You might want to try the Porcini Mushroom stuffing recipe from epicurious. It is very easy, and it was a big hit when I made it for Christmas last year.

We make a corn-bread and sausage stuffing; first you make a pan of cornbread, cut it into 1 inch cubes, then bake those on a pan until they are crispy -- just shy of burnt. From there on in it's pretty standard.

We're going with the braised turkey too, so we're in the same boat. I've already torn up a loaf and a half of a whole wheat levain boule into little pieces, which I'm letting dry on 2 sheet trays in the oven.

Then I'm going to saute up celery and onions in butter, add in some thyme and sage, deglaze with vermouth, and add that to the dried bread. I'm also planning on adding about a 1/2 cup of dried apples that I've chopped up, for a touch of sweetness. I bought bacon for the turkey recipe, and might saute up a few slices for the stuffing.

I'll moisten it with stock (made turkey stock last night so I can make gravy ahead of time, NY Times recipe), and might add in a beaten egg or two. Put it in a greased baking dish, cover with parchment then foil, and bake covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for the same. (Maybe start at 300 with the turkey, take out the turkey, bump the oven temp up, then bake uncovered to get crispy.

A friend made the most amazing stuffing last year. It started with a pretty basic stuffing recipe. But then, to finish it, she melted a tablespoon or two of butter in a skillet and fried the stuffing in the butter. Yes. Yes. That's right. Butter fried stuffing. Which is why it was so delicious, I'm sure. :) (But, really, the combination of crispy bread, butter, sage, and so forth? Yummmm.)

My family is into the basics too...onion, celery, apples and we add maple sausage. It's so good, we eat HANDFULS of this stuff before it is put into trays to be fully cooked!
Happy Thanksgiving and GOOD LUCK!

Just read you don't like sweet. Maybe ignore me. Sage flavored sausage would be awesome too. We used to add that. I really think sausage makes the stuffing!

I ditto Erin's comment about the sausage. Our family cheats a bit and starts out with the Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix, but we add fresh celery, onion, ground sausage and turkey stock, plus some diced fresh bread to keep it a bit softer. I'm cooking it outside of the turkey this year, too, so to keep it nice and moist, I'll baste it with some additional turkey stock.

Here's my basic go-to stuffing, via my mother, the one we make every year.

4 quarts good quality cubed bread (about 1 1/2 lb. loaf)
1 1/2 c. diced onion
1/2 c. melted butter
1 T. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. poultry seasoning
1 or 2 c. diced celery
1 1/2-2 c broth, milk, or wine (I use both broth & wine)
2 beaten eggs
chopped parsley & celery leaves
2 T chopped fresh sage

Cook the onion in melted butter until soft. Mix salt, pepper and poultry seasoning with bread in large bowl. Pour buttery onion, celery and liquids over bread cubes, add beaten eggs and mix well.

I've tried adding things over the years (sausage, apple, raisins), but this is the one everyone loves. You can make the stock ahead of time from the neck and that other package, which will be enough for this and the gravy.

This makes enough for a 14-18 lb turkey, so it can be halved if necessary (though I never do!). The bread cubs need to dry out for a day or two in advance.

Food & Wine's Chestnut Stuffing with fennel & Pancetta. I've made this recipe for the past 3 years. It may sound over the top, but the flavors meld together so well. I've made it with and without the chestnuts, and have found they aren't necessary. To me, it tastes very classic. Just think of the pancetta as bacon and the fennel as a sweet onion. Not so la-de-da after all...

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chestnut-stuffing-with-fennel

My mom always made stuffing with pecans and raisins in it, but I've started making it a little more traditional.

We use a chub (maybe a pound?) of pork sausage meat, a few stalks of celery, an onion or two (depending on how big your bird is. I always seem to roast 25 lb turkeys!)
Fry up the sausage, add celery and onions and sweat.
Add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.
Tear up 1 or 2 loaves of day old bread and mix with the sausage mixture.
Add in a beaten egg and enough chicken or turkey stock to moisten.

This can be stuffed into the bird, or baked in a caserole dish along side the turkey (takes about 45 minutes)

I've tried a lot of different kinds of stuffing. Ones with mushrooms, meatless... and I like mine the best. It's got teh best balance of stuffing flavour. I love the pork sausage in it, and this stuffing gets nice and dense and is good sliced into a sandwich. Seriously! Yum!

