Herbed Bread Stuffing with Mushrooms and Sausage

Making your own bread cubes is easy and yields delicious results. You can prepare the toasted bread cubes two to three days before Thanksgiving; store at room temperature in a zip-top plastic bag. If there's space in the oven, bake the stuffing while the turkey roasts. Otherwise, bake it in the morning, and reheat it while the turkey stands.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  pounds  peasant-style white bread
• 4  (4-ounce) links sweet turkey Italian sausage
• 2  teaspoons  butter
• 1  pound  cremini mushrooms, quartered
• Cooking spray
• 2  cups  chopped onion
• 1 1/4  cups  chopped carrot
• 1 1/4  cups  chopped celery
• 1/2  cup  minced fresh parsley
• 1  tablespoon  fresh thyme leaves
• 1  tablespoon  minced fresh sage
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  large eggs
• 1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Trim crust from bread. Cut bread into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on 2 jelly-roll pans. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until toasted.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°.

Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 10 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Combine bread cubes, sausage, and mushrooms in a large bowl.

Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, carrot, and celery; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Add parsley, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper; sauté 1 minute. Add to bread mixture. Combine eggs and broth, stirring with a whisk. Add to bread mixture; toss to coat. Spoon into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until browned.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

208 (27% from fat)

Fat:

6.2g (sat 1.7g,mono 1.9g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:

13.6g

Carbohydrate:

25.9g

Fiber:

4.1g

Cholesterol:

68mg

Iron:

2mg

Sodium:

635mg

Calcium:

46mg