Family Recipe...Southern Cornbread Dressing

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Perfect for Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter/Holidays

Best dressing you will ever taste in your life.  No lie.  This has been in the family for years and it is the Bomb!  I have tried many other people's dressings and nothing compares to this one.  No offense to other people's dressing recipes.  This is my great grandmother's Southern Cornbread Dressing.  The recipe is fairly easy but, somewhat time consuming.  It requires a lot of chopping.  That is what will take the most time but, it will be worth it in the end I promise.  You can also freeze the mixture until you are ready to bake which is nice if you want to get a head start for Thanksgiving or Holidays.  You can also save some for another batch later if you like.

Ingredients-

1. 3-4 Large Onions

2. Aunt Jemiama White Cornbread Mix

3. Stalk Of Celery

4. 2-3 Cans of Swanson Chicken Broth

5. 6 Eggs

6. One Sleeve Of Saltine Crackers

7. 1 Stick Of Butter

8. Black Pepper

9. Natures Blend Seasoning

*Note- this will be enough for 2 batches/2 medium sized casserole dishes.  Around 12-20 people.

Directions-

Follow the directions on the Aunt Jemiama mix to make the cornbread.  When ready, spray your pan and bake the cornbread @ 420 degrees until it turns a golden brown.  It should be around 30-45 minutes.  Make sure not to overcook.

Next, cut up 3-4 sticks of celery and 3-4 Large Onions.  You can never have too much of this!  This is probably the most tedious part of the steps and you will more than likely cry while chopping the onions.  Again, I promise you it is worth it.  Make sure to chop the onion and celery into little pieces.  When you are done with the not so fun chopping part, you will then add both the celery and onions into a medium sized pot of Swanson's Chicken Broth.  Add 2-3 cans of the broth with the chopped onion and celery, and 1 stick of butter.  Boil on the stove on high for 30-45 minutes.  Add lots of black pepper and or Natures Blend Seasoning for extra spice and flavor.  My family likes a lot of pepper but, you don't have to add as much as we do.  I one time accidentally poured way to much pepper but, it still turned out great.  Again, let this cook for around 45 minutes while you go to the next steps.

When the cornbread mix is ready, let it cool off for a few minutes.  Next take the cornbread and crunch it up into little pieces....all of it.  Add a whole sleeve of the saltine crackers to the crunched up cornbread mix.  Crunch up the all the crackers like you did with the cornbread dressing.  You are finished with this step and need to wait until the celery/onion/broth mix is cooked and ready.

Once the celery/onion/broth mix has been cooked for 30-45 minutes, take it off the stove and let it cool for another 20-30 minutes.  Once the mix has cooled off, you are ready to mix it with the cornbread/saltine cracker mix.  Pour the celery/onion/broth mixture into the cornbread/saltine cracker mix and stir well.  You want this to be a thick mixture of the 2 combined.  This is where you can freeze the mixture overnight if you choose and bake later or continue to the last and final steps.  Once you have mixed both, you need to then add 4-6 eggs.  Again, stir until mixed.  Next, bake the mixture at 450 degrees for 45 minutes-1 hour.  You should have enough to pour into 2 separate medium sized casserole dishes.  You want it to be a golden brown.  After this, you are ready to serve.

The recipe is great with gravy of any kind.  My mom makes her own but, I prefer regular brown gravy with it.  I took it to a Friendsgiving last year and everyone went back for seconds and gave me a lot of compliments.....I hope you enjoy. :)