It's Beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving

Good Morning!  Do you feel like everyone has forgotten about the one holiday that is about food, family, thankfulness and, let's not forget, football-Thanksgiving?  We have skipped right over Thanksgiving and straight to Christmas.  Christmas has always stressed me out.  I love CHRISTmas, just not Christmas-you know all the hustle and bustle and hoping that you got someone the RIGHT gift, when really it should be about the thought that went into the gift.  I digress.


I plan to focus on Thanksgiving and helping you have a great day that is as stress-free as possible.  Our first set of recipes if for stuffing/dressing.  My mom would stuff the bird (aka stuffing) and then use what ever was left over would go into her French White Corning dish...I did not like the mushy stuffing, but loved the dressing that was crunchy on top and moist on the bottom...I am a crust kinda girl.


Below you will find five Stuffing/Dressing recipes.  Please feel free to add your own in the comment section...I always love to try new things.  Hope you enjoy it and as always, Happy Cooking!


Just a Thought:
All these recipes can be made a day or 2 in advance and baked off on Thanksgiving day...Keep in mind, if you do a little each day, your Thanksgiving will be more enjoyable.

Cornbread Dressing

2 (12 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough

2 (8 ounce) packages corn bread mix

2 cups diced onion

2 cups diced celery

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth-may not need all of this

1/2 pound pork sausage

4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped (optional)

2 teaspoons dried sage (optional)

Prepare biscuits (enough to make 4 cups crumbled), and one 8x8 inch pan cornbread according to package directions. Cool and crumble. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small pot, combine onion, celery, margarine and chicken broth. Bring to boil and cook vegetables until tender. In a 2-quart casserole dish, combine 4 cups crumbled cornbread, 4 cups biscuit crumbs, salt, pepper, sausage, chopped eggs and sage. Pour broth and vegetables over bread mixture, and stir until combined.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

Makes 12 servings

Traditional Stuffing
(my hubby would call this Yankee Dressing)

1 (1 pound) loaf sliced white bread

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 onion, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup chicken broth

Let bread slices air dry for 1 to 2 hours, then cut into cubes. In a Dutch oven, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Moisten with chicken broth; mix well. Chill, and use as a stuffing for turkey, or bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Enough stuffing for a 10-12 pound turkey

Awesome Sausage Apple and Cranberry Stuffing
from allrecipes.com (I think)

"This Thanksgiving stuffing is fantastic! It is very flavorful and fresh-tasting. This recipe will stuff a 10-pound turkey (which serves six) plus extra. I replaced the usual pork sausage with much healthier turkey sausage. Other dried fruits may also be used in place of cranberries."

1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread

3 3/4 cups cubed white bread

1 pound ground turkey sausage (I like pork sausage)

1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped celery

2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage

1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley

1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped

3/4 cup turkey stock

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.

In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.

Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill.

Sausage Stuffing

1 box (2 envelopes) of Pepperidge Farms Regular Stuffing mix (NOT Cornbread kind)

2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 good handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken broth

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage-use mild, regular or sage if you like that flavor 

Cook the sausage in a skillet with about 1/4 cup water, over a medium high heat. Break the sausage into small pieces. Thoroughly cook the sausage and drain off any grease. In a large mixing bowl, add sausage and remaining ingredients, except the chicken broth. Mix everything together and add a little chicken broth, a bit at a time, to get a soft, but not wet texture. You will use about a quarter of a cup of chicken broth or maybe a little more, depending on how dry your dressing is. 

Place dressing in a casserole dish to be baked later at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Use the rest for stuffing if you plan on stuffing your bird.

Oyster Stuffing Dressing
6 cups cubed French bread, cubed and dried out for a day
2 cups crumbled cornbread
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 (12 ounce) container fresh select oysters, drained and chopped, reserving oyster liquor.
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Combine bread cubes, cornbread, eggs, milk, butter, onion, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add oysters and any liquid, if the mixture is too dry. Spread dressing into a greased 2 ½ -quart casserole dish or stuff into a cool turkey. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.