Vegan Cornbread Stuffing

1 large yellow onion–diced
4 stalks of celery–diced
2-3 tablespoons fresh sage
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons earth balance
1 package favorite vegan sausage–cooked
1 carton (32 oz.) of vegetable broth
4 sliced toasted whole wheat bread
cornbread (see note below)
salt/pepper/sage to taste

*Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat olive oil in frying pan on medium/medium low. Add diced onion and celery. Saute until soft and translucent. Prepare cornbread batter, add cooked onion and celery to cornbread batter, add black pepper and stir to combine. Pour batter into “buttered” (w/ earth balance) baking dish. Bake approx. 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (This step can be done the day before).

*Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook sausage in frying pan on stove top. Break up cornbread into big chunks and add to large mixing bowl. Lightly toast bread. Spread thin layer of earth balance on toast and break toast up into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces. Add to mixing bowl. Chop sage and thyme; add to bowl. Add cooked sausage to bowl, along with vegetable broth. Stir. The mixture will be wet and will not resemble stuffing at all! But do not skimp on the vegetable broth. A pasty mixture is key to moist stuffing in the end!!! Adjust for salt/sage/pepper.

(I forgot to take a picture of the baked stuffing on Thanksgiving … BUT here’s the final product from the SEEDS lunch today!)

Vegan Gravy

1 small onion
3 tablespooons olive oil
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh sage (or 1 teaspoon dried sage)
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

*Heat olive oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook until soft and translucent. Stir in flour to make a roux. Cook over medium until roux turned golden brown. Add vegetable broth a little at a time, thinning out roux and whisking so that you have a nice smooth gravy (do not add all broth at once and then whisk or you’ll have lumpy gravy). Add sage, salt, and pepper to taste. Heat on medium low until thickened.

Notes: I used a cornbread mix from Whole Foods. The mix called for one egg, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon of honey. Instead, I used 1 egg’s worth of egg replacer, 1 cup of unsweetened/unflavored rice milk, and no honey. Be sure to check the ingredients in your mix if you use one (i.e., Jiffy mix is not vegan or vegetarian!).