Apple Pecan Cornbread Dressing

I've been making this recipe for years, and I like it a lot.  I'm making a few changes for Thanksgiving this year.  First, I'm replacing the eggs with a mixture of flax meal and water.  I have no idea to what extent this will work, but since the finished product isn't a quiche texture or anything, I think it will be okay.  Second, since there is always too much of this dressing leftover to finish -- and I always avoid using much of the dry bread from the stuffing mix anyway -- I'm cutting out the pre-packaged stuffing mix altogether and replacing it with just the dried herbs the internet has led me to believe are normally contained in such things.  The original recipe comes from AllRecipes.com.  This year, again to avoid having to buy eggs, I'm using a vegan cornbread recipe from Post Punk Kitchen.  In the past I've typically used Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread recipe from AllRecipes.com, often replacing the buttermilk with watered down plain yogurt. 

Ingredients
1 (9x13 inch) pan cornbread, cooled and chopped (or better yet, left on the kitchen counter overnight to get a bit stale)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups chopped apples
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (replace with Earth Balance or similar vegan buttery spread to make vegan)
2 cups apple juice
3 tbs flax meal + 1/2 cup water (or low-sodium vegetable broth)

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 3 quart casserole dish.  

2. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, and saute the celery and onion for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender. 

3. In a large bowl, combine the cornbread, stuffing mix, parsley, ginger, and salt. Mix in the celery and onion mixture, chopped apple, chopped pecans, apple juice, and beaten flax meal mixture. Spoon dressing into prepared casserole dish. 

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through, and lightly browned on top.  (Check after 25 minutes since the original bake time is based on a larger dish.)