I got this recipe from my father some years ago. He wanted his Thanksgiving Day bird stuffed. With his mother’s recipe, which she had passed down to him. What a gift. This stuffing is absolutely worth the time and effort. And if you don’t want to stuff the bird, this is great on it’s own, as a side dressing.

Ingredients:

• 2 loaves of stale bread, left out on the counter to dry overnight. Personally, I love to use a mix of white and wheat bread. Or, if you love to bake as much as I do, you might have leftover breads of all types. Dry ’em, dice ’em, and use them! Marbled Rye works wonderfully in this recipe too!
• 1 apple, finely diced. I like sweet reds
• 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 8oz of your favorite button mushroom
• Sage to taste. Either dry or fresh. If I use fresh I chop up probably 8- 10 leaves for a moderate taste of it. If dry, probably use like 3 tsp
• 1/2 pound of pork sausage
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Chicken broth or stock. Or, if you prefer, vegetable stock works great too. Probably a couple quarts give or take.

Instructions:

• Cook the pork sausage in a skillet, breaking it up into bits, until no longer pink and allow to cool enough to handle
• Mix all of the dry ingredients, including the sausage, into a very large bowl
• Add broth or stock a little at a time. Be patient. You don’t want to drown your bread or it will turn to mush. Add the broth until when you pick up a handful and squeeze you get a little moisture out of the bread.
• Stuff that bird!

*If I am stuffing a turkey and want dressing on the side I double this recipe.