An extra pan of dressing can be a welcome addition to holiday dinner gatherings. While oyster or rice dressing might be more traditional, this cornbread dressing is pretty wonderful too, even if it's a bit more generically "Southern." In theory, you can use any sort of sausage you like, but something about sweet Italian sausage works great with cornbread. 

For this recipe, cornbread made from a boxed mix is fine. If you'd rather, here's a simple recipe for scratch-made: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17891/golden-sweet-cornbread/

This makes a fairly large quantity, so you might halve the recipe for smaller groups.

1 stick of butter
1 cup finely chopped celery stalk
1 cup finely chopped onion 
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup minced fresh herbs, a combination of parsley, green onion tops, and/or celery leaves
1/2 pound sausage, crumbled
5 cups crumbled corn bread
6 cups toasted white or wheat bread
5 cups canned chicken broth at room temperature + extra if needed for moistness
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon ground sage
1-2 teaspoons salt, to taste
 

Heat oven to 350F.

In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the chopped celery, onion, and bell pepper until tender. Stir in the minced herbs and cook for a minute or two. Remove from heat.

In another pan, cook the sausage over medium heat, breaking up and crumbling as you cook.

In the meantime, add the crumbled cornbread and toasted white bread to a large bowl. Stir in the sautéed vegetables and chicken broth.

When the sausage is cooked, drain off excess fat and add to the bread cube mixture. Add the cayenne, black pepper, celery seed, and sage then stir gently to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Place the mixture in a shallow pan, 13x9 or thereabouts, cover with foil and cook for about 40 minutes. Raise the heat to 425F, remove the foil, and cook for several more minutes, until the top is lightly browned.