Broccoli has always been my favourite vegetable. I never had a problem eating most vegetables and as far as I can remember, my parents never had to go through the “eat your trees” phase with me. There was no cheese flavoured dip as a compromise and my plate tended to be spotless after supper. So naturally, whenever we have kids I expect it to not be that easy.
I had every intention of posting something right after I attended the 2016 Food Bloggers of Canada Conference at the end of October, but the universe had other plans. Remember earlier last month when I had a minor cold and then said that I couldn’t remember the last time I was sick? Well touche universe, touche. Right after the conference, I was hit with a horrible bout of the dreaded common cold. To give you an example of how crazy it was, I took a couple sick days from work and my FitBit told me that during one day, I slept off and on for 15 hours. During the weekends, I became the queen of two-hour afternoon naps. At one point, I was even convinced that my stomach was sloshing around from all the tea and hot soup I was consuming. I’m now slowly getting my energy back (a little cough here and there), but it’s still a miracle that Trevor hasn’t caught it (knock on wood, hah).
The idea of revisiting a couple of my older recipes had crossed my mind once or twice over the last year. When I started in 2011, the only camera I owned was my point and shoot (aka Mr. P&S). Mr. P&S was very reliable as a travel camera that could be tossed in my purse, but that’s about where his usefulness ended. I upgraded to a DSLR camera in February 2012 (no nickname, too excited), but that means there were (are) a lot of recipes from that first year of blogging with grainy photos. Many of the shots were taken pretty close to the food too, because for some reason I thought it would, I don’t know, hide the fact that I used to bake and take all my photos in the evening right before I went to bed (hint: it didn’t).
I realize that this may not be considered “the best time” to post a stuffing recipe, what with Canadian Thanksgiving come and gone and American Thanksgiving over a month away. But as the temperature continues to drop and the evenings get cooler, I know this stuffing will still make a nice hot side dish to go alongside a Sunday roasted chicken or weekend glazed ham. Just because Thanksgiving is over for us Canadians (and is still on the horizon for those south of the border) doesn’t dismiss the fact that snow and winter are on their way. Now may actually be the best time to stock up on comfort food ideas for the long cold months ahead.
In all honestly, though, I did originally plan to remake and take photos of this recipe at some time at the end of the year. But it worked out that I was the first person to finish my supper (lupper?) on Thanksgiving and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use my camera in the natural daylight. You may notice that the staging in these photos are a little rough and all of the food is awkwardly piled on one side of the dish. But that day I was fueled by turkey, gravy, and determination, so nothing was going to stop me. Plus I like to think that the holidays are not so much about getting things perfect as they are about eating good food and spending time with the people you love.
Last week I was hit with a horrendous case of the common cold that left me sniffling, sneezing and hacking for days on end. Monday, I was fine. Tuesday, I was a little congested. But by Wednesday, I was a mess and had to call in sick. I think my co-workers were secretly gracious because besides being contagious, they were able to get a break from listening to me sneeze and blow my nose every 5 minutes.
Canadian food blogger, baking and eating her way through life. Musical theatre fanatic. Personal finance nerd. Sometimes runner/yogi. Green smoothies are pretty amazing.
