Alternate stuffing recipe

My mom used bread stuffing in our holiday turkeys and it wasn't until I married my husband that I was introduced to Wild Rice Stuffing.  Since our marriage I have used this instead of the bread stuffing that most of us are familiar with.  I got this recipe from my mother-in-law.  I hope that you might try it sometime.  It also makes a great side dish for other meals.

WILD RICE DRESSING

1 pkg. Wild Rice-a-Roni.

1 can water chestnuts (chopped)

1 small can mushrooms (chopped)

1 onion (chopped)

1 stalk celery (chopped)

1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in the water. (This year we used chicken stock instead of the water called for.  In this case you don't need the bouillon cube.)

Saute the vegetables in a little butter (since this is supposed to be a healthy food blog, I suppose you could substitute the butter for a healthy oil, but we haven't tried that.)  Add the Rice-a-Roni mix and use 1/4 cup less liquid than called for.  You can also cook up the giblets ahead of time and chop them up and add too, if you'd like. Add the spice mix included in the Rice-a-Roni pkg. and simmer until the liquid is mostly absorbed.  It is then ready to put into the turkey, or used as a side dish. 

I know that Rice-a-Roni uses some ingredients in their spice mix, (Like MSG) that some people try to avoid.  With this in mind I think that any wild rice medley could be used and your own spices added.  This is a great recipe and with some tweaking could be even better, health-wise.  It is also great for folks who have to avoid bread because of the gluten.

Let me know if you try this and what changes, if any, you make.

Happy Eating!