That Yummy Stuffing

This is a recipe my sister made last year for Thanksgiving, and it is a new family tradition now. So say I, right now on this blog. It is so so delicious. It is so good I feel like you could make it as a casserole one night and just eat that for supper with nothing else. Jess & I made this yesterday for the annual Schmeling Thanksgiving Potluck. This is a get-together Brad & Autumn have so that you get to have Thanksgiving with the people you CHOOSE, not just people you are related to. So that on the actual day of Thanksgiving you are not sad because you miss all your friends, and you say "I wish I could have this yummy holiday with my church family too, and only have to make one dish instead of the whole meal," because that is what you just did at their house. At least that might be why they do it. It's why we go, anyway. And we both love our families very very much, and our own holiday traditions, but it is nice to get to celebrate twice with two sets of people. So anyway here is the recipe...it's actually originally a Pampered Chef recipe, but we have doctored it so that we don't have to buy their spice ingredient that it calls for.

The Yummy Stuffing
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sliced celery
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 pkg (14 oz) herb-seasoned cubed stuffing
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
2 cups coarsely chopped apples (you can leave the peel on)
2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350. Place sausage in skillet; cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking into crumbles. Remove skillet from heat and transfer sausage to a paper towel-lined plate (do not drain skillet). Add butter to skillet; heat over medium heat 1-3 minutes or until foamy. Add celery and onion; cook and stir 4-5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. In a LARGE mixing bowl, combine stuffing, cranberries, apples, seasonings, and sausage. Add vegetable mixture and broth; toss until moistened (you should just stir it. If you toss it, it is so messy). Spoon stuffing into a big baking dish. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer or until stuffing is golden brown and heated through. 16 servings.

Try it and see! No kids liked it, but the adults did.