Apple and Sausage Stuffing

While I do recognize that onion and celery are pretty much essential parts of the whole stuffing idea...I'm not a huge fan of stuffing that just tastes like onion-y bread! My friend Erica's grandmother had made a stuffing with apples in it one year while I was visiting them for Thanksgiving and I LOVED IT! Ever since I've been searching for a recipe that would taste as good! So after trying a few different recipes I finally decided I was just going to have to make up my own last year! So here it is! I know that apples and cinnamon sound like strange additions to stuffing but my family enjoys it. Plus, my family loves that I make it with the cheap-o bread because it's just about the only time each year that I buy that kind!

Apple and Sausage Stuffing 

10 pieces white bread 10 pieces wheat bread (like the cheap wheat bread) 

1 lb. sausage cooked

1/3 cup chopped onion 

1/2 cup chopped celery 

3/4 cup butter 

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

2 golden delicious apples (chopped) 

1 tsp. salt 

2 tsp. parsley 

1 T. cinnamon 

1/2 tsp. nutmeg 

Tear bread into small pieces and place out on counter on a baking sheet.  Allow to dry out for an hour. Meanwhile, cook sausage and set aside. When bread it dry, saute onion and celery in butter in a large pot until tender. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Remove broth mixture from heat. Add chopped apple, sausage and bread (making sure to coat evenly). Add spices and mix thoroughly. Place stuffing in 9x13 pan and bake 20 min. at 350 degrees. You want to bake it enough that it's not soggy but don't over-dry it!