Recipe(tried): Cornbread Stuffing for Turkey - red - Here is my MIL's recipe

Bring giblet's (but not the liver), turkey neck, turkey fat, a slice of onion, a stalk of celery with leaves, cut in 1 inch chunks, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper, and 2 chicken bouillion cubes to a boil in plenty of water (About 4 or 5 cups). Turn heat down and simmer until reduced to 2 to 3 cups, an hour to 1 1/2 hours. Strain and reserve the stock. If you like giblets in your stuffing, reserve them and chop to add to your stuffing. We don't care for them in our stuffing so I discard them but I do like the depth of flavor that they add to the stock so I use them for that.

A couple of days in advance (or even 3 days), make the cornbread without the added sugar. Cool, then crumble, or cut in small cubes, and spread it out to dry out. You can always dry it out some on a cookie sheet in the oven if it doesn't seem dry enough.

In a large (huge) bowl, mix the cornbread with 1/2 of a small package of Pepperidge Farm's Herb Stuffing. (If you can't get Pepperidge Farm's stuffing, use small cubes of white bread in it's place. This should also be dried. You will just have to use more seasoning if you use plain white bread. Use maybe about 1/2 the amount of cornbread.)

Chop 1 huge or 2 medium onions and 3 stalks of celery. Saute in 1 stick (8 Tbl.) butter until onion is translucent. Add to the stuffing/cornbread in the bowl. Also add some chopped or torn celery leaves. Add 2 eggs lightly beaten and mix. Add chopped, fresh parsley, dried sage - heavy on the sage, dried thyme, and dried marjoram. (I don't have amounts but I would say about 1 Tbl. or maybe 2 Tbl. total. You kind of have to judge how it smells.) I ususally use Poultry Seasoning which is a combination of these herbs but use the others if you can't find the Poultry Seasoning. (I think MIL used the individual herbs.) Of course, feel free to use fresh herbs if you can get them and you want to go that route. Lastly, add some of the turkey stock that you made. We like our stuffing on the moist side but you judge how you like it. (Any extra stock can be used to make your turkey gravy.) Stir the stuffing, mixing well. Add salt and pepper to taste. My Yankee touch to this Southern stuffing is to add about 3/4 to 1 cup chopped walnuts to give the stuffing some crunch:-) Hmmm...maybe this has become my stuffing, not my MIL's:-) LOL! Some people like to cook crumbled sausage and add it to their stuffing. I, sometimes, like to add some chopped apple, as well as walnuts if I am making a bread stuffing without cornbread. I haven't tried adding them to cornbread stuffing.

If you plan on putting the stuffing inside the turkey, make sure that it is COMPLETELY COOL before you stuff your turkey. It should be no warmer than room temperature or you could give yourself a bad case of food poisoning. I can't stress enough to make sure that it is cool. Otherwise, put in a buttered casserole, cover, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a 350 degree F oven. Serve with your turkey. This makes a lot of stuffing but you'll have leftovers and you can freeze it, as well as slices of turkey to have again when you are no longer "sick" of eating turkey.

red, I hope that this helps. If you have any questions about the stuffing recipe, feel free to ask. There are a lot of wonderful cooks at this site and they are always happy and willing to share their recipes. Just let us know if you are looking for side dishes etc. or, even, a different stuffing recipe. The hardest part is choosing which ones you want to use:-)!!