Stuffing

In this case, sausage and apple stuffing, though you could just as easily leave the sausage and apple out.

Also, I split the batch in two, and cooked part inside the turkey, and part outside. Cooked outside, it will be crispier. Cooked inside is moister. I like it crispier, but either way is fine.

Stuffing is recycled bread. That's it. I used half a loaf of slightly stale homemade bread, then added a bunch of homemade croutons for crunch.

From Joy of Cooking:


10 cups bread cubes (any kind of bread, preferably stale), in a large bowl
1/2 stick butter
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
Seasonings: parsley, sage, thyme, salt and pepper, nutmeg, ground cloves
Chicken stock

Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onion and celery until soft. Add the seasonings, stir, and add to the bread cubes in the bowl. Mix well; add chicken stock until just moist (more if you like moister stuffing). If cooking outside the turkey, turn into a buttered casserole dish and bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes, until crusty on top.

For sausage and apple stuffing, force the sausage out of two links of Italian sausage and cook in a separate skillet until browned. Add two Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced, and cook for another minute or so. Add to the bread cubes bowl along with the onion and celery mixture.

That's all you need for good all-purpose stuffing. You can get fancy with oysters or nuts or dried fruit, but people tend to like their stuffing plain and all-purpose, especially the kids.