Stuff(ing) of Legend

With all the heartwarming messages of thanks and warm wishes across the blogosphere, I thought I'd do something different and BEG for help.

My cooking is nothing to brag about. It's okay. It won't kill you. And sometimes it even looks nice on the table. But I have no finesse, none of the pageantry my kid sister puts into her meals, or the gourmet magic my father used to inject into his food. And my best friend? She could rival Martha Stewart with one hand tied behind her back.

Let's face it, despite being surrounded by good cooks and culinary fashionistas, I'm a washout.

Even my mother-in-law showed me up.

I'll be honest. I did not like her cooking. It was too dry for my taste and most of it too lightly flavored. Greg liked it, but that's what he grew up eating. Today, he'd never touch the stuff because God bless him, he got used to my cooking. LOL.

But there was one thing my mother-in-law excelled at. Stuffing. So help me, in 35 years I've never been able to duplicate it. And my mother-in-law died before I had the sense to ask her for the recipe.

I've tried savory stuffing, sausage stuffing, and crunchy stuffing. Last year I even made my own cornbread to make the stuffing. None of them could compare to hers.

I'm thinking she used a particular spice that really brought out the flavor in her stuffing. I mean it's bread, right? How hard could it be?

Yet, I've never been able to reproduce it for my table. Every Thanksgiving, I ask Greg if it tastes like his mother's and every year I fail. It's good, he says. But it's not Mom's.

Rats! There's always next year.

So fellow friends and hearty eaters, if you get a chance, can you share your stuffing recipe? Or at least tell me what seasonings you use. I'm tired of my mother-in-law's ghost snickering at me over my shoulder.

Regardless of when you celebrate, the sentiment's the same. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!