Lovingly shared by Sylvia Laabs

Nonna Tosca’s Florentine Stuffing

Thanksgiving meals have an impact on us all. It might be memories of having extended family sitting together to eat – or it might be memories of moving up from the “kids table” to the “big table”. I remember my first time moving up to the Big Table. While I was excited to move up, I was upset that my (favorite) cousin who was 4 years younger, and next-in-line, also moved up the same year I did! That’s not fair! But I digress.

Another fond memory of Thanksgiving meals was that my Nonna Tosca, a first generation Italian, always had spaghetti on the table. Maybe that’s why today, spaghetti and meat balls is one of my all-time comfort meals. Her family was from Lucca and Pontasserchio, located between Pisa and Florence. I always liked that we incorporated traditional Thanksgiving food with food from our family origins.

But the food that really stood out was her stuffing! It was seasoned with so much goodness; it wasn’t just moist, baked breadcrumbs. Every year there were spoonfuls on my plate, then turkey and stuffing sandwiches a few hours later, while Nonna would play Blackjack with me and my cousins. That’s how I learned to count so quickly in my head, well, at least multiples of 10 and 11. Nonna wasn’t made of lots of money, but she loved to go to Vegas to gamble, and Blackjack was her game. She took me to Vegas as my 21^st birthday present, and that’s when I found out she didn’t know the betting strategies to get the best odds. I hated playing at the same table as her during that trip. But as a kid, playing Blackjack after Thanksgiving dinner with pennies, nickels, and dimes – it was the best after-dinner thing we could do with Nonna!

One year, I went to my Nonna’s the day before Thanksgiving to help her prep food. I got to help make her Florentine stuffing. I told her I wanted the recipe so I could make it when I would host my own Thanksgiving meals in the future. She said she didn’t have a recipe, she just “knows what to do, like I was taught”. Fortunately, I had the foresight to grab a pen and paper. I had her put ingredients into a pan or bowl, then I’d take it out and measure it, and put it into another bowl so she could continue making her stuffing. I wrote down the entire recipe and it has become a treasured family recipe. For several years after my Nonna passed away, I’d get a call in early November from an Aunt or cousin, asking for Nonna’s stuffing recipe that no one else ever wrote down. But I had it… and it’s a staple on my Thanksgiving table now.

As a Christmas present, I’ve asked my family for a custom cutting board with the recipe etched on the board, like cutting boards found here. Let’s see if I get it this year!

Quality ingredients are key to a tasty stuffing. You can find the fresh vegetables to use in your stuffing at the local Channel Island Harbor Farmers Market.

Nonna Tosca’s Florentine Stuffing

• 1 lb. ground beef
• ¼ lb. pork sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 5 stalks celery, chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 2 carrots, grated fine
• ½ C chopped parsley
• 2 bunches fresh spinach (or 2 packs of frozen leaf spinach)
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 box of bread stuffing
• 1 ¾ C parmesan cheese
• 14 – 20 oz turkey/chicken broth

1. Brown the meats in a little olive oil
2. Add garlic and vegetables (except spinach) and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
3. Put in a big bowl and let cool
4. Add chopped spinach, beaten eggs and 1 C parmesan cheese
5. Add bread stuffing and turkey/chicken broth to moisten mixture
6. Put into baking dish (deep 9×13) so stuffing is about 2 inches thick
7. Sprinkle remaining ¾ C Parmesan on top
8. Bake covered at 325 for 40 minutes, then an additional 10 minutes uncovered

You can also check out other favorite recipes from my classmates https://vcsocial.biz/category/holiday-cook-off/

Mangia Mangia!

My great great grandmother Fernanda’s 125-year-old stuffing recipe is a dish you have to try at the Thanksgiving table. My grandma, mother, aunts, cousins, siblings, and I continue with my great great grandmother’s traditional stuffing recipe.  This stuffing recipe truly is one of a kind and it has never been shared with anyone outside of the family. Hope you enjoy it as much as we love it!

Ingredients

This recipe makes a large portion of stuffing

• 3 boxes of  Mrs. Cubbison’s  Traditional Stuffing Seasoned Bread Crumbs- brown box
• 3 boxes of  Mrs.  Cubbison’s  Cornbread Stuffing Bread Crumbs- yellow box
• 3 pounds  of cooked lean hamburger meat with drippings
• 3 pounds of cooked Farmer John ground  breakfast sausage meat- with drippings
• 2 eggs- slightly mixed uncooked 
• 3 cups of finely chopped celery
• 1 1/4 cups of shredded/grated carrots
• 1 cup of finely diced green onions
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1 can carnation evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon  garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 6 tablespoons of butter

