Man Cereal.

Before anyone gets their panties in a twist over the name, I didn’t name it Man Cereal but I love the name and think the woman who did name it is a true gem so…

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Man Cereal.

1 lb ground pork sausage
1 lb ground beef
3 pieces of bacon, diced
8 medium stalks of celery, small diced 2 JUMBO sweet potatoes, small diced
2 large yellow onions, small diced
1 small apple, small diced
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil, throw diced sweet potatoes on it, best if one layer deep so use two sheets if needed, sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender, then set aside in a large bowl.
2. While those cook, pull out a large skillet, place it under medium-high heat Cook bacon to desired doneness. Remove bacon and drain excess bacon fat. Chop the cooked bacon and add to the large bowl of cooked sweet potatoes.
3. Brown ground pork sausage and ground beef in the same skillet. Remove from cooked meat from pan and drain excess fat. Add cooked meat to sweet potatoes .
4. Add olive oil and onions to skillet and cook to translucent. Add celery and apples to onions and cook until soft. Add white wine vinegar and allow vinegar to cook through. Add onion mixture to sweet potatoes.
5. Now beat your eggs, add to the bowl, and add your chicken broth, along with your pecans and dried cranberries. Mix well.
6. You can now use 2, 9×13 baking dishes, to place your stuffing in. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until everything is a bit browned.

This is the recipe as it was given to me by a dear friend, Stephanie Curtis.

The adjustments I make (because I’m horrible at following rules/instructions/guides…) is that I already have on hand 2-3 lbs of cooked bacon and, yes, I double/triple the bacon quantity. I also peel and chop the sweet potatoes and cook them in the microwave. (I’m impatient. Sue me.) I did the one apple and wish I had done the second one that I had on hand. Did I mention that I used at least double the meat amounts? And mine is a combination of deer, pork, beef, turkey and breakfast sausage. While I’m listing all my ‘adjustments’ I need to add that I thought I read the recipe thoroughly and saw that it said cranberries, which I have, but what the recipe says is dried cranberries which I have not so I just chopped up what I had on hand and called it good. And it is good!

This recipe is one of those that gets better with time. Like spaghetti sauce. And I made so much that some of it is now in the freezer because we actually want to eat more than one thing over the next couple of days.

Also…this would be a great food to measure out for those times you’re trying to eat healthy and control your portions. Or you’re traveling.

Or…its also not bad cold so sitting in a deer stand and being snacky.

Also…I LOVE my SlapChop. I use that sucker for everything. Used to just be for pecans and almonds but I used it for the cranberries (obviously don’t put the soft ones in there. You know what I mean…), to super chop the onions and the pecans, of course. Its a handy little sucker!

That’s it. Make you some Man Cereal and enjoy!