STUFFING…..who’s with me?!?  Seriously, I love stuffing and I am probably half made of Stove Top stuffing given how much my mom made it for us growing up.  Sigh…that red 80’s box of Stove Top brings back memories.  But let’s get real…I think we don’t want to eat a lot of the processed stuff in that box anymore, and it’s chock full of gluten.  When I began to date my now husband back in 2003, we decided to alternate Thanksgiving celebrations between our families.  We still do that to this day, but what I found in his family was that they hand-made the stuffing.  WHAAA???  Mind. Blown.  They added apples and all sorts of stuff, and guess what?  It tasted really good!  Sad but true, prior to that point I don’t think I’d experienced any stuffing other than Stove Top.

Anyway, once I had to go gluten-free and dairy-free, I began to search for a recipe that would be full of flavor, but also stand alone, for those of us who didn’t want to cook an entire turkey and stuff the bird like they did.  This recipe is definitely not vegan as it stands, but you *could* sub the pork sausage for Beyond Sausage or some other plant-based gluten-free sausage, and you could change the turkey stock to a mushroom stock or veggie stock, and this would be pretty fantastic.  In fact, as we speak, I’m taking a break from meat, so I’ll probably do just that *this* Thanksgiving.  For the rest of you who do eat meat, enjoy!

Holiday Stuffing

Serves 8-10

1 1/2 loaves of gluten free bread (such as udi’s or trader joe’s)
3 ribs of celery, diced
1 apple, such as pink lady or fuji (slightly tart)
1/2 fennel bulb, diced
3 links sweet italian pork sausage
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and minced
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, minced
2 sprigs fresh parsley, minced
3 leaves fresh sage, minced
2 cups turkey stock plus 1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9×13 glass baking dish with olive oil to grease the pan.  In a saute pan, add the olive oil, and take the sausage out of its casing (or cut into cubes if it is precooked or vegan) adding it to the pan.  Break the sausage into chunks, and cook until browned.  Remove from the pan.  Cut the bread into cubes and place in a large mixing bowl.  Add all of the ingredients, including the sausage, except the stock and eggs.  In a small bowl, beat the two eggs, and add them to the mix.  Stir to blend.  In a separate pot, heat up the turkey stock and salt until it is warm.  Add the stock to the stuffing mix.  It should be moist.  Transfer the mix to the 9×13 pan, and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake for about 30 mins.  If you like a crispier top, remove the foil and bake for another 5-10 mins until the top is browned.

 

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