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My stuffing changes from time to time, but at Thanksgiving family demands particular one. It involves Pepperridge farm or similar dried bread crumbs, saute'd celery, onion, carrot and lot and lots of mushrooms, finely chopped. Some sage sausage, finely chopped apple and additional sage or poultry seasoning. A couple of eggs and turkey broth to moisten. Do not over moisten or over mix. Then cover and bake. (Or refrigerate until tomorrow- Thanksgiving). Remove foil in the last few minutes so the top gets light golden.

As my mom says-- Oh my. This is amazing. (Which means she likes mine even more than her signature and also very delicious stuffing.)

4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."

Wouldn't sushi and the raw bar be included in this?

As I contemplated the beginning process for my stuffing, which included choosing between cubed or regular Pepperidge Farm seasonsed stuffing, my husband told me how his grandmother made hers fresh, and walked me through the process and down memory lane. While I'm sure it was delicious and the memory is precious, my mother used Pepperidge Farm and I loved it. She made two versions, one with mushrooms, which you should definitely add to your list, and the other with the turkey giblets, which you should also add to your list. She would cook the neck, liver, heart, etc. and before cutting it up, let us have a taste. Amazing how much flavor they added, and how great they tasted considering.

Next year I plan to make two stuffing dishes, one from homemade stuffing, the other Pepperidge Farm. I personally doubt my family will be able to tell the difference, and if they can, I wonder which one they will prefer without knowing which is which.

I've read all of Michael Pollan's book and this is considered more guideline than commandments. The first one is just the first general step. He's referring to, say, Go-Gurt. She wouldn't know what to do with it - brush her teeth? As for eating healthy - I'm a busy college student but I make it a conscious decision to eat right since I've done enough reading to know that poor diet high in animal-based proteins and fats is what is driving the obesity, heart disease, diabetes and even cancer in our country. Don't eat organic - it is often shipped from very far away so it's not always that good for you since it's not fresh and has a high carbon footprint due to transportation. I go to the grocery store twice a week and spend about $30 ($60/wk) on fruits and vegetables and seeds/nuts mostly. It would be convenient for me to just eat at fast food restaurants and get my quick heavy fix of calories, but if i ate twice a day at Taco John's, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.. it would cost me about ten dollars a day ($70/wk). Or even eating on campus costs about $50-60 so it's looks like it's better to just make my own food at home. And it's MUCH cheaper to make your OWN pizzas instead of ordering them out all the time. It's just less convenient. I actually love the time I spend making my food... cutting the vegetables. It creates so much anticipation for what you're about to eat you're about to explode by the time you finally get to eat it.

The problem with corn-fed beef is that the cattle are literally sick when slaughtered. A grass fed cow reaches slaughter weight around 4 years (~48 months), but a corn fed cow is grass fed for 6 months and then sent to a feedlot where they are fed a corn/grain based diet until slaughtered at 14-16 months (about 8 months to reach 48 month equivalent). The grain, that their digestive tracks aren't meant to digest, can make them very sick. The biggest health problem seen on feedlots is bloat from all the grain that they're systems just can't properly break down which creates large amounts of gas (leading to methane that gets in the air). Because the corn makes them so sick, they are injected with antibiotics (which you then eat). Your food is only as good as what your food ate. Of course the beef tastes different - corn is the basis of almost our whole diets by sweetening up this or that or making foods more appealing. But the meat tastes so empty compared to properly prepared grass-fed beef. It's not really the humanity of these operations that keeps me from eating beef, it's knowing that the food I'm eating would have died within a few months after if not slaughtered at 14 months from health complications due to force fed corn.

You find once you care about what you eat and where it's coming from, all of these guidelines are pretty much common sense and come pretty easy to follow. Most of the rest of the world consider food always near the top of the priority list - and they don't have the rates of disease as we see in this country. Wonder why?

The only store-bought stuffing I use is Stovetop Herbal Stuffing Mix and I add minced fresh Italian parsley. But I mostly use it on top of chicken casserole, not inside a turkey, and I let it bake until that topping is crunchy -yum!

Not picky with stuffing in box, I have 1000 of yrs experience doctoring this sort food item. I always use stock, eggs, and half and half. I will eat it with almost anything in it except the gizzards and what such, and eel? No, oysters yes. But everything else that is mentioned above bring it on. I could eat stuffing everyday of the year and never get tired of it. That is one of my most fav foods ever. There is so much that can be done with it, Soup is something I must have everyday all year around, it is a must with me, I think that i am going to have to add stuffing to accompany the soup I even have put some stuffing into chicken soup as a flavor yum. Nope having it just for the holidays just won't cut it with me anymore.

The only stuffing mix I buy now is the bag of Martin's Potato Bread cubes. I chop and saute everything else I add to it. I've found some bagged stuffings to be too salty. I used to buy Pepperidge Farm plain stuffing mix but loooooove those little potato bread cubes!

My mom has always started with Mrs. Cubbisons and then added mirepoix, black olives, italian sausage and the turkey gizzard type stuff to it. I don't know what else she adds but it is fantastic. Not too bready and definitely not gummy.

I have had dressing other ways, some with cornbread, also an oyster version and an apple type one and I always come back to my mom's.

I am SO tired of hearing people complain that eating healthy is expensive. Eating ORGANIC is expensive, but buying and eating lots of fresh produce and cooking at home is much cheaper and better for you than processed, fat&sodium laden crap that is turning the poor/middle class fat. Fast food is a convenience - if you take a *little* time to cook real food, you'll find that it doesn't break the bank and will do wonders for your health. Yes, this can be difficult for those working two jobs or just otherwise stretched to the max, but there are PLENTY of people who aren't so overburedened that they can't cook a simple meal.

He actually said "great-grandmother," not grandmother. And he doesn't mean to exclude things like sushi--it's made of fish and rice, which is obviously food. What isn't "food" are basically the items referred to in #2--things that aren't whole foods.

Okay, as a general guideline I like the rules. I think that they would be very difficult to adhere to all the time, and perfectly, as they are written, but they're generally decent rules. There is one exception, and it's as much about the other comments as the rules. Everyone is very keen to help "The Poor" eat healthier - get more fresh foods, less processed foods, etc. In principle, I'm bang alongside that. In practice, that won't necessarily help. Having a refrigerator stocked to the brim, for free, with good things won't be all that useful to a lot of the working poor. If you're working two jobs, trying to get your kids to and from school, possibly caring for a sick relative, etc, food is just going to slip to the bottom of the priority list. (I have a very good friend going through all that right now). You're going to pick up convenience foods that probably taste like feet, but fill you up and get you out the door quickly. Given that there will always be a certain segment of the population that is dependent on convenience foods, perhaps there needs to be more focus on making those foods less harmful than on eliminating them from use.

So, Ed, what brownie recipe did you use?