Day four in my 7 Days of Thanksgiving! Stuffing is always a must for any Thanksgiving meal. However, most people do not spend the time to make their own. Store-bought stuffings have incredibly high sodium content, not to mention terribly high calorie and fat counts. However, my mom makes a home-made stuffing that is really fantastic, so usually I will have at least a spoonful. I've never really taken the time to break down the nutrition of the dish, maybe I will this year, but I did know I wanted the stuffing recipe I chose for this post to have a similarity to my mom's recipe. She uses dried cherries in her stuffing - this is potentially a common ingredient, and for some reason the tangy, fruity flavor compliments the rest of the mixture so well. I knew I wanted my recipe to have some kind of fruit in it, so when I found the recipe below I was very intrigued. Pears aren't something I would have normally thought to be a good addition to stuffing, but this sounds really delicious!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cubed sourdough bread (about 6 oz / 3-6 slices)
• 2 Jennie-O Lean Sweet Italian Turkey Sausages
• 2.5 cups chopped onion (about 1 pounds)
• 1 cup Bartlett pear, peeled and cubed (about 1 medium)
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• ¾ cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• ½ cup carrot, chopped
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• ¾ tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Non-stick cooking spray

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425°.
• Arrange bread in a single layer on a baking sheet.
• Bake at 425° for 9 minutes or until golden; place in a large bowl.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; coat pan with cooking spray.
• Break sausage into chunks and add to skillet.
• Cook for 8 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.
• Add sausage to bread cubes, tossing to combine; set aside.
• Return pan to medium-high heat, and add onion, celery, and carrot.
• Sauté 10 minutes or until onion begins to brown.
• Stir in mushrooms; cook about 4 minutes.
• Stir in pear, basil, tarragon, and salt.
• Cook 4 minutes or until pear begins to soften, stirring occasionally.
• Add pear mixture to bread mixture, tossing gently to combine.
• Stir in broth and pepper.
• Place bread mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray; cover with foil.
• Bake at 425° for 20 minutes.
• Uncover; bake stuffing an additional 15 minutes or until top of stuffing is crisp.

Notes:

• Makes about 6 ¾ cup servings.

Servings: 6 servings

WW+ Points: 3 per serving

Original Recipe: Cooking Light