Family Cookbook Version Three

I recently got the third version of my cookbook back from the printers. This book started with a spiral bound black and white typed version with black and white seasonal illustrations and really none of the food! Of course this was ages ago when a photo of each recipe wasn't expected. I created that book to be a collection of our family's favorite recipes, mostly from the time when I was growing up and it was meant for my Mom and my siblings.

About ten years later I created a printed version in full color with lots of photos of the food made. It also had an index, something the first book lacked, plus it was organized in a more traditional way...beverages, breakfast foods, side dishes, beef, chicken, fish, desserts, cakes, cookie...like that. The first version had been organized by seasons. I actually sold this version, so it's tone was aimed at non-family members.

So for this third version is back to being for the family. Because of that it includes seven pages of family photo collages focused on my siblings and their progeny, plus spouses and significant others, with another page showing thumbnails and all of the names of the folks in the photos. It has more stories and tips from family members, more recipes and more photos of food. It took months but I enjoyed every minute of it! Guess what family members will be getting for Christmas this year?

Because Thanksgiving is coming ever closer and because this year many of us will actually be able to have dinner with family on Thanksgiving, I think that sharing a recipe for my favorite stuffing is a good idea. This recipe makes enough to stuff a 15-19 pound bird, but I use it to stuff a 12-15 pound turkey, plus extra to bake in a casserole dish on the side. This is a version of my Mom's stuffing recipe and uses both stale bread and corn bread. Each time I make it I very it slightly. Sometime I use pecans, sometimes I add dried cranberries or chopped apple. The breads differ, too, because I'm often using ends from breads that I baked over the previous three months. I keep those ends in the freezer for just this purpose! The point is that if you keep the proportions the same, you can make your own signature stuffing. You'll be glad you did! This will taste so much better than the stuff you get at the grocery.

Stuffing

1 cup margarine, melted (you can use butter if you prefer...I think Mom did in the mid-century version)
4 medium onions, minced
¾ cup parsley, chopped
1½ cups celery leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons pepper
4 quarts soft stale breadcrumbs/bread cubes and corn bread - I use a mixture of leftover bread ends of many kinds, plus corn bread
1 cup chicken broth 

Saute’ the onions, parsley, celery leaves, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper in the melted butter for 5 minutes. Combine sautéed mixture with the breadcrumbs/bread cubes (may substitute some cornbread). Moisten with chicken broth. You may also add 1/2 to 1 cup chopped apples, dried fruit, chopped toasted pecans, or oysters. Use
stuffing to stuff bird. Extra may be baked in a greased casserole dish in a 425⁰ F. oven ‘til brown (after turkey is out of oven). Enough for a 15-19 lb. turkey.