Stuffing With Apples And Sausage

There's nothing worse then going to someones house on Thanksgiving and they serve you Stove Top Stuffing. Granted I do like Stove Top for a quick side dish at times, however it should be considered unlawful on Thanksgiving! It's so easy to make, that anyone can do it! Here is a simple tasty recipe for a nice homemade stuffing!

What you'll need:

2 Large Bags of your favorite stuffing crumbs (I like something that is slightly seasoned)

1/2 Cup Butter

1 LB Ground Pork Sausage (my produce market has a nice ground breakfast sausage at their meat counter that works great for this recipe)

1 Large Sweet Onion, diced

1 1/2 Cups Celery, diced

2 Golden Delicious Apples, cored, peeled, and diced into small cubes

1 t Rubbed Sage

1 t Dried Thyme
1 t Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

1 Cup Chopped Pecans

2-4 Cups Chicken Broth

How To Make:

In a large stock pot, melt butter and saute onion and celery until slightly softened. Add apples and saute for an additional 3 minutes.

In a skillet, using a spoon, break up pork sausage and saute until lightly browned and cooked through. Once cooked, transfer to paper towel to drain fat.

Add meat to celery, onion and apple mixture. Stir in rubbed sage, dried thyme, salt and pepper. Add stuffing crumbs and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. You can add additional seasonings based on personal taste. Next mix in chopped pecans and stuffing crumbs. Gradually add in chicken stock. I recommended to use between 2-4 cups of chicken stock only because everyone likes it a little different. I tend to use more stock to make sure all the stuffing crumbs are coated and have a nice flavor. I do not like dry stuffing so I probably use close to 4 cups. Since the stuffing also gets cooked in the oven, its good to use a little more stock then not. Once everything has been thoroughly mixed, put stuffing into your favorite baking dish. Cover with foil, and cook at 350 for 1/2 hour. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes until top is slightly browned. You can also add a few pats of butter to the stuffing before putting it into the oven to help brown the top. Enjoy!

Tips:

***Add dried cranberries to stuffing for a little tartness.