Something From Nothing: Homemade Stuffing

One of my favorite cooking escapades is to make something from nothing.  That nothing is referring to a little of this and a little of that from the refrigerator, pantry or freezer which could easily be thrown out.  Sometimes when you have the right amounts of nothing, you can make something quite delicious!

Today I am trying my hand at making my own stuffing from various bits of bread that I have been stashing away in the freezer.  I've been making homemade bread for many months now, and sometimes I'm ready for a fresh new loaf before we finish the last one.  Instead of throwing the old bread out, I've been cutting it into cubes or tearing it into little pieces and putting it in a bag in the freezer.  My plan had been to make stuffing or croutons.  Stuffing it was.

I somewhat followed a recipe from the book "Make-A-Mix" by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward and Madeline Westover.  Basically you make a dry stuffing mix which you can store in your pantry like any other stuffing mix, and then add wet ingredients and bake when you're ready to eat it.  I'm very interested in getting as many processed foods out of our house as possible, and I do love stuffing, so I figured it would be worth trying this recipe.

You're supposed to start out with 30 slices of firm-textured bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  I just guessed and used what I had, which ended up being approximately the right amount.  All of my bread was also frozen to start out with. 

Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until the bread gets a little toasty and dries out.  Stir occasionally as it is cooking.

Combine:
1/2 cup canola oil (reduced from 2/3 cup in original recipe)
3 tablespoons instant minced onion
3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
2 teaspoons garlic salt
3/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper

When the bread is done, put it in a bowl and add the seasonings.  Toss lightly until the oil mixture coats the bread cubes as well as possible.  Then you can put the stuffing mixture in an airtight container and store in a cool, dry place for 3-4 months.  I just divided mine into two containers:  one for tonight's dinner, the other for another time.

To make the stuffing:

1 cup chicken broth
1/2 stick butter, melted (yikes!  This is reduced from 6 tablespoons in the original recipe)
1 onion, finely chopped
4 large sticks celery, finely chopped (I used carrots instead because that's what I had)
6-7 cups of the bread/seasoning mix

Melt butter in a skillet and saute onion and celery/carrots until crisp-tender.  In a large bowl, combine the bread mix with the vegetables and chicken broth.  Toss lightly and put mixture in a lightly buttered casserole dish.  The recipe didn't say to cover the dish, but I did.  Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

We went for total comfort food last night with rotisserie chicken, stuffing and mashed potatoes.  Yum, it was delish.  My husband couldn't believe it was homemade.  This recipe is a keeper!