Homemade Stuffing/Dressing

Until recently, I was never sure what the difference was between "stuffing" and "dressing."  Maybe it's obvious to everyone else, but just in case you were wondering, too, let me share with you.  Stuffing is when you stuff your turkey with the bread mixture, dressing is when you simply bake it in the oven. Pretty simple.  This recipe can be used either way.  Personally, the whole concept of stuffing does not appeal to me, so each year for Thanksgiving, I prefer to make dressing. No matter which way you decide to go about it, this is a great-tasting recipe that you can't go wrong with!

Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 sticks of butter
2 one-pound loaves of bread, cubed (approximately 19 c. of bread cubes), dried for a couple of hours.
2 onions, chopped
8 stalks of celery, chopped
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 c. chicken broth
1/3 c. dried cranberries (optional)

Oven temperature: 350 degrees
Baking time: 30-40 minutes

Start out by melting the butter in a large pot.

Add the onion and celery to the melted butter, cooking until they become soft.

Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper, stirring well.

Add in your bread cubes.  I use my whole wheat bread--it tastes delicious in this recipe!  Stir well to coat the bread.

Next, pour in the chicken broth and again, stir well.  Finally, stir in the dried cranberries, and pour into a lightly greased 9x13" pan.

Go ahead and refrigerate the dressing unless you plan to bake it right away.  On the day you want to bake it, place it in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until the top layer of bread becomes golden and slightly crispy.  As I am not baking this until tomorrow, I do not yet have a "finished" photo to place on this post, but I will add it on when I can.  If you prefer to have stuffing, rather than baking this, you'll obviously stuff it in your turkey and cook it that way at this point.