The best stuffing recipe ever!

This year I am going out to dinner for Thanksgiving, however, the past two years I happily hosted Turkey Day at my apartment and it was actually two of the best Thanksgiving holidays I've ever had!

Cooking duties were divvied up with everyone bringing a dish that was part of their family tradition. And thanks to Rockstar I had my first taste of green bean casserole. It was a low maintenance/high drinking day and I pretty much just had the turkey and stuffing to deal with.

While scouring the web for good stuffing recipes, Contessa passed along this wonderful one for cornbread, proscioutto and sage stuffing and to say it is amazing is an understatement!

It was the first thing to go and the only dish that didn't have leftovers! I know I've posted a lot of recipes this week - but make this for Thanksgiving and I promise it will be a huge hit!

6 cups cornbread cubed

Sautee 4 carrots, 4 celery & one large onion in vegetable oil

Add about 6 - 7 slices proscioutto, chopped sage, salt, pepper

¾ cup cranberries - soaked, drained & dried (I use dry - can also use currants or any other dried fruit)

Mix above ingredients with cornbread & one cup chix stock and throw into buttered baking dish

Bake at 350 for 30-40 mins and wait for the food coma to set in...

Ditch Ditch Plains!

My friend Mich rules. She is one of the most amazing dynamic people I know. When she moved to London last year with her awesome new hubby I was bummed, but she has made her triumphant (but sadly temporary) return to New York this week for the Thanksgiving holiday.

After a long chain a emails we decided to meet up at Ditch Plains, a fairly new restaurant in the West Village. Mich's friends are also awesome and for once I was less concerned what I was eating or drinking since I was simply having a good time with my friend from across the pond.

Good thing because the food at Ditch Plains stunk. To say it was mediocre would be kind. This is especially painful to write because I am a HUGE fan of Marc Murphy's other restaurant Landmarc in TriBeca.

After a few watered down vodka drinks (if I can chug two Stoli Vanillas in a row you know they are weak) we decided to sit down and get some food. The menu was a bit all over the place: breakfast items all day, lobster roll, oysters and typical diner fare like burgers and fries.

We decided to share some smoked mozzerella fritters, a chicken burger, sweet potato chips and mussels. I can't comment on the mussels but nothing I tasted here was any better than what you would find at your local diner. In fact, I've had better burgers at diners along various highways in the Jerz (that would be NJ) than I had last night. And I am sure with a lower price tag.

Since we were joined by a photographer, he snapped a pic of the fritters but otherwise I spared you from photos of the cuisine. On a positive note, the decor was cool, modern, hip and slightly industrial but that's about the best I can muster.

Hopefully the food will get better at Ditch Plains but when Blue Ribbon Bakery is conveniently located across the street, there are plenty of better dining options in the neighborhood!

More from the WW Recipe Book, this time: Chili-crusted sea scallops

While I was on my soapbox, I thought I'd throw in another Weight Watchers recipe, chili-crusted sea scallops. This one is a regular in my weekday repertoire, since it is ridiculously quick and easy:

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 pound medium scallops


Preheat broiler

Whisk together lemon juice, sugar, chili powder, lemon zest, cumin, salt and cayenne in a small saucepan; set pan over medium-low heat and simmer until mixture thickens, about 2 - 3 mins. Tranfer mixture to a shallow dish, add scallops and turn to coat.

Transfer scallops to baking sheet (I put mine on some foil right on the broiler) and broil scallops approx 3 - 5 minutes per side.

Serving: approx 4 scallops per person
WW points (if you're counting): 2 points per serving

The spice of the cayenne and the sweetness of the sugar are absorbed by scallops like a sponge. In my opinion better to slightly undercook the scallops so they don't become rubbery. I have always used fresh scallops but I am sure frozen would do the trick as well and I usually omit the cayenne since it is not one of my staple spices.

Tonight I served this with some zucchini I sauteed with garlic and shallots. I had also roasted some asparagus with salt, pepper, garlic powder & thyme but was too hungry and devoured my dinner by the time it was ready to come out of the oven.

I accompanied ths delightful weekday treat with a glass of my new favorite "everyday" wine, a 2005 Old Moon Zinfandel from Trader Joe's.

I threw out the receipt but I think this wine retails in New York somewhere between $5 - 7 bucks, so you are looking at about $4.50 in suburbia. Not too shabby!

I would love for one of you, my now 15 loyal readers (and growing!), to try to make this dish at home and let me know what you think!