Fabulous side dish given to me years ago by an old-time southern cook--we never have left-overs!


Sausage and Wild Rice

Ingredients
1 box Uncle Ben’s wild rice mix (or 1 cup wild rice)
1 pound bulk sausage
2/3 pound small mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup flour
½ cup half/half cream
2 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade but packaged--not canned-- also works)
Dash pepper
¼ cup almonds, sliced

Instructions
Sauté, drain, and crumble sausage. Sauté onions and mushrooms in butter or sausage drippings and add to sausage. Cook rice and add to sausage mixture. Mix flour and cream together slowly. Over heat, add broth slowly and cook ‘til thickened. Add all seasonings to sausage mixture and as much of broth mixture as needed (usually all). Toss lightly. Put in 9 x 13 casserole. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgot mac and cheese!

Mac and cheese? On THANKSGIVING?

WTH?

OP Here. Well yes! A huge casserole dish of it too! It is not the mac and cheese in the box!!

Anonymous wrote:This is a great dessert--you can use King's Hawaiian bread if you can't find challah.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Bread-Pudding-with-Caramel-Sauce-104182

OP Here! YUM! Think I may have to try that! I LOVE challah anything so I may have found the "dessert" I was looking for!

Also, Ina Garten's recipe for Spinach AuGratin is amazing! You must try it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you need to cook cranberries in a slow cooker? They take about 10 minutes on the stove and you can make them ahead of time.

Not the cranberry in a crock pot PP, but why not? It frees up space on the stove. And we like our cranberry sauce warm, not cold.

So make it earlier in the week the warm it up in the microwave. In a bowl.

Might as well buy it in a can if I'm going to reheat cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.

What is wrong with making it in a crockpot?

I don't reheat it. I make it that morning (it takes ten minutes) and put it in the fridge until dinnertime.

Anonymous wrote:

Salad course - probably with smoked trout/goat cheese

Turkey
Giblet gravy
Buttermilk mashed potatoes
Brussel sprouts with chestnuts and bacon
Stuffing with sausage and apple
something with sweet potatoes because I love them

pumpkin pie brulee with whipped cream
apple pie from the silver palate that uses a 1/2 cup of cream mixed with the apples

forgot to mention cranberry sauce made with walnuts and orange juice - the kind that takes 10 minutes on the stove and which we definitely serve chilled because otherwise it is too runny. I have also over the years made a cranberry port sauce and cranberry chutney.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgot mac and cheese!

Mac and cheese? On THANKSGIVING?

WTH?

My family would never have mac n cheese at t-day. However, my husbands folks, its a holiday staple. I thought it was odd, but apparently it's a very common side dish for folks on t-day.

Salad course - probably with smoked trout/goat cheese

Turkey
Giblet gravy
Buttermilk mashed potatoes
Brussel sprouts with chestnuts and bacon
Stuffing with sausage and apple
something with sweet potatoes because I love them

pumpkin pie brulee with whipped cream
apple pie from the silver palate that uses a 1/2 cup of cream mixed with the apples

Anonymous wrote:This is a great dessert--you can use King's Hawaiian bread if you can't find challah.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Bread-Pudding-with-Caramel-Sauce-104182

Wow, that looks amazing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you need to cook cranberries in a slow cooker? They take about 10 minutes on the stove and you can make them ahead of time.

Not the cranberry in a crock pot PP, but why not? It frees up space on the stove. And we like our cranberry sauce warm, not cold.

So make it earlier in the week the warm it up in the microwave. In a bowl.

Might as well buy it in a can if I'm going to reheat cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.

What is wrong with making it in a crockpot?

Anonymous wrote:

nannynextdoor wrote:Love the ideas, keep them coming!

I'm going to try a new dish this year: spinach au gratin. Other than that, dinner will probably consist of the traditional fare.

Are you making Ina Garten's recipe? It is fantastic! I started making it 3 or 4 years ago and it's my favorite side dish. It reheats so well, too.

Yes! I second this, you must use Ina's recipe. So good you will want to get in it and swim around while taking bites.

This is a great dessert--you can use King's Hawaiian bread if you can't find challah.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pumpkin-Bread-Pudding-with-Caramel-Sauce-104182

nannynextdoor wrote:Love the ideas, keep them coming!

I'm going to try a new dish this year: spinach au gratin. Other than that, dinner will probably consist of the traditional fare.

Are you making Ina Garten's recipe? It is fantastic! I started making it 3 or 4 years ago and it's my favorite side dish. It reheats so well, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why on earth would you need to cook cranberries in a slow cooker? They take about 10 minutes on the stove and you can make them ahead of time.

Not the cranberry in a crock pot PP, but why not? It frees up space on the stove. And we like our cranberry sauce warm, not cold.

So make it earlier in the week the warm it up in the microwave. In a bowl.

Love the ideas, keep them coming!

I'm going to try a new dish this year: spinach au gratin. Other than that, dinner will probably consist of the traditional fare.

Anonymous wrote:Forgot mac and cheese!

Mac and cheese? On THANKSGIVING?

WTH?