Stuffing is easily my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. Most store bought stuffings are going to come packed with preservatives and sugar, but the good news is it's not very difficult to make from scratch. Then you can control the amount of sugar and salt and choose healthy fats and indulge in as healthy a way as possible. For the cornbread, I base my recipe off the Alber’s cornbread box recipe, but I modify it to use a blend of olive oil and grass fed butter instead of vegetable oil and I cut the sugar in half, replacing it with a mixture of honey and maple syrup. I also use more cornmeal and less wheat flour than the original recipe. You could also substitute any gluten free flour for the wheat flour. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups organic cornmeal

1 1/2 cups organic flour (or gluten free flour mix such as Bob's Red Mill brand)

1/4 cup local honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 Tbs. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup melted unsalted grassfed butter (such as Kerrygold)

2 large free range eggs (I prefer Vital Farms brand)

2 cups liquid (you can use organic 2% milk if you don’t have a problem with it, you can use organic unsweetened soy milk or almond milk or even a combination of milk and water)

1 large onion, diced

3 large celery stalks, diced

3 large carrots, diced

1 large apple, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (raisins have only fruit sugar while dried cranberries are sweetened with sugar)

4 sage leaves, chopped

olive oil for cooking

2 tsp. fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. honey

2-3 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

Grease a 9 x 13 inch rectangular baking dish with butter or oil. Preheat oven to 400. Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, beat together oil, butter, honey, maple syrup, eggs and milk. Combing wet and dry ingredients. Stir well to combine. Pour into greased baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cornbread cool for 15 minutes, then slice it into cubes and set aside.

Turn oven down to 350. In a large stock pot, heat 1 Tbs. olive oil over medium high heat. Add in onion, celery and carrot. Season with thyme, sage, salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. Sauté 10 minutes, until onions are translucent and start to brown. Add in apples and cranberries or raisins. Cook another 5 minutes. Add in the honey and stir well. Transfer veggies mixture to a bowl and set aside.

Heat 1 Tbs. olive oil in the pot and add in half the cornbread cubes, stirring well to coat. Continue to toast, stirring every few minutes, until cornbread starts to brown. Pour into a bowl and heat another Tbs. olive oil and repeat with the other half of the cornbread cubes. Remove from heat. Pour all the cornbread cubes and the veggie mixture back into the stock pot and still well. Pour in 2-3 cups chicken or veggie broth to add moisture. Pour a little, then stir to see how much the cornbread soaks up. You want to just moisten it, not drown it. It is normal for some of the cornbread to fall apart and become crumbly. This is still delicious.

Transfer mixture to a casserole dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes with a cover on and 20 minutes without a cover.

Enjoy alone or as a side dish and definitely with gravy!

Serves 10-12