"bread stuffing" news and stories

This recipe, it's the one I've always loved. Nothing comes close to the delicious simplicity of sausage and bread stuffing, and this one has become a favorite of family and friends. I'll include the recipe as-is, and offer a list of suggestions on how to twist it below.

Bread stuffing for a 5 lb bird:
Note: This is all a matter of taste. You can go for the exact amount that matches your bird's weight, or make by sight -- preparing the bread first makes it easier to determine.

Ingredients:

1 lb First Prize Sausage -- pick any good and flavorful sausage
1/2 cup minced onions
1/2 cup minced celery
1/4 cup minced parsley
10 slices of bread cubed
1 1/2 tsp Bell's seasoning
1 beaten egg

• Saute sausage until crispy, drain, then rinse with water. (I usually leave out the rinse.)
• Saute the onions and celery, then mix with the sausage and add Bell's.
• Mix together the parsley and bread, add the saute mix, then the egg.
• Squeeze and mix the stuffing with your hands until it sticks together. If it looks too dry, add some broth or water.
• Cover and refrigerate until ready to stuff turkey.

Now, to spice things up:

• add a variety of mushrooms to the mix
• use a mix of sausages -- Mennonite, elk, etc.
• use a gourmet bread and approximate the same amount

It's almost Thanksgiving, and besides turkey, pies, and way too many football games, it means stuffing. Gourmet magazine has 11 great recipes in their November issue.

There are the stuffing recipes you've probably heard of, like Sage Stuffing, Herbed Bread Stuffing, Herbed Oyster, and Wild Rice, Apple, and Dried Cranberry Stuffing, but here's one you've probably not thought of: Jeweled Rice and Dried Fruit.

Actually, I think that one sounds a lot more common than another one on the list, the Poblano Chile and Pumpkin Seed Stuffing. That sounds just funky enough to have half of your family at the table say, "wow, cool, I'll try some" and the other half say "what the heck is that?"