Cornbread and Herb Stuffing

How do you survive a holiday dinner without some good ol' fashioned stuffing? I don't recommend trying some gluten-free bread leftovers, or some faux bread crumbs or packaged mix. I have the recipe for you to try. It is to die for, and to be honest you could make a huge batch and no one would need to know that it is gluten-free friendly. That is until they would see you devouring it and going back for seconds.

I made this in hopes to enjoying some stuffing with my turkey dinner this year, and let me tell you I was definitely not disappointed. It was so flavorful and moist and crunchy in all the right places. I am not going to go on and on anymore, I am just saying that you need to try and make this recipe next holiday. Heck, you might as well make it tomorrow and try it out with a nice relaxing weekend dinner. It is that good. The trick is really in the use of fresh herbs. They make it so savory and fresh. If you can not get your hands on fresh herbs, then try to use dried varieties. Yet I would recommend the fresh, they really are the secret ingredient.

The first step is to whip up a batch of the gluten-free cornbread recipe from scratch.

Corn Bread Stuffing Recipe:

Cornbread Recipe
1 1/2 cup corn meal

1 cup of corn flour

1/2 cup of sorghum flour

1 ts. of baking powder

1 ts. of baking soda

2 cups of coconut milk beverage (or almond milk)

***2 TB. of apple cider vinegar (mixed in separate for 10 minutes with the coconut milk/non-dairy milk) Let sit for 10 minutes to curdle and then add with the rest of the ingredients

3/4 cup of strained goat or cow yogurt, or a coconut/non-dairy yogurt works too

4 TB. of local honey

1 ts. of sea salt

3 TB. of olive oil

1/2 ts. of paprika

1/2 ts. of ground cumin

1/2 ts. of black pepper

Mix all of the flours and dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix the non-dairy milk and the apple cider vinegar in a separate bowl and set aside for ten minutes to curdle. Then add the milk/vinegar mixture, honey and oil to the dry ingredients and mix well. After mixing well, let sit for 5-10 minutes to let the soda and vinegar mix in well. It will start to fluff just a bit, stir again and then pour into a 9x13 greased with olive oil pan. Bake in the pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until it is golden brown on the top and there is not a gooey middle. After it is baked, pull from the oven and let it completely cool down. Cut the bread into 1 x 1 inch cubes and let sit out for a few hours to continue to dry a bit. It is fine to leave it over night covered as well. Then, after a while of cooling, fork out the cubes onto a cookie sheet and spread them out. Put them in a 275 degree oven for 1 hour so that they can dry out and become more like crunchy bread cubes. Make sure you do not burn them, so keep an eye on them.

Pull from the oven after an hour and let them cool down just a bit. Then you can start working on the rest of the fillings.

Savory Juices to the Stuffing

1 medium to large onion finely chopped

4-5 minced garlic cloves

3 large stalks of celery finely diced

1 cup of fresh chopped spinach

handful of fresh sage (1-2 TB)

handful of fresh diced parsley (1-2 TB)

leaves from a fresh thyme twig (1 TB or so)

2 cups of vegetable broth

Dice the onion and garlic and then saute in a large frying pan (big enough to hold 2 cups of broth and the herbs as well). After the onion and garlic get soft, add the diced celery and spinach. Cook for a few minutes and then add the broth and herbs. Stir and cook for about 5 more minutes to let the flavors cook together.

Put all of the dried cornbread cubes in a large Pyrex or Corningware dish (like 9x13 size). Then pour the herb, onion liquid over the bread and lightly toss with a large spoon or fork. Be careful not to break down the bread too much. Then Cover with a thick piece of foil or other cover and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour, but up to 4-6 hours in fine too. Then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and you have warm, delicious, homemade, gluten-free stuffing.

This recipe is my new found favorite side dish. The cornbread is perfectly crunchy and moist and the I felt like I was truly getting enjoy to enjoy the holiday meal. It has been quite a few year of eating gluten-free for me, and I was ready to not just have a piece of turkey and vegetables. The stuffing made it complete. I hope you make this recipe, because it does not disappoint. Even if you make it for a non-holiday meal, try it out as a hearty side dish and I bet you will be craving for it later. Just saying...