Stuffing

I know stuffing's ordinary, but, let's face it, we all have to cook mostly ordinary foods every day. The trick is finding a better way to make the ordinary foods, or to create better side dishes to go with the same meat over and over. For Christmas week, I had ordered Pepperidge Farms stuffing cubes, or so I thought. Instead, I got bags of plain white bread cut into cubes. Oh, my aching ______! I could have done that with a knife if I wanted to. But, I flipped it over, and the directions looked intriguing, so I kept it. Having made it twice now, my husband has declared that it's the best stuffing he's ever had that wasn't cooked inside the turkey, and our sons agreed. Since some of them are pretty fussy, that meant this was good enough to share with all of you!

STUFFING

1 pound bread cubes, not toasted (leaving the crust on is fine!)
1-1/2 cups butter or margarine
1 large onion, minced
1 large carrot, minced
3 ribs celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 cup dried parsley or fresh chopped parsley

Melt the butter or margarine in a sauce pan, and arrange the bread cubes in a baking dish. Cook the onion, carrot and celery in the butter until the celery is soft, then add 1/2 cup water and the bouillon cube. Heat until the cube is melted, and add the poultry seasoning and parsley; mix well. Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and toss until they're all dampened. This will not be as wet a mixture as Stove Top or some other stuffing. Fret not! Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes. Stir and serve.
In this picture, you can see the stuffing served with turkey breast. I poured 1/4 cup white wine over this turkey, then sprinkled it with tarragon. For the gravy, I added a bit more tarragon, about 1/2 tsp, and a tablespoon of dijon mustard. I'm not a big fan or gravy, either, but everyone else liked it. It was different from the usual gravy, but evidently quite good!