Thanksgiving: Croissant, Caramelized Onion, Sausage & Pecan Stuffing

For Thanksgiving this year I decided to try a new stuffing, like I usually do.  It is my favorite part of a turkey dinner.  I was attracted to this one because of  the caramelized onions.  My son is not a fan of stuffing.  He won't have it on his leftover turkey sandwiches (crazy!!!) and only eats a couple of bites with dinner.  When I mentioned this years would have "croissants" in it, he was intrigued.

I told him maybe he will like this version so much that he will ask for it on his turkey sandwiches.  That made him laugh out loud at me!  He told me to "take it easy and not get carried away"  :)  Anyway, I hoped he would like it because I end up eating the majority of it when I make it and gain a few pounds usually!  I found the recipe here.

I was going fairly simple this year for dinner as far as recipes were concerned.  Turkey (I get mine from here), mashed yukon gold potatoes and green bean bacon bundles would accompany this stuffing.  I added some crushed chili flakes and maple syrup to the sauce this time.  I also put about 15 beans in a bundle, which upped the last ones I made by five.  I also make my own cranberry sauce with this recipe (I add orange zest to it).  I made the sauce the day before.  Below is when it came out of the fridge.  I transferred it to a serving dish next.

I've said this before, but once I made my own, I could never buy canned or jarred stuff again - there is no comparison and it's so cheap and easy to do...

I started the stuffing by toasting the croissants.

They were so buttery!

I fried the sausage next.

I added some fresh cracked pepper and cayenne pepper to it while frying.

I noticed when looking at the pictures in the recipe link, that I could not see any caramelized onions.  Anyhow, I wanted to see them so sliced my onions thinly in half moons rather than dice.  Below is what it looked like when it was ready to mix into the croissants and sausage.  After 40 minutes, I grew impatient and decided the onions were caramelized enough...

So, when I mixed it all together, the texture was weird to me.  I ended up throwing in one box of low-sodium Stove Top stuffing mix.

Then it looked and felt okay.  It looked nothing like the recipe picture - I don't know how hers stayed so "fluffy" looking.  I omitted the egg that the recipe called for too.  I packed it into the turkey and my bird went in the oven.

My turkey came out perfectly cooked and was still nice and juicy.  I probably could have browned it a little longer, but we had enough crispy skin.

The stuffing was tasty.  My son said he will even try it on his first turkey sandwich tomorrow!

Dinner came together nicely.  I wasn't sure as I wasn't feeling well this morning and I struggled to get all the prep and kitchen work done today.  I felt better when it was time to eat and everything was quite delicious.  Happy Thanksgiving!