Besties Lunch

This past weekend I got together with some girls I used to work with. We try to get together at least every other month to eat and catch up. And to make it a little more fun, whose ever house it's at gets to choose a theme and the food each of us brings has to relate to this theme. Our themes have been silly (loaf shaped items) and seasonal ("best of summer"). Well this weekend's theme was "Apples", perfect for Fall!

The hostess chose to make an apple chicken recipe, someone else made applesauce, and another made an apple dessert! I chose to make Herb and Apple Stuffing (I chose to half the recipe because there was only 4 of us and it was the perfect amount):

16 cups of 1-inch bread cubes
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced celery
2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, and diced
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary leaves (I used dried rosemary)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2) Put the bread crumbs on a 13x18x1 inch baking sheet and bake them for 7 min
3) In a large saute pan: melt butter, add onion, celery, apples, parsley, rosemary, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 min (until mixture is soft)
4) In a large bowl: combine bread cubes, sauteed veggie mix, stock, and almonds

Cooking options:
1) Place stuffing into turkey and cook per turkey directions OR
2) Place stuffing in a casserole dish and cook for an hour on 350 degrees F (this is the way I did it)