Crock Pot Turkey Breast

Wow, it's been a while! Happy New Year! I've been taking a little break from recipe blogging because I have a new sweet baby girl and life with 4 kids, ranging in age from 13 to 3 months, has gotten a bit busy. It's wonderful though. Oh how I love my kiddos!

So this is a new recipe that I tried for our Christmas Eve dinner. I am all about the Crock Pot lately. It is a life saver because "the witching hour" (read baby fussiness, older kids homework time, pick-ups from after-school activities, etc.) always happens right around the time to cook dinner and if dinner is already in the Crock Pot I don't have to worry about it. Nice. This turkey breast turns out so moist and tasty and the bonus is that we had enough left-over turkey to make sandwiches, turkey noodle soup, and turkey a la king. That makes it an awesome recipe!

Crock Pot Turkey Breast

5 1/2 lb bone-in turkey breast, thawed (from frozen it takes 3 days in fridge to thaw)
softened butter (about 1/4 cup)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
3 stalks (or more) celery, chopped in big pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth
black pepper

Wash and pat dry turkey breast. Trim the meat if necessary to fit in your Crock Pot (I have a large oval Crock Pot so I didn't have to trim the turkey at all). Coat surface of the turkey with butter and then rub with dry onion soup mix. Sprinkle pepper all over the turkey. Place chopped celery in the bottom of the Crock Pot and add 1/2 cup chicken broth. Lay turkey breast, breast bone down, on top of the celery. Cook on high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 7 hours. Carve and serve.

I simplified our Christmas Eve dinner this year. Yep, no homemade rolls, deviled eggs, jello salad, or even pie (we had cookies for dessert), but it was still super tasty and no one even mentioned what was missing. Sometimes I think I stress too much about making the perfect holiday meal with everyone's favorites when really my kids just don't care that much. I think they just remember that we spent time around the table as a family and that is what really matters. That was a good lesson to learn.