Vegetarian/Vegan Thanksgiving Stuffing

I have been a vegetarian for many Thanksgivings. I have never cared about eating turkey but I used to really miss eating the stuffing. The stuffing was always cooked inside the turkey or made with chicken broth which was out of the question for me. So a couple years ago I decided to make a vegetarian version and it has been a hit ever since. I now make the stuffing every year. This year I decided to cut out some of the butter and replace it with olive oil. The taste is just as yummy. In making this recipe I used real butter but it can easily be substituted for a Vegan butter as the rest of the ingredients are vegan. Happy thanksgiving!

Ingredients:

4 tbs olive oil
1 cup butter or vegan substitute
2 onions chopped (roughly 5 cups)
4 cups celery chopped
1 cup chopped and cleaned leaks
1 tbs pepper
1 1/2 tbs salt to taste
5 tbs poultry seasoning
4 cups vegetable broth
2 loaves of whole wheat bread

The day before you make the stuffing tear the two loaves of bread and spread them out over a cookie sheet or cooling rack if you have one. Let the bread dry out for at least 15 hours. (Hint a bread with less preservatives will dry out better.)

To start the stuffing heat oil and butter in large pot. Add onion, celery and leaks. Sprinkle salt, pepper and poultry seasoning over vegetables saute and simmer on medium low for roughly 20 minutes. It will seem like there is more butter and oil than vegetables but this is necessary to cover two loaves of bread. After vegetable are softened add vegetable broth. Bring the pot to boil and then reduce to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Once mixture is ready pour the vegetables and broth over the bread slowly as some breads may absorb more than others, and mix well together. It may take a few different bowls and batches to accomplish this. Once the stuffing is to a desired texture (some people like it soggy others like it dry, I try to make it somewhere in the middle) pour in a baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Cover the stuffing with foil for the first 15 minutes of baking. Then it is ready to serve.

yields 12 servings