GERMAN POTATO STUFFING & CHRISTMAS DINNER MENU

It's a little late to be posting about Christmas dinner, but that's how far behind I am in my posts. There were only 4 of us this year: Guy, me, our son and a friend who recently lost his wife. So there's really no reason not to have good photos, except that, as I've explained before, photography is just not my thing. Here is my one lone photo of the stuffing, which tastes awesome, BTW. It's long been our favorite stuffing in this house. I use it for roast chicken and turkey and it also makes a great side dish anytime of the year. You can jazz it up with dried cranberries, raisins or cherries, none of which my fussy hubby will eat, so we have it plain. It's so good plain that I really don't miss any extras. I usually make it with mushrooms, but my son doesn't eat mushrooms, so we really had it plain this year, and it was still amazing. Everyone had seconds.

Our menu for Christmas dinner was roast turkey and gravy, ala Emeril; German Potato Stuffing; a new and easy recipe for candied sweet potatoes which will follow shortly; cucumber salad, recipe also to follow; homemade cranberry-apple sauce; crudites sans dip (celery, carrots, olives, radishes); and Pillsbury Crescent rolls. For dessert, we had Blueberry crumb pie, recipe to follow shortly.

I've made German Potato Stuffing from scratch many times; but in recent years I've taken a shortcut and used Peppridge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing Mix. I like the mix of white and wheat breads, and the mix is seasoned perfectly. Peppridge Farm is quality, so I don't mind subbing with their products. The job of making this stuffing gets cut in half with their stuffing mix. This is one recipe you should try, because it's super good and will get you rave reviews.

German Potato Stuffing (for a 15 lb. turkey)

Source: Judy's Kitchen

Rating: 10 out of 10
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INGREDIENTS:
2 medium potatoes

4 Tbsp. (half stick) unsalted butter

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

optional but good: 1 cup sliced mushrooms

optional: 1/2 cup raisins, craisins or dried cherries

1-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

4 cups Peppridge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing

Peel and quarter potatoes and boil in salted water to cover till tender. Drain; mash with fork; set aside. In very large saute pan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery, onion and mushrooms (if using) and cook about 5-6 minutes, stirring to prevent burning. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dried fruit if using. Pour broth over veggies and stir, loosening any bits on bottom of pan. Bring to a boil; off heat; stir mashed potatoes and stuffing mix into broth mixture till combined. Remove from heat and set aside to thoroughly cool if using to stuff bird.  (Or place in buttered covered casserole dish if baking separately from bird.)

Note: You can also use leftover mashed potatoes to make this fabulous stuffing, but I prefer fresh mashed with no butter or milk added. It's nice to have little lumps of potatoes in the stuffing. And, if you use red potatoes with the skin, the bits of skin add fiber and minerals as well as texture to the stuffing.