This is an odd one, cause I have no picture.  And I’m wondering on Thanksgiving Eve who cares anyway????  But there is a chance that someone out there might be wondering how to make basic stuffing?!?   Sooooooo……I am here to tell you about mine.

First, you take two loaves of the French Bread you get a 4 pm at the store, tear it up in bite sized pieces,  and let it sit in your kitchen for a couple of days, tossing once in awhile to dry it out.

When you are ready to mix it all up, here are the basic ingredients…….EVERYTHING IN THIS RECIPE IS NEGOTIABLE…..but here is the stripped down version (feel free to add more of anything)

2 loaves French Bread, torn up  (or a box of bread cubes or torn up bread)

Saute together, for just about 5 minutes:  one chopped small onion, 4 stalks chopped celery and a couple of chopped crispy apples.  (yes, Apples!  I usually do Granny Smith, but Gala’s are good too.  Anything you have.  Don’t peel them. just core and chop.  They add moisture. (Trader Joe’s has the onion and celery already chopped up)  The important thing is to do it in a WHOLE stick of butter!  Yes….you will add it all later to the stuffing. (my dear friend, Carol Wagner, told me years ago that my cooking the veggies first was the first time she had ever heard of that….and it changed her life!!)

Now, start mixing up the sauteed veggies and bread.  You are looking for a nice mix that turns out not juicy, but moist.  Add seasonings:   Sage, (both chopped and powdered–start with a tsp at a time, just the way I taught you.)  Then add another cube of melted butter and keep adding chicken broth until it’s just a little juicy….because during baking it will dry out)…  Pepper and salt (did you notice I said pepper first? ) That’s cause you need very little salt at all.  You might like it this way, since the broth is juicy…..

Now, of course you have ANOTHER choice.  You can bake this in a baking dish, OR you can stuff your turkey right before you bake it.  In recent years they have told us how DANGEROUS it is to stuff a turkey….I guess I get it, but that is only if the stuffing doesn’t cook to the temp the turkey does…..so, duh…..check it!  (160 degrees is good). What I usually do is take the stuffing out of the carcass when I remove the turkey from the oven, put it in a baking dish, and hit it with about a 400 degree heat for about 20 minutes, just because I love the crispy edges and top!

This is a disclaimer, but ALL TRUE:

Years ago they began telling us that if you leave leftover Turkey out for more than 1/2 hour, you will die if you pick at the leftovers.  I am in no way advocating anything medical, but I have to tell you that for over 40 years we have been leaving the turkey out all afternoon (a couple of hours at least….) and everybody walks by and eats.  Okay, maybe we scoop out the stuffing into another dish, but I have to say that I have never died from eating leftover stuffing for hours after our lavish and wonderful DAY!!  Happy Thanksgiving…..Ask me how I know……I have had 72 of them!!!