The Trouble with Thanksgiving Potlucks

Conversation, verbatim with J:

J: "Soooo. My work is doing a potluck.  You can either bring a covered dish or you can bring $5."

Me: "If I make it, you have to help me."

J: "I figured you'd say that, and that I'd be bringing $5."

End Scene.

I like to think that I keep him on his toes, but it looked like he had me pegged from the get-go. 

I'm never good with potlucks, as I don't always understand what to bring.  It's just a bunch of covered dishes, right? I am the one at potlucks always searching for fresh food like salad, but to make for J to bring? As we all know, you don't win friends with salad.

I follow Whole Foods on twitter, and they posted a recipe called "Stuffin's," or stuffing muffins.
The premise is exactly as it sounds--to make stuffing and put it in muffin tins to bake.  No less, no more.

I gave it a go, and according to J, they turned out well.

There are a few regrets with this recipe.  First, I felt as though the onions should have been sauteed with the mushrooms to not only add flavor but to soften the onions more before baking.

I could tell the cranberries added a certain fruity flavor, but should have been roughly chopped, and the idea of adding a soft cinnamon/apple compote would have been a nice texture/flavor difference.  Maybe small bits of rum-soaked dried apple?  It's worth a shot I suppose.

 Finally, the texture would have been nicely offset by a toasted nut or two, like walnuts or pecans.

 

The fact that I wanted to tweak this recipe is a sign to me that I am growing in my skills and knowledge, and learning that I need to trust my instincts when it comes to food.  I'm still biting myself for not sauteing the onions. 

Ah well, live/learn, right?

More later, like (the long awaited) Mac and Cheese coming up, and Thanksgiving!!!!omgponies!!1