Turkey dinner

For some reason, I’m disturbed by the fact that I don’t know how to properly prepare large pieces of meat, so this weekend I tried roasting a turkey breast. It was pretty easy, and quite delicious.

Here’s how it went. It took most of a day because I did it in the crockpot, but in the end it was totally worthwhile.

Turkey and Gravy (in a crockpot. mostly.)

1 3lb. boneless turkey breast (I image this would work with a real whole turkey and a really big crockpot)
1 c chicken stock
1/2 large onion, cut into big pieces
2 bay leaves
thyme
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and split
2-3 T butter
black pepper

For gravy:
2 T butter
1 c juices from cooking turkey
1-2 c chicken stock and/or water
2-3 T flour
salt, pepper

  1. put onion, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, and chicken stock into bottom of crockpot
  2. melt or soften butter and spead it over the turkey
  3. sprinkle turkey with pepper and put it into the crockpot on top of the onion and other ingredients.
  4. turn the crockpot to high for at least 1 hour, then switch to low for… a while. Some places said an hour per pound, some said it was different for boneless vs. bone-in, general consensus was 170-degrees internal temp, but having no meat thermometer, I just guessed. Nobody died. It looked totally done. And it was in the crockpot close to 5 hours.
  5. Around the 3.5-4 hour mark I started to make the gravy. On the stove, I melted the butter and added the flour to brown. Cook on high until it forms a medium roux.
  6. Add the juices from the cooking turkey and stir well, beating out any lumps that form. It’s best to use a wire whisk.
  7. Add stock until you have a thick but stirrable gravy, then let it come to a light boil. Boil until it stops thickening, then turn it down and add stock til desired consistancy.

Mushroom stuffing

3 c breadcrumbs suitable for stuffing
3/4 c pan juices from turkey (above)
1 c chicken stock
thyme
sage
onion, minced (and dried, but fresh would work find)
1-1/2 c mushrooms, chopped roughly
1 t minced garlic

  1. mix all ingredients well and pack into 8×8 pan (sprayed with non-stick spray). My mom lets hers “sit” a bit to get squishy before it goes in the pan. I didn’t. I like mom’s better.
  2. bake at 350 degrees for 45 mins - 1 hour, depending on how dry you like your stuffing.

For dessert

One of my friends at work is having a birthday this week, and she’s a total cake fiend. So I said I’d make cake. So I did. I made one tiny cake just for her, a bunch of cupcakes, as well as some loaf cakes to freeze for later offerings to friends and family. I made those out of my mom’s secret pound cake recipe.

The secret? It’s super easy! Dump a box of cake mix, 1/2 c vegetable oil, 1 c water, 1 box of instant pudding, and 4 eggs in a Kitchenaid mixer. (Let me tell you, without the mixer? It’s a bit of a bitch. But it’s doable!) Set to medium, set a timer for 2 minutes, and walk away.

Scrape the stuff out of the mixing bowl and into either a bundt pan, loaf pans, layer cake pans, or cupcake pans. Important: only fill pans 1/3 full. Cupcakes can be 2/3 full, but no more than that! I always burn the edges of loaf-pan versions of these. Cupcakes go around 350-degrees for about 15 minutes. Loaf pans take around 30, and a bundt pan takes an hour and even then… make sure you test the middle.

Cupcakes, though, are done when you touch the top and it springs back. This is what goes into my cupcakes 90% of the time. That and real honest-to-god buttercream icing.

Butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla. Or, for chocolate? Butter, chocolate AND cocoa, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla. Why mess with perfection?

So I read a bunch of articles about Prarie Muffins and then follow it by spending almost the entire day in the kitchen? Well, I think I did see the crockpot turkey on one of their sites… ;)

One response to “Turkey dinner”

  1. Steve Says:

    Very nice crock pot recipes.
    Going to give the turkey crock pot recipe a try sometime this week.
    Thanks-Steve

    http://www.easy-crockpotrecipes.com

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