I ate pumpkin and apple pies both with Cool Whip...which I think I entirely blocked out for so long until now, and now all I can think about is eating more Cool Whip! Yum, you guys.
Sorry, Oil, or Cream commercial. Today, oil won ;)
Anyway, I brought stuffing and rolls.
I love making stuffing! It is so easy. I like to add egg, and a little milk sometimes, in additional to the stock, so it turns out with a good texture, a little like a bread pudding.
I added apples, celery and fresh sage.
I found an awesome blend at Sprouts of dried, cubed bread marked for use in stuffing. Perfect! It was the best blend of white, sourdough, dark (whatever the 'brown bread' is at Cheesecake Factory. You know what I'm talking about!), and some sort of raisin bread which was amazing!
Saved me from tearing and drying bread. And had such a better taste and texture than the usual stuffing mix blend. But you can use anything! I have heard brioche is amazing.
Traditional Stuffing Recipe with Apples, Celery, & Sage
Recipe
Ingredients:
10 cups (approx) fresh bread, cubed, and toasted or left out to get stale - or - pre-dried crouton-like mix from store ( About 1.5 loaves of fresh bread)
3-4 cups vegetable stock (chicken or turkey stock are great, too) (Use only as needed)
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium apple, chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
6 fresh sage leaves, sliced
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (Optional, sub in for some of the stock)
salt
pepper
Directions:
First off, you'll want to start out with a large pot, or, alternatively, have a large bowl on hand to pour everything in to later on.
Saute onions in butter on medium-low heat for 10 minutes until translucent. (not browned)
Add garlic and salt and pepper.
Add apples and celery and continue to saute until slightly softened.
Add about half the stock, 1-2 cups, and stir.
Crack the eggs into a small bowl, and add 3 Tbsp of the warmed broth into the eggs, and whisk. This tempers them, so they don't scramble when you add them in to the rest of the stock. Sub in a bit of milk here, if desired, in with the egg mixture. This gives a bit more of a bread pudding finish to the stuffing.
This is where you'll need this pot we've been using to be pretty large, or else, when it gets full, transfer everything into an even larger bowl to finish combining, before pouring into baking dish.
But, start adding bread cubes into the pot, and fold in gently. When some have been added, fold in the egg mixture.
Keep adding more stock, and more bread, and folding everything into the apple and celery mixture, until well combined.
Chop the fresh sage leaves (or use dried), and fold those in.
Pour everything into a greased 9" x 13" casserole dish. Cover with foil.
Bake, covered, at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then uncover, and continue to bake for 20 more minutes, watching that the bread doesn't brown too much.
Voila! Homemade Stuffing!
