For Friendsgiving on Sunday, I gave Slesh the very important responsibility of bringing the stuffing.  Would you not agree that stuffing is the best part of Thanksgiving dinner?  I mean, I kind of eat turkey all the time.  In deli form, in roasted form, in ground form, substituted for beef, whatever.  It’s kind of old news.  But it’s not every day that I get to stuff my face with the awesomeness of stuffing.

When Slesh told me she was going to try her hand at a primal version of stuffing, I was all like “oh sure, no problem!” but inside I got NERVOUS.  How hypocritical of me, right?  Here I am, always trying to influence you guys to get creative and try to make healthier concoctions of things.  But there are just always those things, like apple blondies with brown sugar frosting, that shouldn’t be healthified.

And until Sunday, I thought that good ole stuffing was one of them.

I was wrong, folks, I was wrong.

Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing

Slesh’s version of the recipe below was inspired by one she saw on PaleOMG

Ingredients

• 1.5 lb ground Italian pork sausage
• 4 pieces of bacon, diced
• 4 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 sweet potatoes, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 portabella mushrooms, diced
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ⅓ cup chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil, throw diced sweet potatoes 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. 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, nuts, and dried cranberries.  Mix well.
5. 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.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until everything is a bit browned.

YUM.  Thank you, Slesh, for changing my mind about this.  Typically I steer clear from bacon and sausage (I really just don’t like them, especially sausage), but I do like chicken and pork sausage and thought this was delicious.  Definitely a lower carb option, primal style, for your Thanksgiving dinner.  Or maybe even year round.

Would you ever consider making this for Thanksgiving in lieu of regular stuffing?  What food do you look forward to the most for Thanksgiving dinner?

Two A Day Tuesday time!  I have a funny playlist ready to go for tonight.  At least I think it’s funny.  We’ll see how many crickets are in the crowd later though.  Have a great night!