Here birdie, birdie, birdie.

First Tom gets and nice olive oil massage. Then he is gently rubbed with steak seasoning that has been ground into a very fine powder along with ground sage, salt and pepper. After that, an orange and a lemon are squeezed over him and the remaining fruit is tossed into his cavity (Ooo). A generous fist full of Parsley, another handful of sage, several sprigs of rosemary and a few of thyme are also placed into the cavity to help flavor the bird. Then it’s into the roaster and in the oven to be cooked as directed per weight.

Now for the stuffing.
I make a dried cherry and sausage stuffing. I found it years ago on-line most likely from the food network web site. I’m sure if you looked it up you could probable find their version. I tend to slightly alter recipes each time I make them. You know, I add more of what I like and less of what I don’t like until I get the flavor I want.

Here’s what you need:

1 stick butter (It’s thanksgiving, no one can diet on this day)
5 to 6 ribs of celery finely diced (the smaller the better for me)
Fist size or smaller of onion. I like Vidalia but they can be bigger so I just use a portion. Again finely diced.
10 healthy cups of bread cubes
1 cup (at least) of dried cherries (you can find them where the raisins are in the store)
About ¾ of a pound of sweet sausage cooked and crumbled
¾ cup of parsley chopped
30 (plus) ounces of chicken broth (you might need more if you make it ahead of time or if you like it more moist).
Salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a skillet add the celery and onion and cook until translucent.
In a large bowl combine; celery, onion, bread cubes, cherries, sausage and parsley. Add the broth and stir until well mixed.

Bake covered for 1 hour and then uncovered for another 15 minutes.
(This can be made 1 day ahead)

This has always been a big hit. If you do make it ahead of time, you might need to add more broth before you put it in the oven. Sometimes the bread soaks everything up and it can become dry stuffing… blah.

As you might have noticed from yesterday’s post about the menu, I make a ton of food for this one meal. I am very grateful that I have been blessed with 2 refrigerators and 2 ovens. I wouldn’t know how to pull this off otherwise.

What makes your Thanksgiving go smoothly?