Vegan Thanksgiving Dressing/Stuffing/Filling – Vegan MoFo 22

Growing up in southern Indiana, we always had a bread based dish on Thanksgiving that we called “dressing.”  After I became an adult and was exposed to the horror of Stovetop stuffing, I discovered that some people cooked it inside of the bird (eww) and called it stuffing.  Then, I had friends whose families call it filling.  So, in my house, we now call it dressing-stuffing-filling.  Those of us who like it REALLY like it, and will eat it for days after, for any meal or snack.  I made the non-vegan version for years, but after I became vegetarian and then vegan, I came up with this one.  I don’t have any pictures of the finished item, but I suspect you’ve seen dressing enough to figure it out on  your own!

Ingredients

1 large loaf of stale bread ripped into bite sized pieces**
1 large onion, diced small
4 stalks celery, sliced thin
2 cups soy milk
2 cups vegetable broth
4 T vegan butter, softened
2 T white vinegar
4 T flour or starch (soy, potato, chickpea, corn)
3 t sage
2 t thyme
2 t black pepper
1 t salt

Directions

** You can use white, wheat, or a combination of breads.  Bread can be “staled” by either leaving in oven for a day or two prior or baking on a low temp until dry

Place ripped bread in large mixing pan.  Add spices, onions, and celery, and flour and toss gently.  In a separate pan, mix softened butter with soy milk and vinegar.  It should take on the consistency of oily buttermilk (sorry).  Add vegetable broth and stir.  Add liquid to dry ingredients and fold in.  If you like your loaf to be really dense and not have bread pieces still visible, stir more briskly for longer to break up the bread more.  If you prefer the bread bits, fold in gently.  Spoon mix into shallow baking pan, cover with foil, and cook at 350* until warmed through.  If it gets too dry as you cook, add a little more veggie broth.  After thoroughly warm, remove foil and continue cooking until top browns, visible liquid evaporates, and stuffing “sets.”  Time depends on what else you have going in the oven.  I would expect at least 30 minutes covered and another 15-20 uncovered.

Heavy? YEP!  Nutritions? Not so much.  Delicious?  Oh yeah!