Country Bread Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients:
3-4 loaves of white bread (or 5 if you like leftovers)
water
chicken broth
insides of the turkey
2 bunches of celery
1 or 2 onions
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon sage
oysters (optional)
mushrooms (option)
Instructions:
1. The night before you want to eat the stuffing, break the bread into small pieces (about 1 inch squares) into 2 huge bowls or pots. Let the bread sit overnight to dry out.
2. The next day, after you remove the insides of turkey, boil them in water in 2/3 qt. sauce pan until cooked (about 20/30 minutes). Remove insides for later use or discard. Keep water and put aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Chop onion and celery and place into food processor until minced.
4. Melt 2-3 Tablespoons of butter in large saucepan.
5. Saute onion and celery until heated through. Do not brown! (Saute mushrooms also at this time if wanted). Depending on how much stuffing you want and how much celery and onion you've chopped, you may have to saute the onion and celery in two parts.
6. Once cooked, pour the onion/celery mixture directly over the dried out bread.
7. Pour 1/2 tsp. sage over bread/onion/celery mixture. Then, take your reserved water and pour slowly over bread. The bread will shrink as you do this. Be careful not to pour too much water in.
8. Mix thoroughly and smell/taste for perfect stuffing.
9. If you need more liquid, open a can of chicken broth and pour over bread. If you need more spice, add more sage. If you are using oysters, add them now. Once stuffing is of a consistency that it will stick together and does not look too dry, do not add more liquid.
10. Either stuff in turkey to be baked in oven, or put in 9 x 13 pan. If using oysters, it is recommended that you bake the stuffing in a pan so as to ensure the oysters will be cooked through.
11. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes to an hour. You want the stuffing to have a nice brown crust on top.
Other Delicious Ideas For Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a special time of year. You can sit down with family and enjoy all of your favorite foods. If you want to switch things up this year, we've got plenty of ideas for you to consider. To jazz up your mashed potatoes, try adding garlic or cheese! Use pumpkin in your mac and cheese, or add a layer of crushed chips on top for a nice crunch.
Make some sweet potato casserole with marshmallow, or try some corn soufflé. Use fall ingredients by making some squash, or make a big salad with lots of unique ingredients. Whatever options you pick, the important thing is to make sure they all go together. If you have a lot of side dishes that don't work well with one another, it will be hard for your guests to put together a plate that they'll enjoy!
In addition, don't overwhelm yourself with too many things to make for Thanksgiving. You'll already be busy enough with this stuffing and the turkey, so you don't want to add too much more on your plate.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©iStock.com/bhofack2.