How to Have Thanksgiving-ish Dinner on a Wednesday

Thanksgiving dinner is like my all time favorite meal – and while the real deal takes DAYYYYYSSS to prepare, I have shortcutted this down to a practical week-night meal… here’s how:

Buy this ^ It is a Butterball Turkey Breast Roast.  It cost about $13-$15 (in Abu Dhabi) but will feed our family of 5 twice.  After coming home from the grocery store, put it in the fridge instead of the freezer – it will be totally thawed in about 2 days. 

When you open the wrapper the meat is in a netting that keeps the roast together.. I literally do nothing to this but put it on a foil lined baking sheet and stick a digital meat thermometer in it.  I set the thermometer to 165 degrees F (since the temp continues to go up as the turkey rests after baking)… take it out the oven, wrap it in foil.  Later it should land at a perfect 170 degrees.. moist and delicious. seriously, so GOOD y’all.  It should take about 1.5 – 2 hours in the oven (350 F)  depending on the size.

At the same exact time I put the turkey breast in the oven I put sweet potatoes in.  When they are ready I usually just slice them open, put a little butter and cinnamon sugar on them, give them a rough mash and done. No it isn’t a casserole but who has time for that?– is similar flavors, super simple and it hits the spot. 

When both of the above are ready, I doctor up a box of Stovetop stuffing.. First, I sauté chopped onion and celery in the same amount of butter the recipe on the box calls for.  Then I add dried cranberries (if I already have them) and the 1.5 cups of water the box recipe calls for and then finish the recipe like they suggest.. bring water to a boil, add contents of box, turn off heat and let sit for 5 min.  done.

While that is sitting and soaking up the water, Cook some green beans… nope not a green bean casserole either, but if you want to make it a little more authentic tasting, you could throw on some french fried onions.  ;)

Open a can of whole cranberry sauce and dinner is served.   The hardest part of this meal is just planning ahead…when you think about it, the only thing you’re really ‘making’ is the beans and stuffing.. everything is super low maintenance, VERY little effort and some dang good eating!

Try it, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!