Pat Kunst’s Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

(as interpreted by her son, Scott)

8 cups of cornbread

        [2 8.5 oz. packages of Michigan-made Jiffy corn muffin mix]

1 cup raisins [before soaking]

8 cups of white bread, cubed

        [1 16 oz. loaf of Pepperidge Farm Original or something equally dense]

1 lb. pork sausage

3 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

1 14.5 oz. can of low sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon steak sauce [if you have it]

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

3 eggs

The day before, make the cornbread and soak the raisins in water. You want the cornbread to be cool and the raisins plump the next day.

Thanksgiving morning, cut the loaf of bread into small cubes and put it in the biggest bowl you have. Break up the cornbread and mix it in.

Brown the pork sausage in a large frying pan, breaking it up and stirring it constantly. [If you don’t stand by the pan and mash and crumble and stir the sausage constantly, it will cook in large pieces which will be hard to break into smaller pieces.] When it’s done, set the sausage aside in a large bowl, but don’t mix it in with the bread and cornbread yet.

Drain the raisins and them in the pan you used for the sausage. Chop up the vegetables and sautè them with the raisins, adding a little canola oil or whatever as needed. Cook until tender. [I usually start with the carrots because they seem to take the longest. Then I add the celery and finally the onions. If your frying pan isn’t big enough, sautè one vegetable at a time and put it in the bowl with the sausage before going on to the next one.]

Mix the sausage, vegetables, and raisins into the bread and cornbread.

Pour the chicken broth into a small bowl. Mix in the steak sauce, poultry seasoning, and eggs. Gradually add this to the stuffing, mixing thoroughly.

Put in a casserole dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

[Serve and enjoy!]