our famous sausage dressing recipe

this is my grandma's famous dressing recipe. it is not exactly the cheapest dressing as it has a lot of ingredients. but i had to have this recipe on our website so you can enjoy it as we have over the years.
ingredients:
- 3 pans of our cornbread recipe -
- 1 tablespoon rubbed sage -
- 1 (10.7 ounce) can cream of mushroom -
- 1 (10.7 ounce) can cream of chicken -
- 1 (6 ounce) box stove top dressing mix - cornbread style
- 1 (5 count) package chicken legs or chicken wings -
- 8 cups water -
- 2 sticks of butter - (1/2 cup)
- 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning -
- 1 (12 ounce) tube spicy breakfast sausage -
- 2 bell peppers - chopped
- 2 onions - chopped
- 5 stalks celery, chopped -
- 2 eggs -
instructions:
- preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- make 3 batches of our cornbread recipe and let cool enough to handle. once cool, crumble into pieces in a large roasting pan. add rubbed sage, cans of soup, and stove top package to the roasting pan and set aside.
- in a large stock pot, add chicken legs or wings and 8 cups of water. bring to boil and reduce to simmer. add 1 stick of butter, poultry seasoning and salt/pepper to taste. let simmer for about 1 hour.
- in a medium sized pan, add the sausage and saute over medium heat. break up the sausage into pieces as it cooks.
- meanwhile, combine celery, onion and bell pepper in a medium sized bowl.
- add half of the raw vegetables to the roasting pan with other reserved ingredients, along with the other stick of butter.
- add the remaining raw veggies to the pan with the sausage. saute veggies with the sausage until tender, about 5 minutes. let cool slightly. add the mixture to roasting pan as well.
- gently stir together all ingredients in the casserole dish. remove chicken legs from the chicken broth and set aside. slowly pour chicken broth into the dressing and stir. continue to add the broth to the dressing and stir until desired thickness. you may not use all the broth. taste the dressing and season with salt/pepper. stir in the eggs until well combined. top the dressing with reserved chicken legs and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until lightly browned and set.
if you do not use all the chicken stock, freeze it! the dressing freezes well too.