Let’s recap the weekend. It was really fun. Friday night I went to bed at 9 after I rolled out on lacrosse ball on my living room floor while watching Keeping up with the Kardashians. Thrilling, I tell you. But it was needed. I had to get up extra early on Saturday morning to get my butt to MBS CrossFit for their Turkey Challenge. Super fun competition in a super awesome gym. No seriously, it’s in an airplane hanger. How freakin cool is that? Well, it was a really wonderful day. Colorado CrossFit athletes are pretty damn awesome. I got to see so many great athletes, some really good looking people, AND readers of my blog. So cool. Finding out people have actually tried some of MY recipes really means the world to me. Ok, now I’m just being emotional. I hate emotions.
But the real excitement of the day (other than eating a bag of dark chocolate almonds and a pint of coconut milk ice cream after the competition) were the half naked men. That’s the best part of CrossFit, right? Extremely good looking people taking off their clothes while lifting heavy objects and throwin down. Right. Good looking people should just never wear shirts. Just kidding…kind of. You know what good looking people should definitely not wear though? Five fingers. Oh sh*t, I just offended the hell out of some people reading this. CrossFitters love five fingers. They think they become incredibly quick, more nimble, and one with the earth. In my opinion, your shoes make me uncomfortable. Seeing a good looking guy with a fit bod then seeing his wiggly little toes in those shoes really makes me nervous. Legit nervous. I wore toe socks on Christmas day when I was 6 and found them in my stocking. It was cute then, and funny. It’s not cute now. I don’t care if your feet issues went away when you got them, you still look like a creeper. Get some minimal shoes that don’t put your toes on display like a porn star. That last sentence made sense in my brain.
Moving on. Holy sh*t, I’m full. I just ate a lot. Far too much. I guess that’s what Thanksgiving is all about though, right? I know, that’s wrong. Thanksgiving is all about pumpkin pie. But I had to come up with Thanksgiving recipes so I could fit in with all the other paleo bloggers out there. BUT, if you are looking for some fancy turkey recipes, don’t think you’re going to find them here. I honestly don’t give a sh*t about turkey. Thanksgiving, to me, is all about the comfort food. The side dishes. And the dessert. So that’s what you will be getting in the next 3 days. Two sides and one dessert.
Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1lb ground pork sausage
- 5 pieces of bacon, diced
- 5 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 yellow sweet potato (is that a yam? or a sweet potato? whatever.)
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 container of mushrooms, diced
- 2 apples, diced
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil, throw diced sweet potatoes/yams on it, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender, then set aside.
- While those cook, pull out a large skillet, place it under medium-high heat and place chopped bacon in it to begin to cook down. When some of the fat has seeped out and bacon has begun to cook, add your chopped apples, celery, and onions.
- When onions begin to become translucent, add ground pork and mushrooms and your white wine vinegar. Let that cook down until pork is almost completely cooked through. You will be placing it in the oven so you want it pretty close to done. (If you’re not sure how long that will be, use your eyes. Pink meat is not what we want here people.) Add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Once the sausage is all done, add mixture to a bowl to cool. Now beat your eggs, add to your sausage mixture, and add your chicken broth, along with your sweet potatoes, pecans, and dried cranberries. Mix well.
- You can now either use a 9×13 baking dish to place your stuffing in OR place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Either way will work.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until everything is a bit browned.
- Eat it up!!!! OMG OMG, its so good. Laura gave it a 9.
Thanks for this recipe. I brought this to a friend’s Thanksgiving dinner and it was a hit! I’ll definitely make this again (with a note to self – buy shelled pecans next time). Also lovin’ your blog.
This is my first Thanksgiving since I started eating paleo, and I was so worried about missing out on things like rolls and stuffing. This stuffing ROCKS!!! Even my parents, who look at me funny when I tell them about the “strange” stuff I eat gave it a big thumbs up. I did use an orange sweet potato and I only had apple cider vinegar on hand, but OMG! I am making more tonight… (with a touch of fresh sage)
I made a hybrid version of this and your other stuffing recipes. Both were awesome. I doubled it and served a non-paleo version alongside the good stuff for bread-loving family. Also ate for breakfast this am. Cold. yumbo.
A = The sausage “base” of sausage, celery, onion, fresh mushrooms and a little chopped apple.
B1 = Roasted root vegetables – yam, squash, carrot and rutabaga.
B2 (for bread-loving family) Batch of cornbread, crumbled.
C = Roasted, chopped pecans and dried cranberries
Combine ABC and using chicken broth, moisten to taste, then place in a baking pan and heat, uncovered at 375 about 20 mins.
Hi, this looks delicious! Could you recommend a replacement for the apple in this stuffing? Apple = death for me lol but I need a wheat-free stuffing for this weekend. I’m thinking zucchini but if you have a better idea I’d be glad to hear it!
Cheers, Nat.
you could always leave out the apples and double the sweet potatoes or yams
This was very tasty, especially when it sat for a while and all the flavors mixed. In fact, my hubby wanted me to make it again for Christmas! Thanks!
I made this for Christmas, so good! My mother in law who is in no way paleo loved it and asked for the recipe. This will be a staple for Christmas or thanksgiving meals. Thanks!
is there a specific kind of apple you recommend using? I have granny smiths and I have royal gala in my kitchen right now. those are two very very different types of apples so I wonder which I should use? the granny smith are very “tart”.
I’ve used all different kinds so use whatever you like more
made it yesterday, everyone loved it
This is a oh-so-yummy fantastic and forgiving recipe! Our family of 4 gobbled up the whole thing as a main course. I also made it using leftover goose…crazy good. This will be a holiday staple for us. Thank you for such a great recipe!
WoW!!!! this was delicious!!! my hard to please husband who has a hard time eating paleo says he didn’t miss the bread and I could make this for thanksgiving for sure. I served mine with pan roasted pork chops. Thanks again Julie