Holiday Stuffing/Dressing

This is my girl's family recipe, like her grandparents made and her mom continues to make. Plenty to stuff a 16 lb bird. Originally wrote it down in 2008, while her mom was making it at home.

Makes a large mixing bowl full, probably 12-15 servings, maybe more!

2 bags of Pepperidge Farms Herb Seasoned Stuffing (Note: 12oz? Cubbinsons comes in two 6oz bags, so 12oz?)

3-4 apples, any kind of RED apple (Gala), peeled and rough chopped

2 medium brown onion, chopped

1/2 bunch (5 stalks?) celery, chopped

1 lb of large white mushrooms, rough chopped, about 12-15 count, stems removed (NOTE only had 8oz in 2010)

1 lb Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage

3-4 eggs

2 sticks of butter

Dried basil (maybe 2 tbsp?)

Dried oregano (maybe 2 tbsp?)* (during Thanksgiving 2009, her mom said she never uses oregano, that she only uses ROSEMARY, never oregano)

Dried parsley (maybe 2 tbsp?)

Fresh thyme, parsley, sage chopped (maybe 1 tbsp of each)

2 cans chicken broth

Bell's Seasoning, about 1/2 box

Lot of pepper

No salt (stock, stuffing mix and other has salt already, Jackie doesn't add salt)

Instructions

(I've changed them slightly from the original version, to make it easier to do).

1. Pulse stuffing mix until small dice, like breadcrumb. Set aside in large bowl.
2. In batches, grind celery, apple, onion, and mushroom in the food processor until uniform.
3. Add both cans of broth and eggs to food processor. Add all fresh and dried spices except Bell's. Pulse some more. Add to breadcrumb bowl.
4. In a large skillet, melt butter and brown the sausage in it.
5. Pour entire butter/sausage mixture over stuffing.
6. Add boiling water (probably 2-4 cups) and stir to combine to moisten the mixture.
7. Knead, squeezing thru your fingers to make sure there are no lumps and mixture is uniform and even, 3-5 minutes.
8. Add Bell's seasoning, "until it smells right". She used approx 1/2 of a new box.
9. Add more warm water to make the mixture very moist. At night it will be very wet, because it will soak up water.
10. Should look as wet as a meatloaf. Sprinkle a little Bell Seasoning over the top.
11. Bake at ?? for ??. (Most everything is cooked except the egg, so shouldn't take too long).

My girl's mom (Jackie) stuffs it in the bird, bakes the leftovers.

Mom's dressing

Giving away a family recipe here...this is how my grandma used to make it too. I watched my mom, and wrote down as best as I could. She never did stuffing, even though she calls it that; it's actually "dressing", i.e., basically a meatloaf outside of the bird.

Mom's "Stuffing"

2 onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, finely diced
1 loaf white bread, torn into 1" pieces (my mom says "buy the cheap stuff for this")
1 lb 80/20 ground beef (you can use the non-lean ground as well)
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 eggs
olive oil + butter
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
salt + pepper to taste

In a large saute pan, heat about 2 tbsp oil + 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Saute celery + onion until translucent (we don't want any browning!), about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large mixing bowl, add bread, beef, eggs, and chicken stock. Knead well until very uniform (note: you could probably pulse this in a food processor to do this as well, for an even more uniform texture)

Put mixture into a 13x9 rectangular baking pan, and pat out into a flat layer. Pour a little olive oil on top.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Aiming for about 160F temperature for doneness.

Notes:

• You may need to add more stock; this was really eyeballed. More stock should make for moister stuffing.
• Cooking time + temp could be adjusted. This is suitable for end of turkey cooking, when lots of items are sharing the oven.
• Could probably try adding some sausage; this is what Beckey's mom does.