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I was 19 years old when I moved from my hometown of Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia. I went from living in the forest, in the home that my parents built before I was born (where they still live today) to living in the concrete jungle of downtown Vancouver. For those of you who know Vancouver, my first apartment overlookedRobson street, which is known for it’s fashion, food and people watching.
Friends and family asked if I had major culture shock after my move, but to be honest, I didn’t. I had grown up visiting family in Vancouver and it felt like a second home. I also found a sense of similarity between the towering trees that I grew up amongst and the giant buildings that surrounded me on all sides in Vancouver. I found beauty in the blue sky and clouds reflected in the glass and the faces of the constantly changing array of tourists from around the world that shopped Robson.
What I did find shocking, was that Thanksgiving was celebrated on a different day and infact a different month in my new home country!
As everyone in the US knows, American Thanksgiving is held at the end of November. Imagine my surprise when I started hearing from my school friends at the beginning of October that they would be heading home for Canadian Thanksgiving thefollowing weekend!
I remember my first Thanksgiving in Canada. Nowhere to go, my friends who weren’t returning home for Thanksgiving and I went to a pizzeria and splurged on a smorgasbord of gourmet pies that were above our “starving student” budget.
I’ll admit, even though I have now lived in Canada for more years than I lived in the United States, Thanksgiving in October still feels foreign to me. Our Canadian relatives all live in different provinces, and our family in the US celebrates on a Thursday in November when we are usually working and in school so Canadian Thanksgiving is usually spent just the 4 of us.
Often on Thanksgiving The Hubs, the kids and Igo on ahike, enjoying the great outdoors, observing the changing leaves andbasking in the gorgeous fall weather. Spending the day away from the house, doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner! Today I’m going to share with you ascrumptiousrecipe, made usingCanadian Turkey, that is so quick and easy that you can make it on a school night but that has all the flavors and festivity that a proper Thanksgiving meal deserves!
Have you visited the turkey section in your local meat department lately? There are a ton of different cuts of turkey available! For this recipe I used turkey breast scallopini which basically is just a thin cut of turkey breast. If you can’t find scallopini in your grocery store, feel free to substitute turkey breast fillets or boneless skinless turkey breasts. You will want to place them between pieces of parchment paper and pound them with a meat tenderizer to flatten them. This makes for a quick cooking time!
Turkey isn’t just for Thanksgiving! This meal is so quick and easy to make that you can enjoy it all year long. Want more inspiration for adding turkey to your meals? Check out theCanadian Turkey website for lots of great recipe ideas!
Ready to get started? Read on for myApple Cranberry Stuffed Turkey Breast Recipe made using Canadian Turkey!
Apple Cranberry Stuffed Turkey Breast Recipe
Ingredients:
-4 cuts of CanadianTurkey Breast Scallopini (If you can’t find scallopini at your grocery store, a boneless turkey breast pounded thin with a meat tenderizer is A-OK!)
-1 apple, peeled and chopped
-1 cup of cranberries, fresh or frozen
-1 tablespoon butter
-1 tablespoon of water
-1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (find our DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe here)
-1 tablespoon brown sugar or coconut sugar
-2 cups of your favorite stuffing (already prepared), plus extra for serving (In a hurry? A boxed stuffing is JUST FINE!)
-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
-2 tablespoons fresh thyme
-2 tablespoons fresh sage
-pinch of salt and pepper
-1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
-Your favorite cooking oil (I use avocado oil)
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F.
Step 2: In a frying pan on medium heat melt butter. Add chopped apples, cranberries, pumpkin pie spice, sugar and water. Sauté until apples are tender. Add stuffing and fold ingredients together. (The apples and cranberries added to the stuffing are DELICIOUS! I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to double or triple the stuffing part of the recipe.)
Step 3: Finely chop rosemary, thyme and sage. Mix together with olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper to make a paste.
Step 4: Lay your turkey breasts flat on a work surface. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Place a mound of your apple cranberry stuffing on the wider end of the turkey breast. Wrap the thinner end of the turkey over and then under the thicker end of the turkey that has the stuffing. You want to make sure that there is turkey overlap and that the end is pulled snug and secured underneath the stuffed turkey breast.
Step 5: Gently rub the stuffed turkey breast with the rosemary, thyme, sage herb paste.
At this point you have three options. 1. You can leave the turkey breast as is without securing it. This is the way I do it, but I’m a rebel. 😉 I find that in the next step when you sear the turkey it seals it shut for you. It’s just a matter of getting it in the pan without a mishap. 2. You can tie your turkey breast with butcher’s twine (see this video for how to tie a roast). 3. You can secure the turkey breast with toothpicks.
Step 6: Heat a non stick pan over medium high heat.I use my cast iron frying pans (see this post for how to refurbish a used cast iron frying pan). Pour a thin layer of oil in the bottom of the pan. When your oil is hot, add your stuffed turkey breasts to the pan. Leave for 2-3 minutes or until brown. Flip each turkey breast over, add the rest of the stuffing to the pan and put in the oven for 20 minutes or until the stuffing inside of each of the breasts reaches a temperature of 165F.
Serve either as a whole stuffed breast or in slices with your favorite Thanksgiving sides!
Serves 4 people. Prep time 15 minutes, cooking time 20 minutes, total time to prepare meal 35 minutes.
Feeding a crowd? Make sure you check out theCanadian Turkey websitefor their“Whole Bird How To’s” and step by step videos for roasting the perfect bird! Also make sure to check out theirrecipe sectionfor ideas of what to do with your turkey leftovers!
Also make sure to check out our recipe for How To Roast A Perfect Thanksgiving Turkey with 2 Turkey Brine Variations!
Looking for a dessert idea? This Honey and Pear Pie Recipe is a delicious alternative to pumpkin pie.
Also make sure to check out our recipe for perfect pie crust!
Tell me… How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? What are your Thanksgiving traditions? What are your favorite Thanksgiving foods?
Disclosure: Thank you for Canadian Turkey for working with us on this post. As with every article on Hello Creative Family, all thoughts and opinions are 100% our own.
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