Sausage Apple Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing

 Sausage Apple Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing 

Cook's notes: Cooking tip: Dry cornbread and white bread cubes out on a cookie sheet for several hours, or crumble up pre-made cornbread onto a baking sheet and toast in a 250-degree oven for about an hour. If you've got stale bread, rip it up and toast it too. This preparation can be done a day ahead. Optional: Add 2 cups of cooked wild rice. The entire dish can be made a day ahead. Recipe serves 8.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 medium celery stalks, chopped (1-1/2 cups)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 package of Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage or turkey sausage.
• 6 cups crumbled dry cornbread or 6 cups cornbread stuffing mix (equal to two 8-ounce packages)
• 6 cups dry white (like artisan or sourdough) or wheat bread cubes
• 2 cups peeled and chopped Granny Smith apples
• 1 cup dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh sage leaves or 1-1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon each salt and ground black pepper
• 32 oz. container of chicken broth, low-sodium

Directions:

• Heat broth in a separate pan and keep warm.
• In a large Dutch oven, cook the sausage, drain it, and set it aside.
• Melt butter in the same Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté celery, garlic, and onion for about 5 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat.
• Stir in crumbled cornbread, bread cubes, apples, cranberries, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper into the celery/onion mixture. Add in sausage. Mix in enough hot broth to moisten stuffing, tossing lightly to combine. More warm broth can be added as needed.
• Spoon stuffing into a 3-quart greased baking dish.
• Bake, covered, at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until heated through to the desired moistness.