Countdown to Christmas Day 7 (kind of)

I'm so far behind on my countdown!  Trying to catch up today by cheating a little . . . yes, it's another recipe because I'm not quite ready to post the instructions for the card we made at my table at yesterday's stamp camp.  My food assignment for this special holiday stamp camp was turkey and stuffing.  You would have laughed out loud if you had seen me dancing with the 23+ pound oiled-up turkey trying to get it into the oven bag at 2:30 a.m.  But ultimately I won the battle and the turkey came out perfect as always -- moist and delicious!

The recipe I'm posting is for the AWESOME stuffing I made to go with the turkey.  Several people commented on how good it was and asked for the recipe.  Funny because I just found it online* last week and made it IN A CROCKPOT!!!!  We had a large group to feed, so I actually made two batches -- had two crockpots and the oven going in the wee hours of the morning.

Slow Cooker  Sausage, Apple and Sage Stuffing

Ingredients

• 12 cups dried bread cubes (approximately 1 loaf of bread)
• 8 ounces ground pork or turkey sausage (I used pork sausage with sage)
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cups Granny Smith green apples, chopped (no need to peel)
• 1-1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1-1/2 cups chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage (since I didn't have fresh sage, and the sausage already had sage in it, I used only 1 teaspoon of ground sage)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup chicken broth, plus 1/4 cup, if desired, for additional moisture

Instructions

Brown the sausage, drain and place in the bottom of a slow cooker (6 quart or larger).  Stir in the bread cubes.  Pour in melted butter and toss together with sausage and bread cubes.

Place chopped apples, onion, celery, sage, salt and pepper over mixture, pour in 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and toss everything together using two large spoons.

Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours or until the bread is browned on top and vegetables are tender.  Before serving you can stir in 1/4 cup extra broth, if desired, for extra moisture.

NOTES: 

1. I put this in the crockpot around 3:15 a.m. (wanted to have fresh, hot stuffing to take with me in the morning) and went back to sleep.  Got up at 6 a.m. and checked on it and it was a little burnt around the edges.  I think next time I'll let it cook for 2 hours and then check to see how it's doing.

2. To transport and place this on the buffet table at stamp camp, I placed the stuffing in several aluminum containers and covered each one tightly with aluminum foil.  I also did this with the turkey.  Placed all the containers in a large roaster oven and turned it on to about 150 degrees to keep everything warm.  It worked well -- everything stayed warm, didn't burn, and was moist.

If you decide to try this recipe I'd be interested in knowing if you like it as well as the campers did!

Cathy  ;D

* Recipe from Boys Ahoy by Kristy Denney, who cited A Year of Slow Cooking as her source.