I'm in the mood

no... sicko... not THAT kind of mood.

I'm in the mood to cook up a storm and do something productive (as opposed to yesterday.  Yikes.  I was pretty much a waste of space yesterday... slug).  Anywho... I scored some killer deals at Wegmans yesterday (oh... I guess I did accomplish something... shopping!  I know... shocker, right?) on all sorts of meat, so I bought in bulk and stored everything in our deep freezer.  This way when we are buried under 5 feet of snow, I won't have to worry about grocery shopping.  Makes sense to me.

Last night I threw together a beef stew.  It wasn't exactly my best work, but Kev was starving so he gobbled it right up.  It worked.

Tonight, however, I am cooking an awesome Sunday family dinner for our family of two.  I am doing a whole chicken stuffed with sausage and pepper stuffing... yummy!!  And for desert... this amazing sweet potato pecan pie

(borrowed the idea from my fav Dinosaur BBQ... found the recipe here:  Closet Cooking's Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Here is my picture... not too bad, eh? 

So for the chicken, I use just a small roasting chicken (usually around $5).  For the stuffing (this is the same recipe I use for my Thanksgiving stuffing... if you have never tried sausage stuffing, you better get to it!!  There is no turning back, though, I have to warn you... once you have had sausage stuffing, plain stuffing will never do):

• 1 box stuffing mix (sometimes I do it the hard way, like for Thanksgiving I make my own stuffing with sort of stale bread and some seasonings... but not tonight)
• 1/2 to 1 lb ground sausage (I use hot sausage)... you can also use a flavored sausage... Wegman's makes an apple smoked one that is yummy
• 1/2 to 1 cup of diced peppers (I have leftover red, yellow and orange, so pretty)
• Sometimes I also use onion and celery, diced
• Chicken broth

I cook the sausage then add in the peppers/onion/celery to soften them.  I use the chicken broth to moisten the stuffing mix.  Then combine the sausage and pepper mix with the stuffing mix.  Stuff the bird and bake (time and temp varies depending on size).  I usually start out with the bird covered in foil, then remove the foil for the last 30 minutes to brown the skin.

Here's my yummy chicken...

I also like to inject my chicken or turkey.  There is an awesome injectable marinade (can't think of the brand right now)... but it is butter jalapeno flavor... it's AMAZING!!!  Injecting the bird gives it so much more flavor as opposed to just seasoning the skin... every single bite is bursting with flavor.  If you haven't tried injecting your turkey before, give it a shot this year... your guests will be wowed.