Basic Homemade Stuffing

Make Your Own Bread Cubes Or Buy Packaged

On the days prior, you can cut extra bread and plain rolls into squares and bake in the oven on low (200º) until crispy; set aside in paper bag until ready to use. (Packaged bread cubes are available in stores.)

Ingredients:

12 cups dried bread cubes 

7 large pieces of celery, chopped fine, about 1.5 cups

1 large yellow onion, chopped fine, about 1 cup

1 cube butter

2 cups chicken broth, more if you like wetter dressing, less for drier

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. ground sage

Optional: 1 small, peeled, chopped apple and/or 1/2 cup cranberries

Directions:

Place bread cubes into a large bowl or roasting pan. Set aside. In large frying pan, sauté celery and onions in butter over medium-low heat. Add spices; cook, stirring, until soft and lightly brown. Add onion/celery mixture to bread cubes; add half the broth then slowly add more as needed while stirring thoroughly, until it smashes together to form sort of a bread ball. Bake in covered glass or metal roasting pan, cooked separately from turkey, about 1 hour at 325º. While it was once common to cook the stuffing in the turkey carcass, they now say it is safer to cook it separately.