almost!

Who doesn't love thanksgiving? It's hands down the BEST food holiday. Me, I've never been too big on turkey, obviously, being a vegetarian most of my life, but I'm in love with sides. I love a plate of sides; textural variety, mingling flavors, caloric glory.

I've been making thanksgiving dinner since I was 13 years old. No, not helping to make the dinner, making it on my own. Yep, I shoved my chubby little vegetarian arm up many a bird to satisfy my guests. This year we'll be dining at my in-laws and I have to admit the kitchen control-freak in me is rearing her ugly little head. Of course, I'm bringing my own plethora of sides and appetizers. I did a test run this week of some non-dairy fennel gratin which came out amazing (and I turned into creamy fennel topped pizza the next day) and my first batch of vegan pie dough I tested on a pot pie will be shaped into delicious little marshmallow/sweet potato hand pies for the big day. That should be interesting, considering baking usually makes me pull my hair out.

I got the idea for this the week before we left when I was watching some food network loudmouth wrap a pork roast in bacon. Pork on pork? Yum. To go a healthier route, I picked up an organic, skinless turkey breast and my favorite uncured turkey bacon to use around it. The bacon acts like a skin for the meat while it roasts, keeping it moist. Growing up, my mother wasn't into the kitchen at all, so my supplies were always limited. We never had a proper baking rack for roasting, so I used to make one out of carrots and celery stalks to elevate the bird (to get that convection rollin). I used the same technique with this, only I used slices of pears. This is a good way to do thanksgiving on a small scale, for an intimate dinner for two, or even four. It's especially good in my house because we are not dark meat people!


Turkey Wrapped Turkey with Sweet Potatoes and Roasted Pear

- one 3-4lb skinless/boneless turkey breast (you can use the skin, knock yaself out)
- 6-8 slices of turkey thigh bacon (not the fake shaped by a mold kind!)
- 5 medium pears, sliced into thick lengths (i used bosc, bartlett would be fine)
- earth balance or other non-dairy butter spread
- 4 medium sweet potatoes
- nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt & pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Create a criss-cross kind of rack in the bottom of your baking pan with the pears. Place a couple pats of butter on top, salt and pepper.
3. Rinse your breast, pat dry and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Feel free to add additional herbs, spices, etc. Some rubbed sage or thyme would be nice here.
4. Wrap the breast end to end, making sure to overlap, with bacon slices until all meat is concealed.
5. Drizzle teeeeny amount of maple syrup on top - Optional! I love savory and sweet. I also topped with a bit of olive oil to make sure it stayed moist, turkey bacon doesn't have a whole lot of fat in it, so help it out just a bit. Pop this in the oven at 375, for about 40 minutes, depending on the weight, insert an instant-read, it should be about 160-165 and resting will bring it to 170.
6. While that roasts, pop your potatoes in the ol' tabletop steamer for 10-13 minutes. Usually, if they're getting mashed, I roast my sweets, but this is much easier. When they dingdingding, add a generous bit of butter, salt &pepper, sprinkle of nutmeg, dash of cinnamon and dollop of brown sugar. (don't hate me, who measures this??) I used my kitchenaid to whip these up, but if you like 'em chunky, by all means, they should be ready to fork down.
7. When your breast is rested, cut into slices and serve with the pears and their juices on top of the sweet potatoes. Enjoy your autumnal treats!