You can’t have Thanksgiving without the stuffing and you haven’t had stuffing until you’ve made it from real French bread with fresh diced vegetables. The fresh chopped sage adds more depth and color to the final dish.
Makes 8 Side Dish Portions: 200 calories (3 ¼ x 4 ½ inch piece)
Prep Time: 20 minutes • Bake Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients:
1 (1 pound) loaf French bread
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup diced yellow onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 large egg whites
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut French bread into small 1/2-inch cubes. Arrange cubes in a single layer on 2 sheet pans.
2. Bake bread cubes for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray and place over medium-high heat.
5. Add the onion and celery to the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent and celery is almost tender.
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken broth, sage, thyme, onion powder, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Add the toasted bread cubes to the bowl and quickly toss until nearly all of the liquid has been soaked up by the bread.
7. Add the sautéed vegetables to the cubed bread in the mixing bowl and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared rectangular baking dish.
8. In a small bowl, whisk together egg whites and melted butter. Drizzle over the stuffing in the baking dish.
9. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until the top of the stuffing begins to brown. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing. Slice into 4 rows horizontally by 4 rows vertically to make 100 calorie portions.
Nutritionist, cookbook author, publisher and health and wellness entrepreneur Mona Dolgov lives her lifelong mission of creating healthier food products, recipes and inventing simple culinary tricks to easily create practical and healthier lifestyles. She is President of You Live Right, LLC, where she has authored and published over 20 cookbooks for top-selling kitchen appliances, health and wellness products and grocery retailers, focused on simplicity and using nutritious ingredients. She also is a private nutritional coach, offers educational and fun dinner classes at Mona’s Kitchen, and is a speaker on nutritional well-being. Plus, she is very excited about launching Cook U. Follow Mona on Facebook or Instagram @monadolgov
She recently co-authored The Perfect Portion Cookbook, a 5-star rated cookbook (with Hollywood star Anson Willams) that makes American classics healthier and guides consumers to healthier portion control. This book (and Mona) was featured on the Today Show, The Doctors, and The Huffington Post. Learn more at www.theperfectportion.com
She is completing her second cookbook, Satisfy, that will be launched in 2020, focused on simple nutritionally balanced meals all 500 calories or less with real ingredients and real portions. All of the recipes are gluten-free.
