Quick (and delicious) Stuffing

I don't know about you, but this cool weather creeped up on me out of nowhere! It makes me want to stay in my footy pajamas all day and eat comfort foods!

Last night, I threw together a fall inspired meal that came together in around 45 minutes. In the morning, I had set out turkey tenderloins and all day I thought about how good stuffing would taste with the turkey! After a quick stop at Whole Foods, I had all I needed to get started on the stuffing.

One of my favorite things about stuffing is you can add so many different ingredients to change up the flavor - sausage, apples, nuts... Just about anything goes! I decided to add apples, dried cranberries and pecans to mine and it was delicious! It paired nicely with the turkey and some leftover Brussels sprouts. Yum! I can't wait to have some leftovers for lunch!


Apple Cranberry Pecan Stuffing

1 medium onion, diced
1 medium apple, diced
2 T butter (use unsalted if you have it. If not, go easy on the salt)
Olive oil
1 bag of stuffing mix (or the equivalent of stale, cubed bread)
1 - 2 cups of broth (veggie or chicken, preferably low sodium)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pecans
Salt and pepper, to taste
Poultry seasoning (I used Bell's)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a casserole dish with nonstick spray and set aside.

Place a skillet over medium heat. Add oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Once the butter is melted, add the onions. Cook until soft, about five minutes. Add the apples and cook for a few minutes. Celery would be great in here too (celery and onions are my go to veggies for stuffing) but I forgot to buy it! Add salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning to taste. Add the bread to the pan and combine with the apple and onion mixture. Turn off the heat. Pour about 1/2 a cup of broth over the mixture and stir to combine. Continue adding broth until the bread has absorbed it but the mixture isn't too mushy*. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Put the mixture in the prepared casserole dish and dot with the remaining butter. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook until the top has browned, about 10 minutes. Another great way to cook these is to spray a cupcake tin (or two) with nonstick spray and fill each cavity with stuffing. Bake for about 20 minutes and you have single servings of stuffing. They're great for freezing! Plus, most of the stuffing is crispy from being in the tins and that's the best part!

Enjoy!

* I like to have an extra bag of stuffing bread on hand in case I go a little heavy on the broth. If you do, simply add more bread to absorb the extra broth.