Making Thanksgiving simple

If your Thanksgiving dinner has a guest list of 1 or even 4 you’ll appreciate this recipe for it’s ease and delicious results. Maybe you just want a no-fuss Thanksgiving meal more than once a year! The biggest part of your prep here is the stuffing. You can make this simple by using William Sonoma’s stuffing mix. Deliciousness guaranteed! Link here.

Yep, this is a slow cooker meal and my Proctor Silex (3.5 quart) is almost an antique. It’s plenty big for this meal. The secret of this slow cooker is the oval shape. It easily accommodates an uncut 3-4 pound turkey breast. Here it is. You might prefer a newer version. Here’s a new 4 quart version.

I don’t know about you but I find the Thanksgiving meal an easy cook meal. It’s usually the lack of oven space or stovetop burners (plus the clean-up) that make it so arduous. For one person, who wants to go through all that prep and clean-up?! You are worth it! And this is truly simply delicious!!

Recipe

3-4 Pound turkey breast-boneless or bone in, make sure it is a shape that will easily fit your slow cooker.
4-5 Medium white potatoes or red potatoes-scrubbed (no russets, tend to fall apart with lengthy cooking)
Butter (room temperature), salt & pepper
14-16 Ounces bread crumbs for stuffing-use your stuffing recipe or try this
Chicken broth + all-purpose flour for gravy (optional)

Generously butter potatoes.

Cut potatoes in half (& quarter one if needed to fill in). Only make one layer of potatoes along bottom of slow cooker. Salt and pepper. If you prefer mashed potatoes you can remove potatoes at the end of the cooking process and use an electric beater to whip up the potatoes. Just add a little milk and butter (salt & pepper to taste) and whip until smooth.

Remove skin from turkey breast and rub breast with a generous amount of butter. Salt and pepper well.

Layer turkey over the potatoes.

Have stuffing ready for layering. Moisten the stuffing as if you would for actually stuffing in turkey. The moisture in the slow cooker will add to the stuffing.

Layer the stuffing around the turkey breast and over the top, loosely as you would if stuffing a turkey. You will be surprised how much stuffing you can pile in. You might have a little stuffing left over depending if your stuffing is really packed with extras and you’ve used a 3.5 quart cooker.

I find if you use your slow cooker to the full level the food is more moist and not overly cooked. (Cover and avoid removing the cover during cooking.)

Place the slow cooker on low and cook for 7-8 hours. The extra dressing can be cooked separately if you choose. See your stuffing directions for oven cooking times.

Remove the contents at the end of cooking to a platter and cover.

For gravy:
There will be juices at the bottom of your cooker. Be sure and remove any lingering stuffing. Scrape the drippings and crust around the sides of the cooker into the liquid. Pour this into a small sauce pot. Add a little chicken broth if needed for more gravy.  In a 2 cup measuring cup add 1 cup cool water and 3 tablespoon all purpose flour. Mix thoroughly until smooth.

Place the sauce pot over a medium low burner. Add the water/flour mixture (thickener) a little at a time. You may not use it all. As the gravy begins to heat up it will thicken. Wait a minute or two before adding more thickener. Too much and the gravy will be bland. Salt and pepper to taste. if you are concerned about flavor you can use a gravy base. I didn’t need anything extra. I recommend William Sonoma’s gravy base if you choose.

It’s ready. Enjoy!