Forest Floor Turkey Dressing for Men

Here is my husband's traditional 'Forest Floor' turkey dressing. Use whole rosemary and broken up sage leaves that are about the size of large nailheads. The trick is not to use powdered herbs.

The main texture is whole rosemary which has the consistency of pine needles. We grow our own sage, rosemary and thyme but there is no need for this, as it is available from the local supermarket. Just be sure to buy the herbs dried but whole and not powdered. They are available on the spice rack in the baking goods aisle at Safeway.

The bread should be left out to dry and cut into bits a few days before you make the dressing. Make lots of dressing and put some into the turkey and cook the rest in a casserole dish.

1 cup butter
1 - 2 large onion, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon salt
thyme (sprinkle in leaves to taste.)
4 tablespoons rosemary (break up the small twigs using a rolling pin if you wish)
2-4 tablespoons sage (use dried sage leaves liberally)
2 teaspoon black pepper (grind fresh pepper into coarse chunks)
2 tablespoons dried parsley leaves
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
16 - 20 cups stale bread, brown or cracked wheat, broken into one-inch pieces
about 2 - 3 cups chicken soup stock made from boiling water and 2 - 3 teaspoons of chicken soup powder.

Serves 6-8

Melt butter in large skillet and add all ingredients except the bread and stock. Cook over medium heat until onions are soft. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add the bread and chicken soup stock and mix well.

To stuff a turkey: Fill main turkey cavity and neck cavity with stuffing. Bake remaining dressing in a dish as outlined below.

To bake dressing in pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 15 x 10 inch baking dish. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Cover with buttered foil and bake until heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Instructions from here.

Sorry that this is too late for this year but maybe I will repost this next Christmas a little earlier. My husband dictated this to me - he makes it - we all eat it.

Update:

We had another family over for supper and they brought turkey dressing also. My friend had made a dressing from white bread flavoured with parsley and celery. We call it the garden vegetable turkey dressing. Everyone at the table had a good helping of both 'garden' and 'forest' turkey dressing. This is what makes us good complementarians. ;)

I made a cranberry relish with one bag of raw cranberries, (frozen works just as well) half a lime, cut in chunks with the rind on, one peeled tangerine and one cup of sugar. I put half the ingredients at a time into the food processor and puree till fine. This keeps well in the fridge so I often make two batches, one with lime and the other with an orange.

We also have squash, cooked and mashed with butter, lots of basil and fresh ground pepper and salt. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy round out the meal with a green vegetable or salad of some kind. Desert is an afterthought and less interesting.