We had a couple of early Thanksgiving meals around here (my in-laws are going out of town this week, so we celebrated early), and I tried out a new stuffing recipe that I read about in Wondertime magazine. It is so amazing! I've been trying to find the right stuffing recipe for years, and this is definitely the winner. I made a half-batch for four adults and one toddler, and it was the perfect size for us, leaving just the right amount of leftovers. I think the butter, sausage, cranberries, and fresh sage all make it the absolute ideal stuffing. Yum!

http://wondertime.go.com/life-at-home/article/beat-this-stuffing.html

my mother makes the simplest stuffing - i think it's just the giblets, some onion, and bread crumbs, salt and pepper. the key is that she uses bread crumbs so the stuffing kind of forms itself into a loaf-like thing inside the turkey. it sounds weird, looks even weirder, but tastes amazing. i have to learn how to make it - only she and my grandmother know and i've never seen stuffing like it anywhere but from their kitchens.

My mom uses a combination of cornbread and ciabatta for her stuffing; the rest is pretty basic - onions, celery, and stock, plus sage and rosemary (I think). It's wonderful and I really need to learn how to make it myself. The one year I did it didn't taste quite right...

LegsBattaglia, that almost sounds like Natchinka (Ukranian stuffing). It uses breadcrumbs and cornmeal.

MMMMMM yummy.
I have a recipe that will feed 100 people!

Plain white supermarket "French" bread (called Pan Frances in my neck of the woods), celery, onions, sage, rosemary, thyme, pepper, salt, chestnuts, butter and stock. Cooked IN the bird.

LesBattaglia -- sounds like a chicken stuffing my grandmothers all made -- ours also had creamed butter, egg yolks, parsley and beaten egg white. It was very moist and lovely, but you could slice it.

I'll go ahead and admit it and tell you I cannot stand bread (or cornbread stuffing). It icks me out something fierce.

However, for other old bread applications, I like to just store bits of stale bread in the freezer. Usually homemade stuff, but sometimes a combination of homemade and commercial. Then I cube it all and use for croutons, bread pudding (or in your case, stuffing). The combination of so many types of bread gives a nice, extra character to whatever I'm making.

And on to stuffing - I'm a huge fan of rice stuffing. White long-grain, cooked, then mixed w/ stock/broth and sauteed apples-and-mire poix, with walnuts and seasonings (salt, pepper, sage, thyme) and roasted alongside the turkey is just lovely.

Bread stuffing - food of the gods. I am firmly in the cornbread white bread camp (about half and half), with sausage a requirement. From there, things loosen up. Fruit and nuts? Maybe. Dried mushrooms? Maybe. Essential - celery, onion, sage, parsley, and good stock, plus butter, particularly if you're not baking in the bird.

I'm a little afraid of the breadcrumb stuffing. My mom's stuffing is just a container of Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs, with water added. It is, to say the least, unappealing. But then again, she doesn't like cornbread or sausage in her stuffing. We always have two types on the table. (Two cranberry sauces as well - one plain from the can, the other homemade with whole berries.)

I love, Love, LOVE stuffing and have been put "in charge" of it since I was a wee one helping mom in the kitchen. We switch it up every year but the basics are always the same. Good quality, stale and toasted bread (baking Bittman's no knead tonight to allow it to get good and stale), onions, celery, one egg, prepared yellow mustard, fresh sage, parsley and thyme, one or two sticks of butter melted in hot water, and italian sausage. It's a good template from which to add other accoutrements: mushrooms, chestnuts, fennel, apples, etc.

I change the type I make all the time, but always bake it in muffin tins. This way everyone gets a little bit of the good crunchy top. (and it helps with portion control for the weak-willed...namely me.)

I like my stuffing basic with onions, celery, chestnuts, sage, and LOTS of butter. I like it with french bread or corn bread. I always cook it along side the bird instead of stuffing the bird. I like it better that way cause I think it gets to moist and sticky if you cook it in the bird. Here is a link to a basic stuffing cooking video that has a good recipe.

mschatelaine - yes! you can slice my mom's stuffing, too!

My very first stuffing recipe hunt I stumbled on the recipe here http://cheesecloth.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/the-stuffing/

It is, as god as my witness, the best stuffing ever. What's more, I'm convinced it's unscrewupable.

@LegsBattaglia - I know I'm joining the discussion a little late, but the stuffing you describe sounds like the UK version, that's always made with breadcrumbs