Kiss the Cook: Stuffing balls that make your mouth water

Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here. That gets me to thinking about turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Stuffing is one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal. Recently, a co-worker, Vinnie, shared a stuffing ball recipe with me that I’ve found to be delicious and easy to make. It’s something I enjoy making anytime of the year and goes great with chicken.
The recipe below has been modified slightly to make it a bit healthier. I’m using less butter than the original recipe that called for 1 cup of butter or margarine. If you want more butter flavor, you can go with 1 cup, but the 4 tablespoons I used below works just fine. Give this recipe a try the next time you are looking for a side dish with chicken or turkey. Enjoy!

Stuffing balls
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Yields: makes approx. 8 stuffing balls

Ingredients:
1 loaf of Italian bread
1 small onion diced
2 celery stalks diced
4 tbs. butter or margarine
1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
2 eggs beaten
Salt and pepper to taste
1 soup can of water

Directions:

1. Tear the bread into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl
2. Sauté onions and celery in the butter/margarine in a skillet for 5 minutes. Pour over the bread pieces.
3. Combine half the soup with the eggs, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix well. Pour this over the bread pieces and mix well with your hands. Form golf ball or slightly large balls and place in a 9” x 13” baking pan.
4. Mix remaining half of soup with one can of water until smooth. Pour over the stuffing balls. Cover the baking pan with foil and bake at 300 degrees F for 1 hour. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes.
5. Serve plain or cover with chicken gravy. Enjoy!