Mom’s Thanksgiving Stuffing

There are a few things that I look forward to each year at Thanksgiving: getting together with family and my mum’s stuffing. There are a few things I love about the holiday season, the red Christmas cup at Starbucks, twinkle lights going up on all the trees downtown, the hope of snow in the city, Christmas cheer and decorations, presents under the tree and stuffing. Yes, stuffing. If you haven’t had my mum’s stuffing at Thanksgiving you haven’t lived friends. Bold statement I know, but it’s true. My mum has used the same stuffing recipe for as long as I can remember and I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember. For a gal who’s doesn’t usually lose her mind over bread, butter or sausage I go crazy for my mum’s stuffing. Thanksgiving doesn’t feel the same without it. There is some magic that happens when you cook up some Jimmy Dean sausage (the regular flavor! None of the others taste as good, we’ve tried!) and throw it in a casserole dish with some chopped onion and celery apple and mix it with a box of  Mrs. Cubbison’s Corn Bread Stuffing. It’s magic folks, pure magic. Already being in the kitchen cooking is a HUGE advantage in this situation because then I get the snag a few bites of the mixed up goodness before going in the oven.

This year mum and I cooked up the Turkey day feast and we had a blast in the kitchen! She brined and cooked the bird and whipped up some gravy from scratch and made a batch of her ridiculously delicious cranberry sauce and some homemade cinnamon apple sauce. I was in charge of roasting up our veggies and making a Pumpkin and Pecan pie with crust from scratch. I didn’t have time to home roast a pumpkin like I usually do so a can of Libby’s pumpkin stepped in. It’s a great pinch hit if you don’t have time to roast your own pumpkins. The entire feast was incredibly tasty, but my heart belongs to the stuffing. I dream about this stuffing all year and for some reason never wrote down the recipe so this year I made it a point to get her recipes and write them down! The next few weeks will be sprinkled with her mum’s recipes for Thanksgiving feast!

If you have one oven like we do, you can make the day-of cooking a bit easier by making most of this recipe ahead of time and simply assembling and cooking in between turkey and your other side dishes.

Mom’s Famous Thanksgiving Stuffing
prep time: 3o min  | cook time: 1 hour

Mrs. Cubbison’s Corn Bread Stuffing, 1 12 oz box
1 lb. roll of Jimmy Dean regular flavored sausage
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bunch finely chopped celery
1/2 stick of butter
1 sour green apple, finely chopped
1/2 c golden raisins
1/4 c brandy
2 3/4 chicken broth

Steps 1- 4 you can make up to three days ahead of time and store in an airtight container in the fridge. For day-of assembly, start at step 5.

1. Soak the 1/2 c golden raisins soaked in the 1/4 c brandy plus the 3/4 c. of the chicken broth. (Save the other 2 cups of chicken broth for later in the recipe).
2. Sauté onion in 1/2 stick of butter. Throw in celery and sauté until translucent. Throw in chopped apple and let sauté for just a bit longer. Scoop the mixture onto a plate.
3. In the same pan, add the sausage and cook until crispy. Drain off any fat, there might not be any but you can soak it up with a paper towel.
4. Drain the raisins, saving the liquid, and add to the sausage in the pan. Add the onion celery mixture and simmer about 5 minutes. Then add the brandy and chicken broth from the raisins and an additional 2 cups of chicken broth.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
6. In a large bowl add the sausage and veggie mixture and a box of the stuffing crumbs and fold until moist. Don’t over mix or crush the bread piece.
7. Butter a glass baking dish (you can use either a two quart or three quart glass baking dish) and add the mixture. Add a few pieces of very thinly sliced butter to the top of the dish. Cook 45 minutes covered in pre-heated oven.
8. Turn heat up to 415, remove lid and cook for an additional 15 minutes. The top will look a little burned but don’t worry, that’s the BEST part and it tastes AMAZING!