot, 1 stalk of celery, half a stick of butter and some chicken bouillon. A little chopping, sauteing, mixing, then baking and VOILA! Stuffing! (By the way, I know I’m not stuffing it in anything so technically I guess it’s dressing, but I’m used to calling it stuffing so that’s what it is)

Hodgepodge Stuffing

Ingredients

1 half loaf crusty stale bread
1 shallot
1 celery stalk
1 clove garlic minced
1 TBS butter
salt and pepper
2 cups chicken broth (I made mine from bouillon)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut bread into 1/2 inch chunks. Chop shallot and celery then saute with garlic in butter until tender. Season lightly with salt and pepper then mix into breadcrumbs. Pour in enough broth to well moisten the bread. Mush with your hands to absorb the liquid and slightly break apart bread chunks.

Dump into a baking dish (with out any excess broth) and pat down. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden and crusty on top.