Sausage Cornbread Dressing- Ashley

Sausage Cornbread Dressing
Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

9×13″ pan of regular or Sweet Cornbread (can be made a few days ahead of time and left to dry out on the counter or crumbled and dried out in the oven)
16-19 ounces Italian sausage
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. melted salted butter
Sage (2 teaspoons rubbed sage or 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage)
Rosemary (1/2 teaspoon dry or 1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary leaves)
Thyme (1/2 teaspoon dry or 1 teaspoon thyme leaves stripped from the woody stems)
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (plus more if necessary)
Tabasco sauce to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Crumble the pan of cornbread into a very large bowl. Set aside.

Crumble the Italian sausage into a hot skillet and brown it over medium heat. Transfer the crumbled sausage to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

If there are 2 tablespoons of rendered sausage drippings in the pan, add the chopped celery, apples, and onions. If not, add enough olive oil to have around 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan and add the chopped ingredients when the oil is hot. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and fragrant. Remove from heat and add to the crumbled cornbread. Add the sausage and chopped herbs and toss until combined. Add the chicken broth and melted butter and toss to combine well. Season with salt and Tabasco to taste.

Press the cornbread mixture into a 9×13″ pan and bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven or until the top is golden brown. Serves about 12.

Sweet Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix
2 Jiffy cornbread mixes
Oil, milk, and eggs according to package directions from ALL packages

Instructions:

Preheat oven according to directions on cake mix box. Combine cake mix and cornbread mixes in a large bowl. Add eggs, oil, and milk according to package directions (replace all water with milk). Mix together according to cake mix directions.

Now…this makes a lot of cornbread, and if it were easy to half it, I would. However, I never trust myself to accurately cut a cake mix in half, so I just make all the cornbread and then freeze the leftovers. I like to make 1 pan of muffins (12) and 1 9×13″ pan of cornbread, for no other reason than it fits into my oven all at the same time. You could also do a 9×13″ pan and an 8×8″ or 9×9″ pan; it’s all up to you. Just bake according to cake mix directions (about 20 minutes for muffins or 30 minutes for a 9×13 pan”).