Bourbon Berry Stuffing

My favorite memory of cooking as a kid was ripping the bread for my grandmother's turkey stuffing. The feel of a doughy white bread in my fingers and the smell of poultry spices and onion simmering on the stove brings me back to her kitchen. Even now, I always involve my kids in cooking and ripping stuffing bread is a perfect task for little hands.

A few years before my Nan died, I asked for all of her secret recipes to bond in a cookbook for our family. I learned much of her secrets were simply clipped from the weekend newspapers. No matter, they were our family tradition, and I loved them.

But I can't leave well enough alone, I need to riff and remix everything, so I took my grandmother's basic stuffing and twisted it a bit for this modern Thanksgiving stuffing idea:

Bourbon Berry Stuffing

1 c of Bourbon [or more ;)] 2 stalks diced celery

1 large diced onion

1 diced apple

1 package of fresh poultry seasoning [thyme, rosemary and sage]

1 loaf of cubed white bread

1 lb of sausage meat

1Ž2 c of dried cranberries

1Ž2 c of dried blueberries

1Ž2 c of blackberrie

Sautee the onion, celery, apple and poultry seasoning until transparent.

Add the sausage and brown the sausage meat. Set aside.

Mix cubed bread, dried berries. Add sausage mixture to the bread mixture.

Slowly add the bourbon until the mixture becomes moist and sticks together.

Stuff it in the bird and bake away!!