Holiday Turkey Stuffing

This is a decadent but delicious stuffing that we have used many times, including last week's Thanksgiving meal. It can be roasted inside the bird, or as we do, baked in a large side pan to be served with the turkey. The recipe that I describe here is for the side pan. The portions that I give will stuff of a 14-18 pound turkey. This recipe is adapted from television chef Vince Scalese.

Ingredients

2 boxes Stove Top Chicken Herb Stuffing
1 box Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing

1 10 oz. package chopped frozen spinach, unthawed
3 cans low sodium chicken broth, low sodium
1 lb. hot Italian sausage
1 cube butter
1-1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
6 green onions
2 yellow onions
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup cooked wild rice

Directions

Chop all vegetables fine and mix in with the stuffing and Parmesan cheese. Press the water out of the spinach and saute in a medium sauce pan with the butter. Add the broth and heat through. While spinach mixture is heating remove the casing from the sausage and brown in a large skillet. To save on the fat you may drain this, but the original recipe called for the sausage and drippings to be used! That's your call. We strain off the excess oil.

Pour the broth and spinach mixture into the stuffing mix, then add the cooked sausage. Mix all of this thoroughly. If you prefer to stuff and bake your bird at this point the mixture will be wet and easy to spoon in. We butter a separate large Pyrex baking tray and pour our stuffing into tray, spreading it out evenly. We bake it uncovered in the oven at 350 degrees on a rack over the turkey that has been roasting at least an hour and a half prior. It will take only an hour for the stuffing to bake. If your turkey still requires more roasting time you can pull out the tray and cover it with foil until the turkey is done.

Serve on the side with cranberry sauce and a drizzle of that great turkey gravy you've made from the turkey drippings!