Who’s ready for Thanksgiving?! In case you haven’t set your menu, or can make room for one more Thanksgiving side dish, here’s a yummy alternative to the traditional bread stuffing. It’s festive, colorful, healthy and delicious.
What you’ll need: (serves 4)
- 2 servings whole wheat pearl couscous; Chicken broth to cook it in
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds or pecans
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to taste
Procedure:
- Cook couscous in chicken broth according to cous cous instructions
- Separately stir fry garlic, mushrooms, onions and celery until cooked to liking (I cooked until the celery was still a bit crispy, yet tender)
- Separately toast dried pumpkin seeds (toss in a frying pan until lightly browned and crunchy)
- Combine couscous with veggies and pumpkin seeds
- Add in the cranberries last and toss
- Add EVOO, salt and pepper to taste
Tip: The pumpkin seeds got soft quickly and were not good for leftovers; when I make this whole wheat couscous stuffing again for Thanksgiving, I’m going to swap in pecans for the pumpkin seeds. Pecans cans be toasted or tossed in with the veggies and slightly warmed when all ingredients are combined
The whole family loved this stuffing. It was definitely light and a nice alternative to traditional stuffing. Ed loved it just as much the second day as leftovers.