Late Night and A Long Day!

Well how about last night? That's awesome that so many people went out to vote!

I went after work and only had to wait a few minutes in line, but I heard some peeps standing in line in other counties weren't going to be able to vote until 10 or 11 PM! 

It was awesome hearing how excited everyone was about voting this year!

I stayed up to write up my game plan for Potluck on Sunday and to watch the results!

And I've got to say, as excited as I am about so many people getting involved, I'm even moooore excited about all those campaign signs coming down, my phone to stop ringing, and life to go back to normal!

Which it did. Today.

Potluck waits for no man.

I went grocery shopping for ingredients and then got to work!

Making stuffing!

The stuffing I make every year is a variation of Paula Deen's Country Stuffing and this year, it turned out especially tasty! I can never recreate the same stuffing twice, so I'll try to jot it down to remember it for next year.

Joj's Version of Country Stuffing

1 loaf of Pane Italian, sliced

1 loaf of Miche, sliced

1 pound Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage with Sage

1 large onion, diced

2 cups celery, chopped

1 leek, rinsed thoroughly and chopped

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

5 eggs

1 Tablespoon dried sage

2 Tablespoons rosemary, trimmed and chopped finely

1/2 stick of butter, melted

First, preheat your oven to 350. You can either tear the bread slices up by hand or cut it into neat little cubes (I went for tearing because it's "rustic" read: easier). Then toast it in batches for about 15 minutes, until cubes are dried, but not too browned. Set aside in a large bowl to cool.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook sausage until browned. Set sausage aside and in the same skillet, sweat the onions, celery and leeks until softened. Add sausage and softened vegetables to bowl with bread cubes and toss to combine. Add chicken stock and water and toss.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs and add dried sage and rosemary. Pour beaten egg mixture over bread mixture. Finally, pour the butter over the mixture and mix well to combine.

Lightly grease a dish (I used a lasagna dish) and pour bread mixture in. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes!

It'll serve a lot, which is perfect for Thanksgiving. Last year, I recall being kind of evil and pan frying up some leftover stuffing latke style, which... I mean... leftovers are always a good thing. :|

I made it ahead of time (I'm freezing it until Sunday) to save me some time because I know the day of and before Potluck will be chaos. You know what they say about proper planning...

I also made the Sweet Potato Gnocchi tonight and I made way too much (of course), so it took me about four hours from start to finish to make those ridiculous little things.

Halfway through, I decided the whole rolling these lumps over the tines of a fork thing was worthless.

They just look so naked. :/ 

But it's alright, I'm sure they'll taste the same. I'm afraid I'll have to do them this way from now on because it saved me soooo much time.

Potluck's coming together! I also bought a bird today! Yay for hosting! She's an 18-pounder!