Easy Stuffing Recipe

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Are you searching for an Easy Stuffing Recipe to make for Thanksgiving (or any meal ….)??.

Well keep reading and I will give you a very simple recipe that you will enjoy  with Turkey or any kind of roasted meat really…. I will admit that I love the stuffing leftovers (crusty corners) with cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes~ yum!

In my mind there are two important parts to the stuffing… the bread part or maybe stuffing base, and the flavoring parts which can include items celery and onions and also cranberries, sausage and the classic ingredient,  oysters (yikes … not in my stuffing thank you….).

Today I will share a basic/ simple stuffing that you can try as well as some options at the bottom to help you expand out into new flavors.

Easy Stuffing Recipe Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of Challah bread
  • 1 package of Diced Onions, garlic & Shallots (or 1 medium onion, diced fine)
  • 1 apple (optional) I used one large Honey Crisp
  • dried fruit (optional – I am using dried cranberries with orange oil from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1 package Hearty Vegetable Stock (or chicken stock, which ever you like best)
  • Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute ( 1 teaspoon- or more to taste)
  • Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper, dried or fresh Sage leaf –

How To:

1. Dice the Challah bread into 1-2 inch pieces. I like to dry the bread out for a bit, so I chopped it up before work today and then made the stuffing when I came home tonight.

2. Cook the package of diced onions, garlic and shallots together in a pan with olive oil  until they get a bit of color… Add the apple (chopped up small) if you are using and let it cook for a few minutes. Here is where I also add Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute and the dry Sage (maybe a 1/2 to a whole teaspoon or to taste…. this is where the real “stuffing” flavor comes from in my opinion ).

3.  I had some yummy dried cranberries with orange in the pantry and thought why not??  so I chopped them up just a bit and then added them to the pan for a few minutes to warm up.

4. Now add about a cup of the Hearty Vegetable Stock to the pan and let it come to a boil. I like to do this to “clean the pan” a bit and loosen up any brown flavor bits that might be on the bottom. The liquid will also “plump” up the dried fruits a little.

4. Pour the contents of the pan over the bread cubes and toss well. Add more stock from the carton until the bread is nicely moist but not too soggy….

5. Turn out the stuffing into a greased baking dish.

6. Now the stuffing is ready to place in the refrigerator until you are ready to heat it  up. I like to make stuffing a day or two ahead of time to let the flavors all blend together, but don’t worry  you can also make it and bake it right away….

Bake at 350 degrees  for 45 minutes covered. It will sorta steam. Remove foil after 30 minutes and let it get a bit crusty if you like….

Ta-da! You have just made Easy Homemade Stuffing! This stuffing might be OK for Vegetarians or Vegans as there are no animal products in the recipe, just check the ingredients in the Challah bread to make sure it is OK for you.

Ideas/ Options for Stuffing

  • Save up bread scraps/ ends/ toast that the kids did not finish etc… in the freezer and use for your stuffing.
  • Find day old bread specials at the store and use that for stuffing
  • Cornbread or Cornbread muffins are yummy crumbled for stuffing.
  • Try adding items like green onions, celery and other favorite vegetables to your stuffing.
  • For Southwest flavor, add diced green chilies to a cornbread base…. maybe sprinkle the top with cheese?

We hope you found this Easy Stuffing Recipe helpful for you. Leave a comment below or on Facebook and share what you used to make your stuffing…..

 

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Made Easy

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Are you searching for some ideas to make an Easy Vegetarian Thanksgiving this year? Recently we were thinking about different ideas to make our meal a bit more  Vegan and Vegetarian -diet friendly this year.

Think about it… so much of Thanksgiving is about all these crazy-good side dishes and so many of them are vegetable based ~ including many yummy desserts, right.. 🙂

Some ideas to consider for an Easy  Vegetarian Thanksgiving:

  • mashed potatoes
  • baked sweet potatoes
  • Brussels sprouts roasted with nuts and cranberries
  • roasted turnips and parsnips (my family’s favorite)
  • rolls and butter
  • cranberry sauce

butternut squash, carrots, acorn squash…. the list could go on and on….

One easy idea is to just substitute Trader Joe’s Hearty Vegetable Stock for Chicken stock in many recipes… that would be a great and flavorful addition to mashed potatoes, soup or stuffing.

To keep is super easy check out the fresh and frozen sections of the store. Trader Joe’s has some delicious  side dishes that would be perfect for a vegetarian Thanksgiving…  Here I am thinking of the 4 cheese au gratin potatoes, or their new one that is a creamy potato and spinach combo (had a sample of that one last week- yummmooo).

Recently at Trader Joe’s we we talking (and sampling coffee and ginger biscotti pieces- YUM) and the friendly Trader Joe’s employees were talking about…. Tofurkey!

Once an item of legend… now the Tofurkey has arrived and is on the shelf at Trader Joe’s stores ~ At least the one that we shop at in Kansas City.  No one who was working  that day had ever tried this unusual item… but they noted that a LOT of customers were purchasing the faux birds.

So I thought I would mention this  just in case it might round out your Vegetarian Thanksgiving table.

Do you enjoy Tofurkey? What are you serving for your Easy Vegetarian Thanksgiving??

Share in the comments below or on Facebook …. have a GREAT DAY!

Blackburn & James, Paso Robles, Red Blend – 2009

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Ok this Paso Robles rocks, and I wish I had saved it for Turkey Day. Nonetheless, I am enjoying it right now. It is lighter and dare I say fruiter than I remember when they were passing out samples at our Trader Joe’s. Yet I like it, even though it is not the usually heavy wine I typically like this time of year.

The bottle doesn’t brag about what grapes that make up the blend. But I recall the Sampler saying Zinfandel was one of the grapes, probably how it made it in the cart.  The wine offers strong blackberry flavor through and though, there is a spice but it is more of a finisher than a distracter. There is a nice wood, maybe oak, scent that brightens the whole experience. The finish is dryer but the whole experience rest easy on the tongue.

The bottle boasts that it would pair nicely with a wide range of dishes from Asian spiced to pasta to chocolate mousse. I paired it with Pizza and it was great. More importantly, I feel this wine would also pair nicely with a turkey and some mashed potatoes.

Cheers,

Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

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We have been receiving a LOT of emails (thanks everyone! ) from readers who are interested in some vegan Thanksgiving recipes that they can add to their collection. Now while neither of us are vegans or full time vegetarians for that matter, we did find some really nice websites that are full of delicious sounding and great looking vegan recipes that you can add to your menu for Thanksgiving or any meal really.

Vegan Dad     http://vegandad.blogspot.com/

VegWeb    http://vegweb.com/

The V Word  http://theveeword.blogspot.com/

MouthwateringVegan  http://mouthwateringvegan.com/

Don’t you just LOVE the look of this blog? Great header!!

Like I said we are not vegans or even full time vegetarians for that matter, but we are heading in that direction… we are eating less and less meat and enjoying more salads, cooked and raw vegetables, nuts  and lovely fresh fruits (right now we are just enjoying those Honey Crisp apples- what about you?) I am glad that we checked out what was out on the internet for Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes as I am very happy with what we saw and I am planning to try many of them soon!

Are you planning a Vegan Thanksgiving? What are you making/ serving? Share below or on Facebook~ Thanks!