Dad’s Sausage Stuffing

1. Scramble fry sausage and drain fat. Personally, I use Jimmy Dean’s breakfast sausage but any kind will work. If you like sage flavoring, go for the sage kind but I prefer the standard stuff!

2. Slice onion and clean celery off so that you have long useable bits.

3. While sausage is cooking and you are slicing away, cook the stuffing according to the package directions, subbing out the water for broth.

4. (While this step is NOT necessary, it’s how Dad always did it and it really does result in the best flavor. I’ve done with and without the meat grinder and it’s lightyears better with the meat grinder!) Set up a meat grinder (I use the old style crank kind but you could also use an attachment for your mixer) and grind up all the elements of the stuffing in layers. I usually do bread, stuffing, onion, celery and repeat. Once everything has gone through, put it through one more time to really blend the mixture. I find it is best to have long pieces of the onion so it grinds the best.

5. Toss it in the bird (I do and have yet to get sick!) and put the leftovers in a casserole. I prefer my stuffing soft so I cover mine, but if you like yours crispy on top leave the cover off and put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350ºF.

6. Enjoy!