Turkey Breast with Cranberry and Orange

The Crockpot recipe turned out well. The Mister loved it, which means nothing because he will happily eat anything he didn't have to prepare. Like salt, gratitude brings out the flavor in anything.

The recipe is for Easy and Delicious Turkey from the ubiquitous Fix-it-and-Forget-it cook book. I changed the name so you could have at least some idea of the flavors involved. If you read yesterday's post, you know to expect oranges. I normally try to cook from scratch, or at least use whole, unprocessed ingredients. I don't like boxes, mixes, or packets for two reasons. First, they are full of crap and don't have one redeeming health quality. Second, they are often relatively expensive and can be easily duplicated with natural ingredients you already have in you pantry, saving you both money and time spent at the oncologist's office. That said, this recipe is full of cans and packets, but think I can duplicate the recipe and avoid some of the worst offenders (I'm talking to you, high fructose corn syrup). For now, though, I thought you might like to take a stab at the original. Ready? Here we go:

Turkey Breast with Cranberry and Orange

1 fresh Turkey Breast, with bones
1 can Whole Cranberry Sauce
1 packet Dry Onion Soup mix
1 cup Orange Juice

Place washed turkey breast skin side up in Crockpot. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and pour over turkey breast. Set Crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours. When done, remove turkey (with tongs so it doesn't fall apart) and place on cutting board. It should easily pull away from the bones. Slice into 1 inch slices.

You can then do as I did and dip the slices into the orange-cranberry au jus, plate, and then spoon cranberries on top. You can also plate the dry turkey and pour about a ladle's worth of the sauce on top. The choice is yours, but I prefer the former method to keep the au jus from running all over the place.

This recipe is ridiculously simple and perfect for those days when you don't want to cook. I threw this all together while Mikey ate lunch in about 5 or so minutes. Prepping the turkey took the longest, but those of you who like to play fast and loose with salmonella can always skip that part.

To accompany the turkey I roasted three potatoes (sliced into wedges), one quartered onion, and one yellow bell pepper (also sliced into wedges) with olive oil at 400 for about 30 minutes. I also tossed baby greens with olive oil, a squeeze of lime juice, salt, seasonings, and a sprinkle of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese (parmesean works fine, too).

That's it! I hope you like it. Start to finish, I spent 15 minutes of actual prep time. I couldn't have picked up take out any faster, so this has inspired me to look to my Crockpot more often.

I'll be trying out a fistful of orange recipes. If you like, I'll post the ones that turn out well.

¡Buen provecho!