Stuffing

It's almost Thanksgiving, which means it's just about time for wayward college students to travel home and eat dinner with their families again for a few days.
Over the next few days, I'll be posting a series of Thanksgiving recipes. Today, it's stuffing. Or dressing. Whatever you want to call it. This recipe is adapted from my dad's (rather vague) instructions for the stuffing he makes for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.

This year, I felt like it would be silly to limit thankfulness just to my immediate family. On Sunday night, I decided to invite over a few good friends and test drive some of my standard Thanksgiving staples.

Stuffing incorporates many of the best aspects of the holiday season: It's aromatic and warm, has the perfect balance between chewy and crunchy, and is entirely comforting. And, amazingly, it's relatively light in comparison to the majority of the gluttonous Thanksgiving feast.

And stuffing? I think it's too delicious to confine to just Thanksgiving and Christmas.


Simple Stuffing
(Printable here)

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Whole Wheat Or French Bread, Cubed And Toasted (About 8 Cup Breadcrumbs)
• ½ whole Onion
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 3 stalks Celery
• 2 whole Carrots
• 8 ounces, weight White Mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 6 sprigs Fresh Parsley, Minced
• 1 teaspoon Dry Basil
• 2 teaspoons Thyme
• 2 teaspoons Oregano
• 2 teaspoons Sage
• ½ teaspoons Black Pepper To Taste
• ½ Tablespoons Butter
• 1-½ cup Turkey Broth

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

Mince the onion, garlic, and celery. Grate the carrots with a cheese grater. Chop the stems off the mushrooms and slice them thinly.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the vegetables until the onions are transparent and the mushrooms are cooked.

In a large bowl, combine breadcrumbs, vegetables, and spices. Add the butter (the heat of the vegetables will melt it) stir until combined. Continue stirring and add the broth, a bit at a time, until the breadcrumbs are well moistened but not saturated.

Oil or butter a 9×13 inch pan and pour in the stuffing. Cover the pan and cook at 350 degrees (F) for 30 minutes. If you prefer a slightly crunchier stuffing, you can uncover the pan for the last 5 minutes of cooking time