I love Thanksgiving; it’s my favorite holiday.  Just family and friends gathering to enjoy each others’ company while eating good food.  No presents.  No expectations or disappointments surrounding gifts.  No spending huge amounts of money.  Just getting together and having a good time.  I also love turkey with all the trimmings. So does my eldest son.  Turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, cranberry sauce and vegetables is a perfect meal for him. Sometimes I want the Thanksgiving dinner without going to all the trouble of making a Thanksgiving dinner!

So, I figured out a way to make a turkey dinner without roasting a turkey for 4 hours.  It happened when I found thick sliced turkey breast at Trader Joe’s.  I thought, I can stuff these!  I don’t need no stinking whole turkey.

So, I made some stuffing with my favorite recipe except this time around I made with store bought stock.  Then my husband (we worked on this together) wrapped the breast pieces around the stuffing, placed them in an oven and roasted them for about 30 minutes.  I also made cranberry sauce with whole cranberries; it only takes a few minutes to make.  Last we made some green beans and Brussels sprouts (see recent post) and boiled some baby new potatoes. 

Now who doesn’t love a meal that takes less than 45 minutes and incorporates all of your favorite flavors from Thanksgiving?  Next time I’ll make a pie— or maybe a steamed pumpkin pudding cake that I can do in the microwave (just gave myself a new challenge).

Stuffed Turkey Breast Rolls

Stuffing:
Make croutons out of day old crusty bread, sea salt, pepper and olive oil (can add herbs, paprika, garlic powder if you wish) and bake at 325 until toasted.  (Or use a pack of ready made croutons.) 

While croutons are baking sauté 5 Italian style sausage links without casings (cut casing lengthwise and squeeze out sausage) until done.  Put in a large bowl and set aside.  Then sauté ½ yellow onion, 1-2 celery stalk(s), small handful of chopped fresh sage in a Tbsp of olive oil and pat of butter.  When onions are nearly clear add sausage back to pan to mix.  When croutons are out, toss with sausage mixture, salt and pepper and slowly add 1 cup of turkey or chicken stock.

Stop when damp but not soggy.  Add 1 egg (scrambled) if needed to bind.  Mixture should hold together but not be too wet.

Turkey Roll:
If you cannot get sliced turkey, take one breast and slice about ¼ – ⅓ inch thick. Take turkey, place approximately 2 Tbsp stuffing in center lengthwise and roll around it. 

Place in buttered pan and bake at 350◦F for about 30 minutes or until turkey and stuffing are at least 145◦.

Gravy:
Scrape any drippings into a small sauce pan.  Add 1 cup of stock (turkey or chicken).  Boil for 5 minutes and whisk in roux (Tbsp flour or corn starch mixed with a little water so it’s a paste). 

Salt and pepper to taste.  Need to boil to reduce and add the roux to thicken unless you have an hour to reduce it further.

Plate with vegetables, potatoes, cranberry sauce. 

Let me know if you want the cranberry sauce recipe.  It’s super easy and quick!

It was so good.  While I type this my son reminisced, saying how delicious it was and asked for us to make it again— soon!   All of my kids liked it although my youngest wouldn’t have any gravy or cranberry sauce.

©2013 My Kids Really Eat This