Cornbread Stuffing: Deconstructed...

So after yesterday's successful attempt to 'cook from the cabinet,' my brain started to wander on what other things I could whip up from our refrigerator stranglers.  While yesterdays meal was based on our abundance of pork & polenta...my thoughts immediately turned to "WHAT THE HECK could I make with our abundance of CELERY & APPLES"...

(ohhh...I DID lie a bit.  Scott HAD stopped at the grocery store last week to pick up a bag of apples since he & I try to eat one once a day.  I'm sure you can forgive me for our 'keep the doctor away' habit..hahahhahhaaJ)

Sooooo anyways....since I had originally bought the celery for some sort of 'Thanksgiving stuffing dish that never was to be', my brain got stuck on stuffing.  And I thought with a little something here and a little something there, I could somehow turn STUFFING into a MAIN DISH (a carb lovers DREAM, right??)....

The result:  "Deconstructed" Cornbread Stuffing!

OK, OK...so let me explain!  First up, into a pan I added:

• 3 diced celery stalks
• 1 diced onion
• 1 diced apple

Preheat your pan with a little olive oil and chop & drop all of the ingredients as you go along...

Next into the pan went an ingredient I found in the DEPTHS of my freezer that I knew would work PERFECT:  2 Apple Chicken sausage links!

I added the diced sausage to the middle well and let them pick up a little color for a few minutes (they were already fully cooked)

Then I added a little of the quintessential 'stuffing seasonings':  Sage, Thyme, salt & pepper...

...and a little chicken broth to completely soften the ingredients & to make everything just a LITTTTTLE SAUCYJ

Meanwhile, we got to the actual 'bread' part of the stuffing.  My solution for making this a Main Dish???

CORNBREAD PANCAKES!

I took my corn bread mix (this Marie Callender one is awesome because it contains NO hydrogenated oils!) and mixed it with enough water & eggbeaters to form a pancake batter.  I also tossed in a little sea salt & diced scallions to make em extra savory...

OK, OK...I lied:  Scott, being the pancake master of the house, whipped up the batter & got busy flippin the cakesJ  He takes his job of making the Perfect Pancakes quite seriously...J

Meanwhile, I let all of the celery/apple/onion/sausage mixture all cook together & gather tons of color and flavor...

...before topping the pancakes with the mixture and WALLLAH....

"Main Dish Stuffing!"J

It was funny cause I was ONLY dreading biting down on crispy celery and apples along with the pancakes, but thanks to letting them simmer in the chicken broth, all of the topping had 'broken down' to perfect savory perfection on top of the fluffy pancakes.  And the sausage was a definite MUST!  It just made the dishJ

A pretty fun dinner, I must sayJ

And I have to share one more thing!  So I decided to indulge in a slice of leftover Chocolate Babka for dessert last night and was DELIGHTED to find out that there was an actual part of the bread THAT HAD NICE & NEAT SWIRLS!!!

Hahhahahahaha...I at least got the 'ends' of the bread looking SOMEWHAT like it was suppose toJ hahahahahhaaha...

So that about wraps up my post for the day on yet ANOTHER dreary day in Jersey...yesssh!  I hear that cold weather is on the way and even a little SNOOOWWWW might be in the forecast!  I'll have not one, but TWO good COLD DAY breakfast recipes to share with you tomorrow...hopefully just in time to usher in the frostyyyy airrr...J 

Happy Mid-Week everyone!