Moist, but not soggy. Nothing crunchy. No fruit. No rice. No cornbread.

Those were my wife's orders for this Thanksgiving's stuffing. Come up with a recipe that is New England Pilgrim good. Nothing fancy or strange. No unusual ingredients or flavors. Something savory that oozes comfort and home.

The request came after seeing too many television commercials and food magazine articles pushing everything from heat-and-eat bagged concoctions to elaborate, Asian-fusion recipes calling for pears and seafood. Uck!

It got me thinking about the stuffings of my childhood. In our mostly vegetarian home, stuffings never were stuffed in anything (aside from casserole dishes). It's not that we didn't have a turkey to stuff, but that by cooking the stuffing outside the bird anyone could eat it.

It wasn't until I was dating my wife that I encountered a bird filled with bread. Tasty and moist, but it still seemed somehow wrong.

As I researched recipes, I discovered that stuffings cover broad culinary ground. White, whole-wheat, corn or sourdough bread? With or without cranberries? Raisins? Rice? How about sausage? And eggs?

Eggs? I had no idea conventional stuffing recipes can require half a dozen or more eggs. My mom's recipe was always bread, onions, celery, seasonings and broth. Bake it and serve with mashed potatoes and loads of (vegetarian) gravy.

So that's where I started. Since our Thanksgivings continue to be a mix of carnivores and veggies, I decided to follow Mom's philosophy and aim for a one-stop-shopping sort of stuffing everyone could eat.

That meant no eggs. And no sausage. I toyed with the idea of including soy sausage or veggie chorizo, having drooled over a few recipes that called for the real thing. But that just seemed an adulteration that would detract from the other ingredients.

Cranberries also tempted. I liked the idea of bits of bright red berries peeking out of the bread. But though cranberries might look good, they would add too much of a sweet undertone to what should be a savory dish.

My solution: finely diced red peppers, which would add the color I sought and just a bit of crunch (to help make up for the absent celery).

For broth, I was torn. Vegetarian "chicken" broth offered the best flavor, but not everyone will be able to find it (it's available at most natural-food stores). Vegetable broth is a reasonable second.

Finally, though many people will swear by cornbread, I just don't think it belongs in stuffing (no matter how much I love it on its own). Cornbread is just too crumbly, and stuffings made with it often end up a mushy mess. I wanted a stuffing with body and substance.

I considered whole-wheat bread, especially seeded, but ultimately settled on sourdough for flavor. I liked the tang it gave the recipe.

As for drying the bread, the consensus seems to be time. Cut the bread into cubes, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and set out (uncovered) overnight. They should be slightly stale but not rock-like. Alternatively, a quick toast in the oven works, too.

SOURDOUGH STUFFING WITH SAGE, THYME AND MARJORAM

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter or nondairy alternative

3 MEDIUM ONIONS, FINELY DICED

3 GARLIC CLOVES, MINCED

2 RED BELL PEPPERS, FINELY DICED

3 tablespoons minced fresh sage

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

2/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

SALT AND FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER, TO TASTE

1 loaf (about 1 pound) sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and dried

1 to 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over a medium-high flame. Add the onions, garlic and bell peppers and saute until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the sage, thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt and pepper and cook another minute. Remove skillet from the heat.

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Stir in the vegetables. Pour the broth over the bread and vegetable mixture and mix well.

Transfer the stuffing to a large, lightly oiled or buttered casserole dish. Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 10 servings.