Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cherry Stuffing


We go Wisconsin to my sister-in-law's (my late husband's sister) although sometimes there is too much going on and then I make a nice dinner for just the kids and I. This year since my thanksgiving staples are pretty different than the in-laws and to celebrate having the kids home from school I'm going to make my Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday so we'll get two meals. This is my stuffing:

1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
2 gloves garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
2 Tbl Olive oil
1 Cup dried cranberries
1 can tart cherries in water (not syrup)
1 stick melted butter (please do not use margarine!)
1/2 Cup honey
1 Cup milk
Celery salt
Lemon pepper, Basil and Sage to taste
12 oz unseasoned bread crumbs

Heat frying pan (remember Рhot pan, cold oil Рfood won't stick!) Heat olive oil and add onions, celery and peppers and saut̩ until transparent. Add garlic and herbs and saut̩ a few more minutes. Mix this with bread crumbs and cherries. Add honey, melted butter and milk. Do not over mix.

Everyone seems to be afraid to put stuffing inside the turkey these days. I always stuff the turkey. I also have leftover dressing that I bake in a pan. The stuff that's been in the turkey is MUCH better, I don't care what they tell you. Nobody's died yet.

6 comments:

  1. Sounds yummy. I'm going to a family gathering for T-day, where the food will be ordered in. I think I'll make a turkey another day just for us and try this stuffing. I've learned that if you can get a butcher to cut a whole turkey lengthwise, down the midline, there is a sort of half cavity where I can put stuffing. You get all the meat types this way, as opposed to just buying a turkey breast.

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  2. At the suggestion of a nutritionist, I recently went gluten-free and have experienced such a dramatic cessation of fibromyalgia pain, that I cannot imagine going back to bread, stuffing included. BUT, going gluten-free does not mean I've lost the ability to taste a recipe while reading it. Your stuffing recipe is quite fabulous!

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  3. It's not the same but I've occasionally stuffed a chicken with just fruit - oranges, apples and raisins. It's nothing like bread stuffing but it's fun and gives the bird a nice flavor.

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  4. That stuffing sounds so good it would almost be worth the drive to Iowa to taste. I'll have to get my husband (he is the Turkey Person) to make it sometime.

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  5. I wonder how the recipe would work (or could be adapted) for a rice-based stuffing instead of bread crumbs? I often cook cranberries (or currants) in my rice, so I think the cherries would go well, too. Then our gluten-free friends could enjoy the recipe as well. I have a dear friend for whom I am always on the look-out for gluten-free products and ideas.

    Jenny Anderson

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  6. Oh yea rice. I make a wild rice stuffing for the Cornish game hens we have on Christmas Day. I put dried cranberries in that.

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