Nature's Pride: Honeycrisp apple and sausage stuffing

Confession: I am obsessed with Thanksgiving foods. OBSESSED! My absolute favorite dish at Thanksgiving time however, is my dad's sausage stuffing. My sisters and I gobble it up. (LOL gobble)

So when Nature's Pride hosted a contest on Foodbuzz, I knew what I had to do. Recreate Dad's stuffing with a healthy twist and with fresh bread instead of breadcrumbs.

Through Foodbuzz's tastemaker program, I received a free coupon for a loaf of Nature's Pride bread.



I chose 12 grain because it's hearty, whole-wheat and full of flavor. Perfect for my stuffing!



I used 4 cups of bread cubes which equals 5 slices of bread.



Leaving the bread cubes out overnight so they harden up would work best but I didn't have a lot of time. I laid the cubes out on a cookie sheet, sprayed them with EVOO and toasted them in the oven. (400 degrees for 5-6 minutes but keep an eye on it.)



For the sausage, I used some sage pork sausage which I cooked with celery and red onion. I'm normally not a celery person but it gives this stuffing some delicious crunch.



Then I slowly add in the bread cubes, butter, broth and 1 diced honeycrisp apple. Put it in a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes.



The onions and the apple caramelize while cooking, leaving a fantastic sweetness throughout the stuffing.



And yes, I know stuffing isn't photogenic but MAN is it good! I ate this for dinner last night and for lunch today. YUM! Totally gets me in the mood for fall.

Want the recipe?

Ingredients

1 pound Sage Sausage (feel free to use pork, turkey, non-meat whatever!)
1 large red onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 large Honeycrisp apple, diced
5 slices Nature's Pride bread, cubed and toasted
1 cup veggie broth (chicken is fine)
1/2 cup melted butter (I highly suggest Kerrygold butter, unsalted)
Salt to taste* (I didn't salt mine)

Cook sausage, onion and celery together in a large skillet. Make sure to crumble sausage while it cooks.

As soon as the sausage is cooked through, add in bread cubes, broth and butter. Stir to combine.

Add in honeycrisp apple pieces last, then transfer to a 9X13 inch baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

This post & recipe are part of a contest entry to win a trip to the Foodbuzz Festival in November.

Foodbuzz Day 3: A Farewell to Food

So this is it. Final day of the Foodbuzz San Francisco Spectacular. I don't have much to say for this. Food coma mixed with the reality that Amanda and I had to return to reality and a dash of not sleeping left me a bit out of it Sunday morning.

The farewell brunch was at Lulu Restaurant. Which was cute and had a wonderful wood burning fire place, which is a smell I love and don't ever get because no one in Southern California has a fireplace and I have not lived in a place with a fireplace since I moved out of my parents house.



Most of the menu items featured either Nature's Pride delicious bread(did I mention we scored a free loaf from the Nature's Pride people? Oh, we did.) or Kerrygold's amazing butter. And really, I don't care for the taste of butter.



I really don't like Bloody Marys. Or Vodka. But they seemed to be a hit. The brunch was served buffet style, which I generally avoid, but this was fantastic.



Amanda's plate-o-food



At this point, we just put the camera down, chatted it up with the folks around and enjoyed the moment. I'm weird, but lately I have this kick that I just want life to be about moments and experiences. When will I have the chance to do anything like this ever again? I like getting wined and dined. I like feeling important, even though in reality, I'm just a regular guy married to an amazing girl. So we enjoyed the moment. Enjoyed our last meal in San Francisco. Enjoyed talking to new friends.

And then we walked down the street and ran into a parade. I think it had to do with Veteran's Day, but I don't know.





We will get back to regular blogging soon. I am hoping to finally end our honeymoon blogs. And maybe go into the way back machine and pull some stuff from past vacations, just because I love food and I love to travel.

Lastly, Amanda and I just saw Where The Wild Things Are. ADORABLE. Makes me want to be a kid again. Lots of things lately make me want to be a kid again. Lets be kids again?

PS...one year ago today I asked Amanda to marry me!!! Good thing she said yes.

More Foodbuzz Festival Stuff

The final blogger dinner was held in a warehouse!



I've never eaten dinner in a produce warehouse before so I was interested in seeing how it would go.



The bowl of carrots and parsnips. At least I thought they were parsnips but I don't remember eating any.



