Martha Stewart’s Herbed Corn Bread Dressing This stuffing takes some time to make, but it is delicious and well worth it. Always a hit!

• ½ cup dark raisins soaked in • 1 cup chopped celery • ½ cup Cognac overnight • One 15-ounce can of chestnuts, drained • Corn Bread, cut into cubes and left out and chopped overnight to dry. (For people who are • ½ cup snipped fresh flat-leaf parsley gluten free, Uncle Bob has a nice mix.) • 1 tablespoon dried sage leaves • 2 cups chopped onions • 2 teaspoons dried marjoram leaves • 2 garlic cloves, minced • 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves • ¼ pound (1 stick) butter • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves • 1 pound bulk pork/turkey sausage • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper • ½ cup chopped shallots • 2 teaspoons salt • 1 ½ cups chopped tart apples • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I suggest you make this stuffing the day before Thanksgiving. Doing so takes a lot of pressure off of you on Thanksgiving Day. The suggested timing below is for making it the day before Thanksgiving.

Two Days Before Thanksgiving: è Soak the raisins in Cognac overnight. è Make the cornbread the day before so you can let it sit out overnight. One Day Before Thanksgiving: è In a large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in the butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. è Add the sausage and shallots; cook until sausage is brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the apples and celery; cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain, set aside the juices. è Combine corn bread cubes, raisin misture, sausage mixture, and remaining ingredients except eggs. Toss. è Whisk eggs into any drained juices, and stir into mixture. è Spread into a buttered, flat, large baking dish (or two, if you need to). è Bake roughly 45 minutes around 300 or 350 degrees.

If you like stuffing the turkey, do so. However, it is safer to bake the stuffing separately, in my opinion, as many people get sick at Thanksgiving because the heat in the oven may not penetrate the stuffing completely (it is densely packed into the turkey). It is also more convenient to bake the stuffing separately, as the stuffing can be assembled the day or night before and refrigerated, then baked at the same time as the turkey.