What is your favorite holiday? In our family we have two: Día de los Muertos and Thanksgiving. For our annual fourth-Thursday-in-November celebration, we invite friends to share a meal. I cook the turkey, gravy, and quinoa stuffing (see recipe below). Our friends make creative, traditional and non-traditional sides; cranberry relish, sweet potatoes, humintas (corn dish), pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, and a great salad.

I am grateful to the First People of the Americas for the foods they discovered and taught the European settlers to eat:

• turkey
• sweet potatoes
• corn
• quinoa (stuffing)
• cranberries
• pumpkin (pie)

Would this US holiday exist without them? I’m referring to the people bearing the gifts and the foods they shared. Please write me a note below the stuffing recipe about your favorite holiday food. Gracias for reading Fake Flamenco. Olé! -Rebecca

Para leer este ensayo en español, haz un clic (el sábado) en “Seis comidas para días festivos.”

Rebecca’s Quinoa Stuffing

Mix in a bowl:

• 2 c cooked quinoa (2:1 / chicken broth or water to quinoa)
• 1 c chicken broth (to keep stuffing moist)
• 2 T sage, 1T basil, 1T dried parsley, 1 t black pepper, salt to taste

Saute in 2T of your oil of choice:

• 1-2 minced onions, caramelized (cooked until brown)
• 1 t garlic (cook a short time and add next ingredient to the pan)
• 1/2 c chopped celery
• 1 c mushrooms (last in the pan, saute briefly)
• Add sauteed ingredients to the bowl and mix well.

Place in a 9 x 9 covered dish to bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Food safety tip: Bake stuffing in the bird only when placing it in Tom turkey immediately before cooking. : )

Happy Thanksgiving!