by Jeannette Ordas of Everybody likes Sandwiches

This past Saturday I made a cross-border run to Bellingham, WA for the day. Somewhere in between our thrift shopping and our burrito eating, we made a stop for groceries and in the midst of everything, a turkey found its way into our shopping cart. You see, I managed to miss a great holiday Thanksgiving meal back in October because I was so busy with the One of a Kind show. While I did get together with friends and make a simply lovely meal, it just wasn't the same. When that turkey landed in my cart, I decided to run with it. I was going to have an all-out post-Canadian/pre-American Thanksgiving celebration.

The first thing I decided to tackle was the stuffing. It's easy to make ahead of time, it doesn't take much time to prepare....and everyone loves stuffing! I decided to stick with my mom's version which is a simple bread and sage stuffing flavoured with onions and celery. However, I did jazz it up a bit with the addition of a chopped apple and some walnuts. The photos in this post are of the unbaked version. Just imagine a golden top crust and a perfectly soft and squishy middle with pops of yummy throughout. Perfect, right? I think so too.

While we're going to be eating this with turkey and all the traditional fixin's, there's no reason why you can't make stuffing as part of your own weekday meal. Use veggie stock instead of chicken and pair it with mashed potatoes, braised greens and lots of miso gravy and you've got a pretty kick ass vegan meal.

Onion, Celery & Sage Stuffing
1 loaf of whole wheat bread, diced
1 t salt
1 t black pepper
2 t ground sage
1 t thyme
1 t marjoram
4 T butter
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 3/4 c chicken broth (or veggie stock)
1 apple, cored and diced
1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. Add the bread and spices to a large bowl. Toss and set aside. In a pan, melt butter and saute the onions and celery until soft and fragrant, about 15 minutes over med-high heat. Add the onion mixture over the bread and mix well to combine. Add in the walnuts and apples and pour in the stock and mix again so that everything is well mixed. Butter a large casserole dish and add in the stuffing. Bake, covered with foil for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until top is golden, about 10 minutes more.