Directions

1. Begin with a very large mixing bowl
2. Empty all of the 6 boxes of the traditional and cornbread stuffing into the large bowl
3. Cook the hamburger meat and season with garlic salt and pepper. Break up hamburger meat to the small pieces [crumble pea size pieces} 
4. In separate pan cook sausage, no seasoning, to pea sized pieces. It’s best to use a potato masher when cooking the hamburger meat and sausage. This helps to break it down to small pieces.
5. Once the hamburger meat and sausage are cooked, pour them into the bowl with the drippings into the stuffing mix.
6. Add chopped celery, diced green onions, and grated carrots. Mix well.
7. Allow these ingredients to cool and the flavors of the meats to soak into the stuffing mix for about 10-15 minutes.
8. Add UNCOOKED mixture/scramble eggs into stuffing mixture.
9. Add 1 can Carnation evaporated milk into mixture. Make sure to shake can well before opening.
10. Add 2 cups of  chicken broth then remaining broth a half a cup at a time
11. Mix all ingredients well, its best to mix with your hands, it will look and feel like a meatloaf texture.
12. It’s best to add the chicken broth a little at a time to make sure that your stuffing does not become too wet.  
13. Once the stuffing is all mix up place in ziplock  bags or large bowl,  refrigerate until you’re ready to stuff your turkey.

Making your stuffing a day or two ahead allows the flavors to incorporate together.

You will also have plenty of stuffing to place in a large casserole bowl, place about   4 tablespoons of butter on top of uncooked stuffing. Cover the casserole bowl with foil and bake for 40 minutes @ 350 

To stuff turkey, take the cold stuffing, stuff your turkey at the neck and chest cavity add  1 tablespoon of butter on top of the stuffing mix before baking your turkey. The reason you add the butter on top of the stuffing it adds to the flavors and keeps it from drying up.

ALWAYS USE COLD STUFFING  FOR YOUR TURKEY

If you choose not to cook all of your stuffing, you can also freeze it and use it at a later time. To stuff a chicken, turkey, or danish hen.

If you don’t have all the ingredients listed above go check out Channel Islands Harbor Farmer’s Market Fall Season Favorites!

This recipe is not for the faint of heart. So, if you want to try an easier stuffing recipe check out Remi Cruz’s website that is linked below. https://www.cookingwithremi.com/turkey-cranberry-stuffing-meatballs

AKA what I bring to family events so no one else has to worry about feeding me

So, imagine this. One day you’re sitting in class, and you’re kind of tired, because you’re always at least a little tired. Why wouldn’t you be? You’re a high school student, your commute is an hour and a half both ways minimum, and you barely have a functioning sleep schedule. It’s a normal day, until suddenly your insides feel like they want to be your outsides. A year of tests later and the doctors have discovered there’s a 95% chance you have celiac disease and 5% chance your body has spontaneously created a brand new illness. All the sudden, no gluten. Your body has determined some agriculture may have been a threat. No stuffing, no gravy, no store bought pie. You get first dibs on mashed potatoes, but that’s probably not the only thing you’re going to want out of Thanksgiving. So what do you do?

Well, you roll up your sleeves, you figure out how a stove works, and you start contributing to the family meals from a kitchen where you can make sure the knives won’t make you horribly sick. Through trial and error you make what I like to call Macaroni Surprise.

This was the first meal I really figured out how to make entirely on my own. I did not follow a cook book, instead using a bit of the knowledge I had already learned to create something completely original, and I’m still proud of it today. The portions for this recipe are also written to feed quite a bit of people or one person for several days.

The Bits

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 quarter white onion, chopped
• 2 boxes elbow macaroni, gluten free not required
• 1/2 can of sweet peas
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped mushroom
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. lemon pepper
• 1 tbsp. parsley garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. paprika
• (seasonings should be adjusted to taste)

The Sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 16 oz. Italian blend cheese
• 4 oz. butter
• 2 tbsp. cream cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp finely chopped basil
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tbsp. parsley garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

1. Battle cry. This is the most important part.
2. Set your water to boil. This will always take longer than you think it will. Continue with other steps until it boils and then throw in the pasta until al dente.
3. In a pan, heat up your tbsp. of butter and use it to cover your entire pan.
4. Throw in your onions. Cook them over medium high heat until they are translucent.
5. Once your onions are ready, throw your chicken in there. Immediately cover with your seasonings and mix.
6. Once your chicken has cooked on one side, mix in your chopped mushrooms and lower your heat to medium low, mixing occasionally.
7. In a small pot, combine heavy cream, 4 oz. of butter, cream cheese, and seasonings. Put heat on low and bring to a simmer, stirring in the ingredients.
8. Once your mixture has come to a simmer, add your cheese. Your cream cheese may not have melted it yet. That’s fine. It’s taking a gap year and we support it.
9. Mix until cheese and cream cheese have completely melted in.
10. Combine ingredients in a bowl with 1/2 can of peas and then stir until completely mix.
11. Victory cry. This is the second most important part.

Interested in making some recipes of your own but don’t know where to start? Browse the Channel Islands Harbor Famers Market for some ideas! Just don’t go on an empty stomach, or else you’ll come back with an empty wallet.