a break from burgers.

one of my favorite treats in september are big, giant, sweet honeycrisp apples. they stay in my fruit bowl from the moment i can find them and stay until i've finally made myself sick of them. next year, i'll forget my apple OD and start new.

while they're fantastic to sprinkle with salt and munch on the bus (what? you don't put salt on apples?), one of my favorite things to do with them is stuff them. why not? they're enormous!

i tend to only make stuffing in the fall, so quite often it's got big chunks of apples, celery, onion and fresh herbs. it's my favorite dish on the thanksgiving table, so i thought it would be even better mounded into a sweet, almost collapsed honeycrisp.


Stuffed Apples

4 honeycrisp bigguns, hollowed with meat of one apple reserved and chopped
2 sweet italian sausages (pork, chicken, veggie)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups croutons or cubed stale french bread
1 cup chicken or veggie stock, heated with 4 tablespoons earth balance
2 tsp each fresh sage, thyme
salt and pepper


1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Grease ovenproof 9x13" dish and add in hollowed apples with a pad of EB in each cavity. Cook in oven for 15 minutes while stuffing comes together.
3. Saute meat of sausage until browned, remove from pan into large mixing bowl.
4. Saute onion and celery in fat until opaque, about 5-7 minutes. Add in apples, saute additional 3 minutes. Salt and pepper mixture liberally.
5. Add in fresh herbs and bread cubes, toss and cook about a minute on stove.
6. Dump into mixing bowl with sausage, toss to combine and add in stock and butter. If it's too dry, a little more liquid is fine.
7. Remove apples from oven, lightly stuff (don't pack it in!) apples as high as possible.
8. Bake in oven additional 20 minutes, until stuffing is crunchy and browned on top.

This is super filling (especially with the protein added) and cheeeap to make. Pair them with some fresh, sauteed greens and you've got a baby thanksgiving on your lap while you watch your wednesday night stories.