Crock Pot Turkey Breast with Veggies

I've cooked enough Thanksgiving dinners to know the ordeal the turkey can be.  I love it, but it can be a little work.  As you can see in my Brined Turkey recipe, I have a way to keep it nice and moist, but we're talking some extra preparation and time spent occupying the limited space in my fridge.   '
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On top of that, if I'm only going to have 3-4 other people over, cooking a 14 pound bird just doesn't make sense.  If there's only going to be six people, that's almost 2 pounds of meat per person (once you factor out the bones) and unless you can eat like Joey on Friends and have a pair of eating pants, you just can't do it.

Now I am inherently lazy, and there are other ways to make a Thanksgiving dinner without going the full turkey route.  A turkey breast can give you just the amount of meat you need and the more compact size can give you a number of different options.  If you have a large crock pot (6 quarts), you can go that route and it has a number of advantages over just broiling it.

The method is simple and doesn't take much time at all.  Just thaw the turkey breast, pop it into the crock pot and 4-6 hours later, you have almost everything you'd need to for a basic Thanksgiving dinner except for the stuffing, which you can make with this recipe.  Since this a wet method of cooking, it will NOT have the chance to dry out. It cooks long and slow, and since it's surrounded with veggies and spices, it stews in its juices until it comes out perfectly cooked. And you're also cooking your potatoes and carrots along with it, so it's one less thing for you to prepare.  The leftover cooking liquid can be used to create a wonderful gravy as you let the turkey breast rest (recipe for this here).  You can also save the leftover cooking liquid for a great soup made from the leftovers, or freeze it to make a quick soup on a future freezing cold day.  Once again, make sure you use your handy, dandy digital thermometer to monitor the temperature as you go.  Once you reach 165 degrees, you're done.

Crock Pot Turkey Breast with Vegetables

4 14 oz cans of low sodium turkey or chicken broth
2 teaspoons thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon sage
4 whole cloves of garlic
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
8 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
4 celery stalks, cut into chunks
1 large onion, cut into eighths
1 5-6 1/2 pound turkey breast, completely thawed

Pour two of the cans of broth into the crock pot, add the spices and garlic cloves.

Add a small layer of the vegetables on the bottom of the crock pot.  Then set the turkey breast on top of the veggies.  Stuff the remaining vegetables around the turkey breast until it is full, making sure the lid still makes a tight seal on the crock pot.  Pour the remaining broth into the crock pot until the broth level is 1/2 inch from the top edge.  Place the lid on the crock pot and set to high for one hour.  Then cook for 3 more hours on high or 5 more on low until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 165 degrees.

Remove the breast from the crock pot and cover with foil and towels for ten minutes, just long enough to evacuate the veggies to a bowl  Use the cooking liquid to make some gravy, then carve the breast and serve.