One of my favorite dishes for the holidays is cornbread dressing. I always loved holiday dinners when Mom or MoMo would make a big pan of this delicious and savory dressing. Paired with some yummy cranberry sauce, I can make a meal. This recipe makes a thick dressing, which I personally prefer to thinner or soupier dressings.
First you have to start with at least one pone of cornbread (use the savory version for dressing), more than one if you want to make a larger pan of dressing.
Preheat your oven to 350°. Start by preparing your broth. Add water and both types of oil to a stock pot and set on medium-high heat. Add all spices and the washed scraps and ends from the chopped vegetables. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally and then let simmer while you prepare the dressing mixture.
Crumble cooled cornbread into a large mixing bowl and add all vegetables. Strain the broth to get the large vegetable pieces out. Add 1 cup of broth to the cornbread and vegetables and mix thoroughly. Continue to add 1 cup of broth and mix until the cornbread mixture is wet. The cornbread should have soaked up the liquid and become wet, but not soupy. You may or may not use all of the broth. If not, store the remainder in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Once the mixture is thoroughly mixed and wet, add dried sage and mix well. Sage is a very strong spice, but is essential to the taste of this dressing, I encourage you to taste of the dressing at this point and decide if you would like to add more sage. Be careful though, too much will become bitter.
Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and bake for approximately 1 hour uncovered. You want to allow the dressing time to bake and dry out in the oven just little.