A recent assignment forced me to spend a warm, sunny Sunday in the kitchen, testing stuffing recipes. It also got me thinking about my troubled relationship with this cooking staple. Since Stovetop Stuffing became all the rage during my toddler years, I have only hazy memories of my mother making homemade, rather than just-add-boiling-water, dressings. As a result, I can share no cherished family recipes for Mom’s cranberry-chestnut stuffing or Grandmother’s sweet potato-lentil filling. I can, however, wax about the stuffing varieties offered by Kraft Foods. Hobbled by this culinary deficit, I’ve experienced my share of homemade stuffing disasters. Take the Thanksgiving where I watched my husband’s extended family spoon out parched bread cubes that clinked as they hit the dinner plates. Then there was the follow-up meal where I overcompensated for the bone dry dressing and served a bland, gooey porridge of bread, minced onions and celery. No wonder my mother opted for store-bought mixes. Fortunately, I — and my dinner guests — persevered and learned from my mistakes. Today I can actually …