Stuffing is usually one of those things that gets ignored on the table and it's actually kind of unsavoury when you think about how's its traditionally made. But with this easy recipe everyone at the table can have all the tastes of the holidays in one nutritious dish that's made with protein packed quinoa. Also, this is best served with our vegan gravy!
ingredients (makes 4 servings):
1 1/4 C quinoa
1 1/2 C vegetable stock
1/2 C white onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 vegan sausages (fieldroast apple sage is the best!)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C leek, finely chopped
1 C celery, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground pepper
2/3 C dried cranberries
tip: to make gluten-free stuffing just eliminate the vegan sausage and make sure you use gluten-free vegetable stock. Trust us, it's still just as tasty!
Rinse and drain quinoa. Add to a pot with vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then turn down to low and put a lid on the pot. It will take approx. 10 mins. to cook and for all the liquid to absorb.
Meanwhile heat a pan to medium and sauté the white onion in grapeseed oil for 1-2 mins until softened. Add crumbled vegan sausage to the pan and brown for 5-6 mins. Then add leeks, garlic, celery, sage, nutmeg, and ground pepper and cook for another 5-6 mins until the veggies look soft and the sausage is nice and browned like this.
When the quinoa is done remove from heat and stir in the cranberries. Then stir in the sausage and leek mixture. Serve immediately or you can make this ahead of time and refrigerate, then bake the stuffing in the oven covered with tin foil for 20 mins at 350F before serving.
** we used low sodium vegetable stock or homemade is even better. If you're not serving with gravy feel free to add sea salt to taste at the end.
may your days be merry and bright this winter especially now that you can deep dive into this gingerbread trifle with layers of soft gingerbread cookies, winter spice custard, and coconut whip!