Wild Rice Stuffing

I love Thanksgiving!  I love having the chance to be THANKFUL for everything I enjoy in life!  I love gathering together with family, friends and loved ones!  I even love the crazy family drama that sometimes happens!  I love the smells that come from the kitchen all throughout the day on Thanksgiving!  I love stuffing myself like a turkey on Thanksgiving.  There is only one thing that I never did like, until I did something to change it, about Thanksgiving and that was the Stuffing.

I love the smells of the spices that go into it.  I love the ingredients that go into it, with the exception of the bread.  There is something about the texture of soggy bread that freaks me out!  I know it gets toasted but I want to eat my bread the way it was originally meant to be and that is that!  So all of my life I would not eat stuffing even though I loved the way it smelled, and I tried many times to taste it again in hopes that I would like it.  Finally, after many years of wishing I would like Thanksgiving stuffing, I did something about it.  I made my own version of stuffing using wild rice instead of soggy toasted bread.  {I realize that stuffing is stuffed into your turkey and dressing is cooked outside of the turkey and served along with the turkey, but my Mother made stuffing and this recipe was created so I could have my version of it and even though I do not stuff and cook it into my turkey I am calling it Stuffing and that it that!}  It was a hit!  Not only did I love it, but for many years now, it has become a favorite of my family and everyone else who tastes it.

This week I made a full Thanksgiving dinner for my family, even though the official holiday isn't until next week.  We have plans to eat at the home of a Grandma this year for the holiday, and my children never want to miss out on my famous food, so I always make it at home despite what our plans are.  After just making my Wild Rice Stuffing for years with the recipe in my head, I attempted to write down the recipe to share with all of you.  You might want to read it all the way through before you attempt making it.  There is a small story in the middle of it... sorry I can't help myself... I'm complicated like that!

Wendy's Wild Rice Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 bunch of celery (approx. 4 cups), chopped into tiny pieces
10 large carrots (approx. 4 cups), chopped into tiny pieces
2- 8 oz. pkgs. of fresh mushrooms, chopped into tiny pieces
4 medium sized yellow onions, chopped into tiny pieces
That is a lot of chopping and most of it (not the mushrooms) can be done ahead of time.
4- 16 oz. pkgs. of Sage seasoned Jimmy Dean pork sausage (or plain if you choose)
1 1/4 cups of butter, which is 2 1/2 cubes
1 1/2 cups (dry) Wild Rice = 6 cups when prepared
(I use a long grain and wild rice mixture.)
1 can of chicken or vegetable stock (optional, see recipe)
garlic salt, salt and pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons dry sage
This recipe makes a very large amount but you could cut everything in half if you needed less.



Directions:
1.    In a large (I use a 5.5 quart, deep saute pan) melt 2 cubes (1 cup) of butter.  Then cook until soft, all of your chopped onions.  Once cooked you will add your chopped carrots and celery and continue cooking and cover.  Once the carrots and celery get soft you add your mushrooms and cover and cook some more.  Once everything is soft and cooking you now add your seasonings.  I salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle generous amount of garlic salt.  I also now add the dried sage.  Stir together and leave the lid off to brown everything.  Continue to stir every few minutes so it browns well without burning.

2.    In an additional large saute pan, same as the first one, you will cook and then brown all of your sausage.  I usually start this once all of the vegetables are into the other pan.  Continue to stir it and break it up so it is like ground meat.

3.    While that is all cooking you will want to cook your rice, according to whatever the directions say on the specific type you buy.  I use the 1/4 cup (or 1/2 cube) of butter in about 10 cups of water and bring to a boil then simmer until cooked.  The first year I came up with this recipe I simply used 6 boxes of Rice a Roni brand Long Grain & Wild Rice and cooked them according to their directions, minus the seasoning packets.  I cook the rice in a large 8 quart stock pot because once everything is completed I mix it all in this pot.

4.    Once both the sausage and vegetable mixture are finished I mix them together.

This brings me to the story of THE MIX!  The smells of these two things cooking will drive everyone in the house crazy because it smells so good!  For that reason alone, I have cooked more of that part of the recipe than you really need to add to the rice.  We probably eat a fourth to a third of that straight out of the pan!  It is part of breakfast on Thanksgiving morning.  A tradition that my children LOVE!  OK back to the recipe!

In mixing the sausage and sauteed, browned vegetables together there is a little art to it.  Since each saute pan is full, I take half of each and mix it into the other pan so I end up with 2 pans of The Mix, part of one which my family eats immediately!

5.  Once the rice is fully cooked you put all of your remaining MIX straight into the large stock pot full of rice.  Mix well.  This is when you can add your can of chicken/or vegetable stock.  If you are serving it right away there is no need to add the stock.  If you are keeping it for warm until dinner later, or refrigerating and warming later, then you might want to add it so that when you heat it up later things stay moist.  I usually put all of the finished Wild Rice Stuffing into a large deep glass covered casserole dish and add the chicken stock and keep in a low warm oven until dinner.

Now all that is left is to eat and enjoy!

So ask my children what their favorite part of Thanksgiving and they will ALL tell you that, besides my perfect turkey that I always make, and the mashed potatoes, and the jello salad, and my famous bacon/green beans, and my homemade rolls and the pumpkin pie,  it's really ALL about "THE MIX"!  What favorite food traditions do you have for Thanksgiving?


I shared this recipe on Whipperberry!