Recipe: Sausage & Herb Stuffing

Remember back a few months ago when I first starting training again... remember how I said that I was going to eat healthy and take care of my body on the inside during this process?

Well, I started off really well. Honestly, I did. I ate very healthy, lots of veggies, chicken and fish. But then, once I was got back into consistently running 30+ miles a week, I'd start to let the chicken nachos at corner pub break into my lunches and sometimes I'd eat the french fries at Sam's Place or maybe a cake . And once you start that and still lose about a 1/2 pound every week, you get comfortable with that and eat whatever you want (well, within reason). And then you realize... marathon is in 2 weeks, it's time to start eat healthy again!

Luckily, I got a magazine in the mail the other day with this picture on the cover:
It doesn't matter who this person is (Angie Harmon) or that genetically she's perfect (both her parents were models), what matters is that in the article about her in Shape Magazine (the best magazine ever), she says that she doesnt work out. At all. Did you hear that? What the hell? Uggh. I hate skinny bitches like that.

Okay, anyway... so you read something like that and see pictures of her incredible body (did I mention she has two kids?) and you decide that you need to do everything that this magazine tells you to do. Luckily, mixed in with stability ball exercises and yoga positions there are recipes, too. And this one in particular caught my eye.

So, here's the deal. I'm not a super picky eater. I'll basically eat anything (even things that I hate, if I have to). But, I was raised eating Stove Top Stuffing. And, honestly, I don't think there is anything better. I mean, its perfect. It's moist, it's herb-y, it's buttery. So, when we would go to thanksgiving dinner at my grandma's house, I always shied away from the brick o' dressing (you know the dressing that is made in a big casserole dish and then cut into squares. Like solid bricks. Yuck.). Yeah, I never got into that, I have a simple palate, I wanted stove top for chrissakes. But, I saw this recipe in Shape Magazine and it looked delicious (and healthy!) so, I decided to break away from my regular Stove Top and try something fancy (and healthy).

It turned out quite tasty, I must say. I ate it as an entree, and if I do that again, I might add more sausage to it. The recipe in the magazine is for 12, so I adjusted the amounts to make enough for 2 entrees and probably 3-4 sides. A great, healthy alternative to the regular calorically laden stuffing at your holiday dinner tables.

Sausage and Herb Stuffing
cooking spray
1/3 cup chopped green pepper (about half green pepper)
1/3 cup chopped celery (I only used one stalk, I hate celery)
1/3 cup chopped onion (about half a small onion)
1/2 cup sliced chicken sausage (I used smoked turkey sausage, see picture below)
1/4 tsp dried italian seasonings
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper
6-7 slices of bakery style whole grain bread, chopped into cubes and dried overnight
1 cup low fat, low sodium, chicken broth (I only used 2/3 cup, but you might need more)
2 tbsps chopped pecans (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a non-stick saute pan with cooking spray and heat on medium. Add all vegetables and saute till translucent. Add sausage and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the herbs and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Place bread in a large bowl and combine with the vegetable mixture. Add 1/3 cup of the chicken broth, mixing all together and add another 1/3 cup of the broth. You want the bread to be wet and well coated, but not soggy. Add additional broth, if necessary.

Spray a baking dish (I used a ceramic deep pie dish) with cooking spray and pat down the stuffing well. Seal tightly with aluminum foil to hold in moisture; bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add pecans.

Nutrition per serving: 3/4 cup serving: 143 calories, 6 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 18 grams carbs, 6 grams protein, 3 grams of fiber, 48 mg calcium, 2 mg iron, 381 mg sodium.

I found this recipe to be very easy and the prep (including the chopping of the veggies) only took about 25 minutes.

The sausage I used (I used about one half of one link).

Mmmmmmm. Yummy and healthy.