Holy cats you guys. I feel like I woke up as new person today. I’m totally rejuvenated, motivated, and ready to go, and I only had one cup of coffee this morning. A large dose of caffeine wasn’t even necessary today. Don’t know what it is but the creative juices were flowing today. Maybe it’s because I’m finally in the holiday spirit.
Things haven’t gone overboard here. My tree isn’t decorated and I wasn’t playing Christmas music, but I did burn a fall candle or two. Wednesday is usually my brainstorming day for the blog. Since I have an unusual schedule, I take this day to make my plans for the rest of the week. While I sipped on my cup of coffee this morning, I planned my attack for the grocery store. All the Thanksgiving deals gave me a bit of menu inspiration. There were some awesome deals on cornbread, cranberries, and apples. This all gave me some serious creative overflow today. I hammered out five new recipes, all of which I have never tried out before. Luckily for me, they were all winners!
I figured I’m a little overdue to give you guys some holiday inspiration. So here we have one of the winners: Homemade Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing. If you can believe it, I never, ever eat stuffing, NEVER. In my 27 years, I have never taken a helping of stuffing during my Thanksgiving celebrations. It never really appealed to me I guess. But, today I decided to give the stuff a try. It’s a holiday staple for most.
I’m still in awe that it seriously turned out. I mean, how can someone who doesn’t eat stuffing, make good stuffing. Would you believe me if I told you I have already eaten two helpings of Homemade Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing? Well, it is true. I may even grab another before the night is over. My hubby is pulling a 12 hour shift tonight and I am soooo incredibly antsy to let him try this.
If the hubby loves it as much as I do, I’m definitely going to advocate I bring this to our family gathering. Never would I ever thought I’d be the one volunteering to bring stuffing. But here I am. So if you’re not much of a stuffing person yourself, I highly recommend you give this a try! Worst case scenario, pass it off on the family. I’m positive they will love it!
If you all make this dish for your Thanksgiving or throughout this holiday season, let me know by tagging a photo #stephanieleenutrition on Instagram. I’d love to see what you all cook up. Happy eating!
Note** – I provided a few substitutions within the recipe to make the Homemade Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing into a vegan dish. Just substitute the egg for a flax egg and make sure to use vegetable stock!
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 75 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4-5 stalks green onion, diced
- 6 stalks celery
- 2 apples, diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- salt, to taste
- pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons vegetable stock may substitute chicken stock
- 2/3 cup vegetable stock may substitute chicken stock
- 1 large egg may substitute flax "egg" to make vegan (1 T ground flax mixed with 2 1/2 T water)
- 4 cups cornbread, crumbled
Ingredients
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|
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add celery to skillet and saute another 2-3 minutes. Then, add the diced apples and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the pecans, sage, salt, and pepper to mixture. Saute for another 2 minutes to combine flavors. Add two tablespoons of stock and stir. Cook for 1-2 more minutes. Set mixture aside and cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining stock and egg. Beat to combine.
- Transfer cooled mixture from skillet and crumbled cornbread to the mixing bowl with stock and egg mixture. Toss ingredients well to coat with egg and stock mixture.
- Transfer mixture into a greased baking dish, cover and bake for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake for additional 15 minutes or until top starts to brown.
