Mimi's Sausage Dressing

Everyone loved, loved, loved Mimi's Sausage Dressing.  However, no one has the recipe.  When she died the one thing I wanted was her recipe card box - which I got.  That is when I learned her secret - she didn't really write things down!  And when she did, they were vague and often missing important ingredients - so not matter how you tried, you couldn't duplicate the recipe to be the way she made it.  (I am sure she found this very amusing.) 

So after many years of trying to duplicate her dressing, I came upon a simple recipe that tastes pretty darn close to the one she made.  It was actually from Neese's Sausage.  I can't get it up here in VA< so I have to use BobEvans Sage, which is OK, but nearly as good as Neese's - so if you live where you can get Neese's, use it!


3-4 stalks celery, finely diced
2 medium onions, finely diced
1 pound of extra sage sausage
28 oz. of sage dressing mix/cubes or crumbles - doesn't matter
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 Tbs dried sage (or fresh if you have it - use more to taste)
1 Tbs of parsley if you have it (I use dried, but fresh would be better)
3-4 c. chicken broth (lower salt is a good idea)
1 c water

Brown the sausage in a large pot.  Drain off extra fat and then dump veggies in a saute until crisp tender.  Mix in the can of soup and 2 cups of chicken broth, poultry seasoning, parsley flakes, and sage. 


Carefully dump in the dried dressing mix and start stirring.  At this point you will add the other 2 cups of broth as you stir.  You can add the water, if needed.  The mixture should be a little wet, but not sopping.

Load the dressing into a 9x13 pan and pop into the oven at 350.  It is fully cooked, but the longer you leave it in the oven, the more cohesive it will become.  It is very forgiving.  I usually cook it for about 45-50 minutes.