Holiday Rewind: Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing

Even though the holidays are over, I still want to post a few of the recipes I found particularly delicious this holiday season. As I mentioned in the last post, I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time ever. And as if hosting for the first time wasn't pressure enough, I decided to be crazy and try all new recipes and make it all completely from scratch. Because of this, I wasn't just cooking on Thanksgiving day, I was cooking my pretty little head off for nearly two weeks leading up to the holiday. Yup. You read that right. Two weeks. Why? Simply because, if I could make it ahead of time and freeze it, I did. Pumpkin pie? I made two and froze them a week ahead of time. Homemade sourdough bread for stuffing? You bet! Baked, cubed, and stored in the freezer. In retrospect I sound insane. But the end result was completely worth it! Not only did the food taste amazing (given that it was all home-made and from scratch which makes anything taste better in my opinion), but I had enough leftovers to feed my family for the whole week after. And trust me; after cooking so much the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I was happy to have a break from the kitchen.

The recipe I am posting today is one for Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing. Every year come Thanksgiving, my husband and I would have our annual debate about stuffing. I always thought stuffing was moist, flavorful, and rather enjoyable. My husband on the other hand found stuffing to be, as he would put it, "meh." So this year it was my challenge to make a stuffing my husband would actually enjoy. And if you knew my husband, you would know that the mere fact that this recipe contains sausage instantly upgraded his opinion on the matter. I wasn't sure if sausage was going to make the stuffing too heavy in texture and flavor but I was pleasantly surprised. With the addition of apples and pecans in this dish, it helped to balance out the weight of it all creating an overall blend of sumptuous flavors. Even my husband was won over, altering his opinion on stuffing from a "meh" to a "hmm...that's good!"

Although Thanksgiving is long gone, the winter season is still in full swing. So if you're looking for a hot dish to serve up with dinner, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.

Sausage Pecan Turkey Stuffing

Ingredients:
9 cups soft bread crumbs
1 pound bulk pork sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
3 unpeeled tart apples, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup apple juice
chicken broth

Place the bread crumbs in a large bowl. In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion in butter over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and onion is tender; do not drain. Add to bread crumbs. Stir in apples, pecans, parsley, thyme, sage, salt and pepper; stir in apple juice and enough broth to moisten. Transfer to a greased 3-qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned.