On the Sixth Day of Christmas... "the best stuffing recipe ever"

I have a bit of a problem with cooking stuffing inside of a turkey. I know it tastes good and I grew up with my mom doing it every single year, but I just can't bring myself to do it. All I can think of is I'm going to make my guests sick and someone is going to get food poisoning. Salmonella scares me... Irrational I know, but still.

I am also of the opinion that cooking a turkey with stuffing is a lot harder than cooking it without - you have to be very careful that the stuffing is cooked enough on the inside, but that the turkey meat is not overcooked. So I make my stuffing in a casserole dish every year and most years people have told me that it was good, but this year, this new recipe I used, I received rave reviews. In fact, I was told by my sister that she thinks it was the BEST stuffing she has EVER tasted. Period. So try it out for yourself - you won't be disappointed.

Herbed Stuffing
Recipe adapted from Canadian Living Everyday Favorites

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 4 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp each salt, dried savory, marjoram and pepper
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 14 cups cubed white bread
• 1/2 package bacon, chopped

Method:

1. Brown the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, but leave bacon fat in pan. Melt in the butter over medium heat. Fry onions, celery and seasonings until vegetables are tender. About 10 - 15 minutes. Transfer to a very large bowl. Add bread and bacon. Toss to combine.
2. Spoon into a greased casserole dish. Cover and bake at about 350F to 375F for 20-40 minutes. Remove the cover for the last 10 minutes or so to let the outside crisp up a bit if you like that. Otherwise leave it covered til its nice and hot.

This is a truly delicious recipe. The herb combination is absolutely amazing - don't cut back because it sounds like a lot of herbs - the flavours combine so nicely and just give the stuffing the most amazing flavour.

Happy Cooking My Friends!