Each table had a basket of shrimp chips on it. I wasn't a fan. But don't judge me too harshly!





Glass of wine #1



Aisles and aisles of food bloggers with wine. Dangerous!



The husband with wine.



And an empty glass. Naturally.



Posing with the produce.



Signs with food/cooking quote like this were all over the building.





1st course. Pickled veggies. I loved the broccoli.



A pathetic attempt at using chopsticks. I am clueless.





Tentacles. I stayed away from the fishes but definitely enjoyed the noodles.



Food bloggers in action.



How do I use these things? Seriously? Fun fact about me: I cannot for the life of me correctly hold a pencil. Luckily my penmanship is decent.



Andrew enjoyed the grilled calamari.



The best brussel sprouts I have ever had!



Beef cheeks, carrots and potatoes. I admit the sound of "beef cheeks" really got to me. But Kelly explained that they were delicious so I trusted her judgment. Man, I'm glad I listened to her. They were so good!!! Tender, juicy and yum! (I apologize if I just grossed you out.)



More beef cheeks.



Then came dessert, rice pudding with fresh pears and a cookie crumble. We ate the pudding while waiting to hear who won what foodbuzz award.



I loved these pears.



I really tried to get good pictures of the awards but my camera fails in dim lighting. Here is a picture of Tina from Carrots N Cake and Jenna from Eat Live Run accepting their awards.



Ryan the girl is so adorable.



More winners!

I wish I had taken more pictures! Overall a great night. I really wish you all had been there!

Foodbuzz Day 2

So, you saw breakfast at the Ferry Building. After an hour or so of relaxing, Amanda and I made our way to the Metreon for the giant tasting event.

As you can see, the masses are hungry. Ravenous foodies can't let velvet ropes standing in the way of their food.



The first booth we stopped by was the Nature's Pride booth, where some lucky bloggers got to demo recipes. Brandi was showing off her Pumpkin French Toast. Yumtastic!



YUMTASTIC!!! Is pumpkin the new bacon? Everything is better with pumpkin.



Next up was delicious mini cupcakes. Cuppiecakes are my second best friend, next to cookies. Red Velvet was in order.





What is a great chaser for cupcakes? CEVICHE? Scallops, shrimp, and octopus. Amanda did not indulge. I did. It was pretty tasty. No wonder my stomach is in knots today. Too much food mixing.



Next up was a tasty pork and beef meatball.



Hooray Beer! There were three different breweries present, all with delicious adult beveragers. The first up was a Pilsner. You can't tell, but this is me happy.



Rogue Brewery from Oregon was there as well. Amanda and I always sampled from delights from 21st Amendment Brewery. I went with the IPA. Amanda had the Watermelon Wheat. The IPA was fantastic. My favorite of the day. Not too hoppy. Wonderful. I'm not a big wheat beer fan, but the Watermelon Wheat was good. Amanda enjoyed it and it seemed to be a big hit. I couldn't handle wine tasting on top of beer, so I didn't. Too bad, considering half the venders were wineries.





Beer in a wine glass? FOODBUZZ FAUX PAS AMANDA! I am surprised you weren't removed from the venue immediately. Get out the tar and feathers.



And what goes best with beer? Pretzels! Some amazing pretzels from Vibrant Flavors. Best thing about these was they had big flavor without being coated in salty flavoring. You don't get cheeto fingers. And yes, it says maple bacon. OMGOMGOMG!



Fantastic hot sauce from the All Spice Cafe. Amanda and I both loved the logo, which is the owners face with various chili peppers for eye brows and facial hair. Brilliant. I love hot sauce. I don't leave home without Tapatio. Is tapatio popular elsewhere?



The always amazing Amanda



Pretty sure I was drunk at this point. Food coma.



Those are the highlights. There were so much more and perhaps Amanda will post some of her favorites. A couple people mentioned that not enough food blogs have a male perspective. So I hope to give one. Furthermore, I have to say the whole weekend was inspiring. It is really pretty sweet being a part(even a super small part) of a community full of really sweet, awesome, and interesting people. The food was inspiring, the city was inspiring, and everyone we met(and even some we didn't!) are inspiring. So now I am taking a less behind the scenes role in this and a more up front role. So I hope you don't mind. More to come(I KNOW RIGHT?)!