Another dish from our Canadian Thanksgiving feast.  This stuffing is a staple in all our holiday dinners. Whether it is Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter if there is a turkey being cooked this stuffing is by its side as an accompaniment.   I normally render this side with traditional, old fashioned fully glutenized bread.  However, this year we had guests with different dietary needs.  When I am hosting I want everyone to come and be able to eat to their breaking point.  So I decided to play around with a gluten free version, resulting in a stuffing that Jay and I actually both liked a whole lot more!  This stuffing is flexible in that you can use it to stuff a bird or you can cook it independently in a dutch oven or casserole dish.  We normally do the latter because it allows you to prepare the dish the day before thus freeing up valuable kitchen real estate on the day of the dinner.

Vegan and Gluten Free Stuffing

Ingredients

• 1 and a half loaves of rice bread (I usually use Udi’s and thaw it first)
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• 3 carrots
• 5 stalks of celery
• 1 large leek
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 lb of mushrooms
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2.  Cut bread into small cubes and spread out on cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted.
3.  While the bread it toasting, add the oil to a large frying pan (I use a large wok)
4. Chop the carrots and celery into very small pieces and add them to the pan.
5. Peel and trim the leek.  Chop into small pieces and add to the other vegetables.
6. Mince the garlic and add to the pan.  Saute the vegetables over medium-high heat until tender.
7. Dice the mushrooms and green onion.  Add them and continue to saute.
8. Add pepper, thyme, chile and salt and continue to cook.
9. Once the bread is done and the mushrooms are tender, remove from the heat and add the bread to the wok.  Pour the broth over the entire mixture and stir until bread is well coated in broth and spices.
10. Now either, cool completely before stuffing turkey OR cover and put in the fridge to wait until you are ready to serve (can be over night).
11. If you don’t stuff the turkey: place the stuffing uncovered in a 375 degree oven for about 15 before serving to heat up.