Healthy Stuffing Recipe

It's always difficult during the holidays to keep off those extra pounds. With loads of turkey and home baked goods right at your fingertips, who wouldn't chow down? One of the best ways to adapt your thanksgiving meal to a healthy diet is to throw out that old stuffing recipe, along with all the carbs and sodium that comes with it.

One great way to adapt your stuffing recipe is to switch out normal bread crumbs for whole grain or wild rice, it cuts the carbs and adds some nice nutritional value to the stuffing. You can also bake the stuffing in a separate dish rather than stuffing the turkey, which cuts out some of the extra fat, and the possibility of salmonella. Its also good to avoid recipes which contain ground beef, sausage, or bacon because it adds extra fat that you really don't want.

I adapted an old recipe that I had for stuffing and I've been making it every year with fantastic results. You're gonna love it!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. Light Butter or Butter Substitute

14 oz. bread crumbs (whole grain)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced carrots

1/2 cup diced mushroom

2-3 cloves of garlic

2- 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

Pepper to taste

poultry seasoning to taste ( which is usually about 1-2 tsp.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees f. Leave a large saute pan on high heat for about a minute or until heated. Add the butter then spray some cooking spray. Next add the carrots, celery, garlic, mushrooms, and the onion, use additional cooking spray if necessary. Saute the veggies until they are tender. Remove from heat and add to bowl allowing the veggies to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, toss the bread crumbs and veggies together, season with pepper and poultry seasoning to taste. Next, add the broth into the mixture, be careful not to soak the bread crumbs.

Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, then add the stuffing mixture, cover it with aluminum foil then let bake for 20-25 minutes. Uncover the stuffing then let it cook for an additional 10 minutes to let the stuffing crisp on top.