Apple sausage bread dressing

Apple Sausage bread dressing or stuffing

1 lb. of breakfast sausage or italian sweet sausage, cooked and crumbled
2-3 shallots or a half onion, finely diced
2-3 ribs of celery, diced
2-3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 stick butter
Aproximately 2 cans of vegetable or chicken broth
Sage, if desired
Aproximately 2 boxes of Mrs. Cubbinson's seasoned breadcrumbs or cubes
salt and pepper
melted butter or olive oil

Put the bread cubes in a bowl. You decide by how many people you are having if you use one or two boxes. We like it leftover so I use two boxes. Put the butter or margerine in a skillet and sautee the celery, onion and apple until soft. Pour the vegetables on top on the bread cubes. Add a can of broth and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir to absorb the liquid into the dried bread cubes. Add more broth or water for desired consistency. Put into a greased casserole dish. Top with a little melted butter or some olive oil. Bake, uncovered aproximately 30 minutes at 350 until golden on top.

NOTE: This year, 2010, I was lazy and didn't peel, core and dice apples so I took my kitchen shears and cut up my dried food storage apples, then rehydrated them with hot water for 15 minutes. No one knew the difference in the stuffing.

My family likes it this way, however you could add:
sauteed mushrooms
dried cranberries
cooked diced giblets, ew
wild rice mix, like Uncle Ben's or Rice A Roni
diced cooked bacon or panceta
raisins or other dried fruit like apricots
egg, as a binder
turkey stock from cooking the neck and giblets instead of canned broth