Stuffing in Spring

 

I rarely care about special holiday meals on day’s I work (usually I just reschedule holiday celebrations* as it suits my hospital schedule), but for some reason I was dead set on an Easter Dinner that didn’t involve reheating leftovers. 

However, as I already shared, I was at the hospital all weekend.  Which meant Kyle ditched Santa Monica to spend the holiday with his parents.  Which meant I was in charge of providing whatever “special something” I wanted for myself.  Cooking a real meal (without the microwave) after 12+ hours of nursing is ludicrous.  Enter crock pot.

 

Slow-cooker Potato Stuffing

[vegan, gluten free option]

Ingredients:

• 1 potato, cut into large chunks
• 3 slices (old) bread, coarsely chopped (use non-gluten bread for GF option)
• 3 large carrots, sliced into rounds
  1 vegan sausage link, sliced into small half moons (I used Tofurky brand this time, but Field Roast is also a favorite – both contain gluten so sub in tempeh for GF option)
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1-2 cups vegetable broth

 

Directions:

Add olive oil to crock pot and spin it around to get the entire bottom coated.
Chop all ingredients and add to pot.

Stir everything up.

Add vegetable broth.  The amount varies depending on your bread (fresh vs. stale, dense vs. light, etc.).  I used nearly 2 cups because I had VERY old and VERY dense bread. 

Stir everything once more so bread is broth-ified.  The liquid level of the broth should be 1/2 of the way (or slightly more) to the top of the ingredients, so they are partially submerged, but there’s still enough to get crunchy and bake on top.  You don’t want mush, but you do want the bread to absorb the broth (think moist maker).

And that’s it!

Cook in crock-pot on low setting for 6 hours.

 

Scoop and serve.

 

Top with a pat of Earth Balance if you want (I did).  The stuffing will melt in your mouth either way.

A few details about the ingredients…

 

Remember this failed loaf?  Home-made gluten free baking trials lead to a LOT of misses.  Sorghum flour is not my friend (yet).

 

Well.  Anyway.

 

Stuffing is the perfect way to use old bread.  I don’t often have stale bread on hand (because I love carbs), but I do have my fair share of bread disasters.  The gross tasting ones go in the trash, but the ones that taste good but didn’t work for whatever other reason (too dense of a consistency, not holding together, no rise whatsoever, etc.) don’t deserve to be tossed.  In my frugal eyes, at least.

 

Another frugal move on my part – I used only one link of sausage.  I really do think it’s enough to impart plenty of flavor.  By slicing them in thin half moons they still make their way into each bite and the flavors infuse throughout the rest of the dish while it cooks.

 

Kyle and I prefer the Field Roast Grain Meat to Tofurky, but we generally go with whatever is on sale when we are shopping.  We don’t buy them on every trip though because I prefer real foods to processed mock meat.  However, Kyle is a new vegetarian and still in the weaning phase, so having a faux meat option on hand is really helpful when those hearty cravings strike. 

Like I mentioned in the ingredients list, this Beer Brat flavor does contain gluten (it is made with TVP, vital wheat gluten, & barley beer), but using tempeh instead is an easy swap to make the dish celiac friendly.

  

Imagine also makes a low sodium broth (140 mg per cup as opposed to 550) which would be better in this case since the sausage adds 620 mg of salt too.

 

Fresh chopped spinach will work also.  Or you could sub frozen chard or kale.  This is a pretty flexible recipe. 

 

I love the way the bread soaks up the broth creating soft spongy stuffing…

Mmmm… 

The top layer gets a nice crunchy, toasty texture to contrast the bottom.  It’s seriously wonderful.

 

Having 6 hours to stew lets all the flavors just meld together.  It’s so easy and yet, it turns out as well as a dish that’s been slaved over all day.

 

Kyle and I both had seconds so unlike most holiday feasts, this one had zero leftovers.

 

*See Thanksgiving 2008, Christmas 2008, Thanksgiving 2009, and Christmas 2009 for the NY holidays that I worked and never celebrated in any special way.  At least my delayed Christmas 2008 and New Years 2009 got the proper (albeit after-the-fact) attention they deserved back to CA.

In 2010 I celebrated Thanksgiving three times, although none of them were on the actual holiday (which I, again, worked).  The same year, my family faked an early Christmas since I was working the 24th and 25th.

There’s also my real Thanksgiving 2011 vs. my belated Thanksgiving celebration and my work Christmas 2011 vs. my fake Christmas.

As you can see, holidays at the hospital are hard to avoid when you’re lacking in seniority.