Like a mini-Thanksgiving...

I had purchased a bone-in turkey breast to roast because I was craving turkey meat for sandwiches...not the pressed-processed junk you find in most deli's but the real thing. However, after spending the day tending to my bed-ridden hubby, I figured we could both do with a "comfort" meal. I decided to roast the turkey and serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and since I had a few leftover green beans, a form of green-bean hot-dish.

Roast Turkey Breast:  Oil the turkey breast with approximately 2 T. olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper over all sides. Place the breast, skin side up, in a roasting pan and then sliced up 4 T. pats of hard butter, and shove underneath the turkey skin. Covere the breast loosely with foil and baked it at 350-degrees for an hour - at which time you'll want to remove the foil - drain the drippings for the gravy - and return the breast to the oven to finish cooking for approximately 30 minutes. (Meat thermometer should read 161-degrees). When the roast was done I removed it from the oven - recovered it with foil and let it sit for 20 minutes before carving up. During this time the meat will continue to cook and the juices we re-absorb into the meat.

First off, I knew the breast would not render enough drippings for gravy, so I turned to my pantry for one of my favorite stand-by's...Country gravy mix. Instead of following the package directions, I mixed the gravy powder with 1 & 1/2 cups chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the drippings from the turkey breast - brought it to a boil in a small saucepan, then turned the heat to low and stirred constantly until thickened.

I added one small can of green beans to the wee amount of cooked fresh green beans I had from a previous meal. In a medium bowl I combined one can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 T. flour, and 1/4 can milk - stirred to combine and then tossed in the green beans and stirred to mix. Put this mixture in a casserole and baked it at 350-degrees for 30 minutes.

For the French Onion Topping - I didn't have any in the pantry to I decided to make some. I had done this before when we spent Thanksgiving in Australia this past November. As they did not carry such an item in the stores, I made my own. Here is how:   For just the hubby and I, I cut 1/2 sweet onion into slices approximately 1/4" x 1" to 1 1/2" strips. In a quart-size zip-baggy I put a few dashes of Louisiana Hot sauce and 1 c. milk...smooshed together to mix and added the sliced onion. I let them soak for about a half hour before draining. In another quart-size baggy I added 3/4 c. flour with 1 T. each salt and pepper. Into this bag I added the drained onion strips and tossed to coat. Shaking off the excess flour, add the onion to a pan filled with 1" high vegetable oil heated to approximately 350-degrees. Cook in batches if needed - never adding more onion that can cover the bottom of the pan. Remove golden onion bits from the oil with a straining spoon and let drain on paper towel.  Instead of adding these to the top of the casserole while baking - I learned from my experience in Australia that the onions get too well-done - so instead, I waited until I plated up the beans to put the crunchy goodies on top for serving.

Final step was to open a can of cranberry sauce and serve everything up on a tray to my hubby who was delightfully surprised at this unexpected mini-Thanksgiving meal.