So for the last 3 years I have invited myself over to some friends house for Thanksgiving. How can I go wrong-good food, good wine and great entertainment. As I am sure many of you have discovered holidays with friends can be a completely different occasion compared to holidays with family...no stress, no drama and no angst filled with history. They have taught me so much such as what a fried turkey was. Prior to my attendance at their annual turkey day gathering I thought fried turkey was something white trash, unhealthy and kind of scary due to the fire hazard. However, they have completely transformed my vision as in general I am not a huge turkey fan but frying it makes it moist, flavorful and fast. It also leaves the oven open for other things that need to be cooked...homemade pies, rolls, warming up side dishes, etc. It has truly become one of my favorites. So let me just say "I am sorry" for all of you in my past who I have laughed at and made fun of for frying your turkey.



This year I was tasked with stuffing...oh the burden of it, right. Uh yeah no I actually got off way easy since they provided EVERYTHING else!!! I wanted to do something a little more creative so I shied way from Stove Top unlike my best friend who told me that she was making everything from scratch and then sends me this picture....hmmm really?



I found a recipe in Food Network Magazine for Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing and it was truly one of the best stuffing recipes I have had. I did find that the original recipe only made 3 cups which really wasn't enough for a Thanksgiving crowd so I did double the recipe. I used pork chorizo and I cooked it in a pan for 5 minutes and then added the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and its cooked together for 10 minutes. After that you add the cornbread and cilantro. I made cornbread from a mix so that it was extra moist however I am sure if you are short on time you could use the cornbread in the box or if you have way too much time on your hands you could make it from scratch.



Once you add the cornbread you add chicken broth to make it moist and spoon the mixture into a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. The recipe was super flavorful, way easy and added the perfect amount of heat to the fried turkey and mashed potatoes. I was told after Thanksgiving dinner that it was a favorite so the recipe is definitely worth keeping.

I do have to say there were several highlights of my Thanksgiving...spending it with my 3 favorite kids...especially Jon who wore a vest, black shoes with yellow laces and showed me the Dance Revolution (I think that was the name of it) video game....complete with memories of the running man and roger rabbit. Oh yeah!!! I also received a napkin folding lesson because the way I put the napkins in the rings..hmmm lets just go with no bueno. Standing around staring at the turkey frier mesmerized...was that out of fear, amazement or fascination? Or was that just too much wine? And oh yes there was the nap...nothing is better than a nap on the couch on Thanksgiving....that should really be a national tradition.

However, now I am back to reality...back to the gym/running, eating healthy and waiting another year for fried turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie that is to die for. Love these food holidays! Thanks again to the Murrays for making another holiday special!