I can't believe it's the week of Thanksgiving!
The holidays are officially here, and since I spent the better part of the beginning of the month in sunny California, I am still doing my damndest to get caught up here, and in the kitchen, and at the office, and with life in general.

One of the things on my almighty to-do list this week is make a few sides to bring along to my aunt's on Thanksgiving. I have big dreams for a pumpkin-arancini type situation, but we'll see how that pans out the day of. In the meantime, I wanted to do a test-run of the stuffing I am going to make, mostly for Matt to enjoy on Thanksgiving.

For the most part, my gluten-free buddy can partake in a lot of Thanksgiving fare. The turkey, obviously, is fair game. As are many of the veggie sides and maybe an app or two if they're of the meat-and-cheese persuasion. But, I figured, one of the best parts of the meal, the stuffing, is off limits. So while I will gladly stuff my face with "real" stuffing come Thursday, I wanted to give him the option for something, too.

I also wanted to make it delicious for everyone else, so I added some spicy Italian sausage. I made this last year with bacon, which was also very good, but I think the crumbled sausage is even better. It lends just the right amount of heat and a great chewiness to this.

Also-- definitely add celery. I just didn't have any on hand! Won't make that mistake later this week. This requires a bit of planning as you have to first make the gluten free cornbread (I followed this recipe, sans the jalapeño and bacon, of course), and then bake it for a bit to get it to a crispier texture less likely to turn super-soggy when combined with everything else. But it's well worth it, I swear.
 

Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing With Italian Sausage
Serves 8 or so as a side

What it's Made of:

• 1 loaf gluten-free cornbread (make this sans jalapeños and bacon)
• 1 lb spicy italian sausage, casings removed
• 6 or so carrots, peeled and diced small
• 6 or so stalks celery, peeled and diced small
• One super-large white onion or two smaller ones, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup or so chicken or turkey stock

How it's Made:

• Preheat oven to 350° 
• Take your (hopefully fully cooled, preferably a day or two old) cornbread and crumble onto a rimmed baking sheet into decent-bite-sized pieces. Pop in the oven at 375° or 400° for about twenty minutes, shaking the pan to move it about halfway through. It shouldn't burn, but it should dry out a bit and make some of the pieces nice and crunchy
• While that bakes, drop the un-cased sausage into a hot skillet and brown, breaking up into bite-sized pieces as it cooks. Once it's relatively brown (it's baking, too, so completely cooked
• is not all that necessary), remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.
• Drain the skillet except for about 1T or so of the sausage fat, and add the carrot, onion, celery and garlic to the pan.
• Cook the veggies until soft, about 10 or so minutes, stirring often.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• In a large casserole/baking dish, combine the sausage, veggies, and corn bread and toss.
• Pour broth over stuffing and toss again to incorporate
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, and serve!