Elegant Turkey Stuffing with Spicy Italian Sausage

I’ve been busy starting the research for the next cookbook and when I need a break, I look out my window at the yellow, orange, and green leaves on the tree limbs that hang over the space between me and the neighbor’s house. The days and nights are going back and forth between warm and cold and windy.

With the change of season comes a change in what we eat, and we’ve been adding pumpkin spice (lots of it!) to our chai and hot chocolate. I’m also planning to make pumpkin bread at the end of the month.

In my wanders around the internet looking at all things pumpkin, I decided to watch one of my favorite channels on YouTube for inspiration. Have you seen this family from Turkey that shares a day in their lives on their farm?

It is so relaxing and interesting to watch how the woman cooks up big batches of delicious food for her family and community, and her husband is busy tending to the land and animals. I love the videos where her bird (is it a magpie?) hangs out with her and picks on the cats. Anyway, if you enjoy cooking and farm or homesteading life, you might like their videos.

In this video, she’s making pumpkin bread, but it’s not the kind we make here. It’s more like rolls, but looks delicious with the pumpkin soup she made.

I’m off to enjoy the weekend with my daughter. I’ll keep you up to date on the progress of my new upcoming cookbook.

Happy cooking,

Shanna

Elegant Turkey Stuffing with Spicy Italian Sausage

Recipe from Best Dressing and Stuffing Recipes: Not Just for Thanksgiving!

Prep: 15 min  Cook: 15 min  Serves: 28

Ingredients

1 cup raisins

1 ½ cups orange liqueur

½ cup unsalted butter

2 cups celery, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage, casing removed

1 (16 oz) package herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix

1 cup pecans, chopped

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups chicken broth

4 tsp fresh sage, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×13” casserole dish and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, add the raisins and cover with 1 cup of liqueur. Bring to a boil for 60 seconds, then remove from heat and set aside.
• In a large skillet, melt ½ cup butter over medium heat, add the celery and onion, and sauté for 10 minutes. Transfer the celery and onion to a large bowl.
• In the same skillet, add the sausage and cook over medium-high heat until browned.
• Add the sausage and stuffing mix into the bowl with the celery and onion.
• Stir in the cooked raisins and liqueur, then the pecans and apples. Add in the ½ cup melted butter, chicken broth, and ½ cup orange liqueur, and stir in until stuffing is moistened. Season with the sage, salt, and pepper, and pour into the buttered casserole dish.
• Bake, covered with foil, for 30-40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes or until browned on top.

Tip!

You can substitute orange juice for the orange liqueur.