bread

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Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing

I haven’t posted anything for a long time. Doesn’t mean I’m ignoring my blog cuz I use it to lookup my recipes frequently. Work and family seem to have left less time to write. But with Thanksgiving coming, I decided to put down the stuffing recipe I got from my daughter and edited to what we had on hand. This stuffing goes over very well with our guests and it’s open to any tweaking or changes the cook wants to make!

Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 loaves of 100% whole wheat or multi-grain bread.
  • 1 – 1 1/2 lbs pork sausage (you could substitute turkey sausage if desired)
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 apple, cored & chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. dried sage
  • 1 Tbsp. dried rosemary
  • 1 Tbsp. dried thyme
  • 6 Tbsp. melted butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley. Substitute dried if not available.
  • 4-5 cups liquid – mixture of chicken/turkey broth and water – use proportions as you wish.

Put it Together:

  1. Cube the bread in desired size. (My hubby did an awesome job of making nice small cubes of the bread and it made a difference in the outcome). Put the bread in a couple of cake pans and toast in oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Check on this frequently and stir as needed as the bread isn’t in a single layer. Remove when it’s at your desired “toastiness” 🙂 and transfer to a large bowl.
  2. Brown the sausage in skillet. When almost done, add the onions and garlic. Stir until onions done and sausage is nicely browned… probably another 5 minutes.
  3. Add the celery, rosemary, thyme, and sage. Stir a few more minutes to meld flavors.
  4. Pour sausage mixture over dried bread cubes. Add apple, cranberries, melted butter and parsley. Mix.
  5. Add broth, stirring until desired consistency is reached. The last time I made this, I used 4 1/2 cups broth. The dryness of the bread and how moist you want it if you stuff the turkey will dictate the amount of liquid used.
  6. You may either stuff the turkey or bake the stuffing in the oven. I have baked it at 350 for 45 minutes or so. I also like to put it in a crockpot on low for a couple hours.
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Banana Bread

Today was a lazy day for me…. Saturday and no work. But there were 3 ripe bananas sitting on the counter, so decided to make banana bread. Haven’t made it for awhile, so pulled out my recipe and “doctored” it up a bit. Here’s the result. If I do say so, it was delicious!!

Banana Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Sucanat (you can substitute 1 cup granulated sugar, but the slight molasses flavor of sucanat gives it a good flavor – maybe add 1 Tbsp. molasses to the sugar – just a thought)
  • 1/2 cup Butter, softened,
  • 2 Eggs, large
  • 3 ripe Bananas
  • 1.5 Tbsp. Milk
  • 1/4 cup ground Flax Seed
  • 1 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
  • 1 tsp. Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts of your choice (i.e. walnuts, pecans, almonds…)
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 F
  2. Cream butter and sucanat. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy.
  3. In separate bowl, mash bananas and milk. I used my immersion blender to make it nice and smooth. Add to butter mixture, combining until well mixed.
  4. In a large bowl, combine flour, flax seed meal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
  5. Add dry ingredients to banana-butter mixture, combining until flour just disappears. Do not over-mix. Adjust consistency with flour or milk if needed.
  6. Divide batter into 3 mini loaf pans (approx. size is 3.5 x 5.75 inches) that have been sprayed with a cooking spray. Bake for 40 minutes at 325 F or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let pans cool 5 minutes on a rack. Turn out of pans and enjoy!

I will sometimes put in 1/2 cup of mini-chocolate chips in this and that is awesome. Of course, we are of the opinion that chocolate rarely hurts anything!!