The two previous Thanksgivings, I had a plan. Two years ago it was not much more than a thought in my head. I never followed through. I told myself I would try again “next year”.
Last year I came even closer to implementing my plan. I posted a couple of “teases” about it on FB.
“Trying to decide… Is this the year???” (link)
(which was followed up with several witty comments by my friends)
“If it's going to be this year, I need to pull the trigger today! ("trigger", not "finger")” (link)
(which was also followed up with several witty comments by my friends)
I never did announce what the plan was. (Truthfully, I wanted to document the experience here – and did not want to ruin the surprise) So, I told myself that I would try again “next year”.
So, here we are at “next year”. I had a couple of precursory reminders of my plan. First, in the form of a coupon and recipe that came in the newspaper – then in the form of a little “father / daughter time”.
As a little extra inspiration, I sent another “ambiguous” facebook update..
“Ooooo. I got a plan!!!” (link)
(which was followed up with several witty comments by my friends)
So as I woke for work (at 3am) on Wed. morning, I planned on grabbing my coupon / recipe on my way out the door. It should be no surprise to many of you when you discover that when I arrived at work I realized that I forgot the coupon and recipe. I did not care. I was gong to fulfill the plan regardless.
By the end of the day I had almost forgotten about the plan – that was until a co-worker who I had spoken to about my plan reminded me! As I left work, I called home to check which of the ingredients we had, and which ones we needed – stopped by and picked up all that we needed from the grocery store, and then – stopped for the main ingredient.
WHITE CASTLE STUFFING!!!
I arrived home with ingredients in hand. Immediately #5 of 5 recognized the bag – and that brought #4 of 5 out to check what was going on too. I told them of my plans, and asked if they would join me in my endeavor.
The girls ate dinner, then we cleaned the kitchen and gathered the necessary ingredients and tools to get the job done!
We washed hands, and started digging in. First step, cut, rip, tear, chop, slice, or disembowel 10 plain White Castle hamburgers (no ketchup, mustard or pickles).
Be sure to check out the video too!
(Am I doing this right? As long as there are no chunks of fingers in there then you are!)
Once the burgers were all cut, ripped, torn, chopped, sliced, and disemboweled – it was time to add the rest of the ingredients. 1 1/2 cup chopped celery, 1 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoon ground sage, 3/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper, and 1/4 cup chicken broth. I had the girls “toss” the cut, ripped, torn, chopped, sliced, and disemboweled burgers while I sifted and poured in the other ingredients.
We spent about 30 minutes in total putting it together. (I think it could have been done in much less time but we made it a fun little adventure – so it took a little longer.)
I gotta say (although, as a White Castle fan you could say I am biased) but by the time we were done, and it was all assembled – it was really looking (and smelling) quite intriguing! By “intriguing” I mean good!
I took only one very tiny “taste” before putting in the refrigerator – It tasted surprising a lot like a traditional stuffing!
Once we were finished, I sent out one last “ambigious” Facebook update…
“I love it when a "plan" comes together!!!” (link)
(which was followed up with several witty comments by my friends)
I’ll be sure to report back how it turns out!
If YOU want to try the White Castle Stuffing recipe yourself, I’d urge you to give it a try. Click HERE!
Many special thanks to my very talented and quite talented “kitchen staff” for helping make my (three years in the making) “plan” a “reality”.
You guys (well, gals) are the best!