Really Simple Allergy Friendly Apple Stuffing

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I caved. I know that I said I wasn’t making stuffing this year, but I love it too much to forgo it even though it is a lot of work. Instead of giving up the stuffing, I simplified my recipe a bit and did not make the cornbread this year, making it with only two types of bread that I already had in my freezer.

Ingredients:

5 cups of cubed bread*

1 green apple, diced

1 red apple, diced

2 tablespoons of olive oil

8 tablespoons of olive oil or butter

½ cup cooked sausage, diced or crumbled*

1 to 4 cups quality chicken or turkey broth*

Salt and pepper to taste*

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange bread cubes on a large baking sheet. Place bread and oven and bake for 5 minutes. Then turn down the temperature to 200 degrees and prop the oven door open. Dry the bread this way for about 30 minutes or until no longer moist.
2.  Meanwhile, sauté the apple in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until the apples are slightly soft. Add the sausage and cook until warm. Turn down the heat to low and add the remaining olive oil or butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
3. Mix the apple mixture and the bread cubes together in a large bowl until the bread cubes are oily.  Add one to two cups of the broth and allow the mixture to rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. After one hour, add 1/3 cup more broth if the mixture isn’t soft yet. Stir and allow the mixture to rest in the refrigerator for another hour. Continue adding broth 1/3 cup at a time and waiting an hour until the bread cubes are no longer hard. My most recent batch took 2 2/3 cups broth, but each batch will be different based on the kind of bread used and how dry the bread was before adding the liquid.
4. Once the stuffing has reached the desired moisture level. Oil or butter a baking pan and press the stuffing into the baking pan. If you have an olive oil sprayer, spraying the top of the stuffing will cause it to brown prettily, but if you don’t have a sprayer, it’s okay to skip this step. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to warm through and brown the top. Alternative, you can press the stuffing into muffin tins to make individual portions and bake for only 20 minutes.  This recipe should serve 8, but let's be honest, it will probably serve 5.

Note about Bread: You can use nearly any type of good quality bread—gluten free, white, whole wheat, or corn. I recommend homemade or deli bread, not the cheap mass-produced stuff. The recipe works best if you use at least two types of bread. I recommend a quick bread like biscuits or soda bread and yeast bread. Cornbread is also good to throw into the mix. I keep chunks of homemade bread in the freezer for recipes such as this one. If you don’t have food allergies, you can also buy toasted bread cubes at many grocery stores.

Note about Sausage: I used my homemade chicken sausage recipe that I have provided in an earlier post. You could use a vegetarian sausage as a replacement or any store-bought sausage if allergies and intolerances are not challenges for you and your guests.

Note about Broth: I cooked an organic chicken the week before. Then I simmered the left over bones, meat, and skin in my slow cooker with a quart of water for 2 days. You could substitute vegetable broth.

Note about Seasonings: This recipe would be even better with freshly chopped sage, oregano, parsley, chives, and the leafy parts of celery. I am not sure of my allergies and tolerances for these seasonings, so I have left them out for now. Feel free to add a tablespoon or any or all of these to enhance the flavor.

Christina's Doughnuts

Over the years, I’ve gotten very good at adapting recipes for people who have special food concerns. Among my accomplishments are a preservative-free pineapple up-side-down cake and dairy-and-soy-free ice cream, but I am most proud of making doughnuts for my friend Christina who has many food allergies, including soy, dairy, and egg. While my friend—who doesn’t cook at all—watched with amusement, I combined flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in my largest mixing bowl. Then, in a separate bowl, I mixed olive oil, apple sauce and apple juice. While the vegetable oil was getting hot in an iron skillet on the stove, I kneaded the batter until it was firm and then rolled it out on my large wood cutting board dusted with flour. After that, I cut the batter into doughnut shapes by using a fancy glass for the round and a bottle cap for the hole. Christina leaned forward with interest as the dough started to sizzle when I placed it into the hot oil and looked on with delight as I turning each one to achieve a golden brown on each side. Finally, I lifted the doughnuts from the oil, dried them on paper towels, and dusted them with powdered sugar. Tentatively, she selected a doughnut and took a cautious bite. I was very gratified when I saw the look of joy on my friend’s face when she savored a doughnut for the first time.

All American Meatloaf Night

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Mustard Asparagus, and Apple Pie
When my friend, Christina, moved back to the area, this was one of the first meals that we had together. Most meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and apple pies contain dairy and egg products. These recipes are dairy, egg, and soy free.

Meatloaf

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup safe bread or omit (bread recipe will be submitted soon)
Ketchup (ketchup recipe will be submitted soon)
1 finely diced green bell pepper
1 finely diced small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
Black pepper
Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the ground beef, onion, bell pepper, black pepper, salt in a large bowl. Grade the bread on a fine grater, such as one used for hard cheeses, until you have about ½ cup fresh bread crumbs. Add 4 tablespoons ketchup and olive oil and mix with hands. Shape into a donut. Create a raised ridge around the edges and top with additional ketchup. Bake for about an hour.


Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
½ pound russet or Yukon gold potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

Directions:
Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain most of water, reserving ½ cup cooking liquid. Mash potatoes with cooking liquid, salt and pepper, and 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Gravy

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock (chicken stock recipe will be submitted soon)

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a small saucepan and whisk in flour. Continue whisking until flour is slightly brown. Add chicken stock and stir until thickened. Add more stock for thinner gravy.

Mustard Asparagus

Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus
Olive oil
1 tablespoon mustard
1 cup chicken stock

Directions:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy skillet. Remove woody ends of the asparagus and then chop asparagus into one inch pieces. Add asparagus to skillet. Stir until almost tender. Add mustard and chicken stock and scrap the bottom of pan. Serve.

Apple Pie

Ingredients:
For Crust: Makes 2 Crusts about 9” - 10”
2-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon of salt
¾ cup corn or olive oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
4 ½ to 5 tablespoons of ice water

For Filling:
3 granny smith apples, thinly sliced (about four cups)
2 Macintosh apples, thinly sliced (about two cups)
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together salt, sugar, and flour. Gradually stir in the oil with a fork. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time until you can form a ball. Separate the dough into two balls. Roll out each into a 10 inch circle between pieces of wax or parchment paper. Peal the paper off one side of and push one crust gently into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan and remove other side of paper. Fill with filling. Peel off one side of paper from the other crust and lay on top of filling. Trim edges and crimp with a fork. Cut vents in the top. Wrap foil around the edge of the pie to keep from burning the edge. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Variation: Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:
2 cups meatloaf mixture (see previous recipe)
2 cups prepared rice
4 sweet bell peppers
1 cup carrot or tomato juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix meat loaf mixture with rice. Cut the tops off the peppers and scrape out seeds and white parts. If needed, cut a little off the bottoms of the peppers so that they will stand upright. Spoon 1 cup meat mixture into each pepper. Replace tops. Stand each pepper in a baking dish. Add juice to baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until done.

Variation: Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 pound meat loaf mixture (see previous recipe)
1 head of cabbage
1 can of diced tomatoes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cut 10 to 12 leaves off head of cabbage. Discard outer leaves. Briefly dip leaves into boiling water to soften. Wrap one leaf around ¼ to ½ cup meat mixture and place in one layer of a baking dish. Repeat until meat is all used. Coarsely shred remaining cabbage and place on and around cabbage wraps. Pour diced tomatoes over dish. Bake at for 45 minutes to 1 hour.