Mom's Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing With My Twist

Mom's Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing (With Tam's Twist)

Preheat Oven to 425 for cornbread. Then put it on 325 for dressing.
Butter large baking dish- I use throw away pans with lids for family get-togethers- no dishes that way!!! lol I make my dressing up the night before, cover and refrigerate.
Ingredients:
Cornbread made from Yellow Cornmeal- (double recipe on back of bag to make 13x9 inch pan of cornbread- I use the recipe that calls for flour in cornbread.)
Bread Crumbs (5-6 pcs bread- white or wheat)
2 packs saltine crackers crushed
4-5 teaspoons Sage
2 tsp Thyme
Salt Pepper
1 cup salted butter
one large onion
6 stalks celery diced
2-3 dill pickles chopped fine
4 large eggs whisked
8-10 cups chicken broth or chicken bouillon ( I use half of each)
*Optional- you can cook the turkey giblets, chop up fine and add if you like.

Directions:
13x9 pan of cornbread- To Prepare Cornbread: just follow recipe on your yellow cornmeal bag. I double it for 13x9 pan.
*Helpful Hint- I add oil to the pan and heat it in oven until hot, then add my cornbread mix- this seals the bottom and keeps it from sticking to bottom too awfully bad.
Cool and crumble in large bowl. Add bread crumbs from five to six pieces of bread- wheat or white- don't care- up to you. Add two full packs of crushed saltines. Add salt and pepper to taste- add 4-5 teaspoons sage- more or less depending on your tasters, add one or two teaspoons of Thyme- toss or mix well and set aside.
 In sauce pan, melt 1 cup butter, saute until tender: one onion and five or six diced celery sticks, two finely-chopped dill pickles. Add to cornbread mix.
Add melted butter and let cool. Whisk 4 large eggs together and pour in. Add 8 cups of chicken broth- I use half chicken broth and half broth made from chicken bouillon. Mix well and add to buttered baking dish. Bake at 325 for a couple of hours or so- depends how brown you want it to be. Very tasty stuffing! Serves at least 12-15 people.

***Please Note: Mom's original Recipe does not call for bread, crackers, eggs, or Thyme. And she always used turkey giblets and a little of the broth from where she cooked the giblets.***