Two Awesome Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipes

Our family's heritage is quite diverse, and so are it's likes and dislikes. For the French-Canadians among us, we always have the traditional pork stuffing. The rest seem to enjoy our traditional bread stuffing. I'll have to admit, though, when it's not a holiday they all seem to like Stove Top Stuffing. Thanksgiving is the time to go all out, so we try to please everyone. This also helps to keep our family traditions for slipping away.

These recipes are easy and delicious and you can experiment with the ingredients to make it your own special recipe like we do.

The traditional stuffing uses bread as the base. The stuffing cools pretty quickly, so it doesn't have to be made to far ahead of time.

Traditional Stuffing

Ingredients:

8 to 10 cups of cubed bread (some say stale bread works best, others like croutons, some like a certain type of
bread, it's your choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 large or 2 average onions
2 celery stalks leaves included
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (we like Bell's Seasoning)
1 large carton chicken broth

First add the olive oil to the bottom of a large skillet or stockpot. Dice the onion and celery very finely and add to hot oil. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the bread to the pan and stir. now add the slightly soften butter and allow the bread to brown up a bit. Once it is slightly brown sprinkle with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Now add the broth according to your liking. Some people like the stuffing very moist. I prefer not to make it too wet. It absorbs a lot of the juices from the turkey while it's cooking.

Pork Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground pork
1lbs ground beef
1 large onion (diced)
salt
pepper
Bell's Seasoning
3-4 large white potatoes (optional)

If you're planning on using potatoes in this recipe, then just peel them and boil them in water. They're done when they are tender to a fork. Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a large skillet add the pork and beef. Break up the meat with a spatula and add the diced onion. Continue cooking meat until it is completely browned and cooked thoroughly.Mean while add approximately 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper and the poultry seasoning. If you are adding the potato, then just smash the cooked potatoes a few times with the masher. Mix the potato in with the cooked meat. Now, while the mixture is still hot and int he pan taste test it. If it needs a little more flavor add some and retest until it is just perfect- You'll know. Now, simply put it in a bowl and refrigerate until cold. It may take some time to cool, so you may want to prepare it the night before. Enjoy.