Pilgrim Casserole

I saw this a few weeks ago on Rachael Ray's, Week in a Day show. Seeing this on T.V made me crave this so bad. I'm a sucker for Thanksgiving subs- you know with the turkey,  cranberry sauce, and stuffing all together on a roll. Yes! Anything to do with putting all of the sweet and savory of Thanksgiving together in one package- I'm for it! Put it this way- I made this twice in the past two weeks.
Its awesome and amazingly easy. I did cheat a little bit by using canned cranberry sauce- and boxed stuffing... but having this all complete in less than 45 minutes - it's kind of worth it. Plus the kids freaking devoured it. Putting all ingredients in one casserole, the kids can't only eat the cranberry sauce... score one for Mom!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box of turkey stuffing
• 1 can of jellied whole cranberries
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons water
• 1 pound of turkey breast (I used a package of turkey cutlets)
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper  
• 1/2 cup of gravy (home made, store bought- whatever works)
• 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese 

In the morning- combine the buttermilk, salt, pepper and cayenne together in a large gallon ziplock bag. Add in the turkey breast. Seal the bag and place in a bowl (incase of leakage) in the fridge for about 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 325, remove the turkey from the buttermilk- pat dry with paper towels- and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20- 25 minutes (depending on thickness), until the turkey is cooked through.

While the turkey is cooking you can prepare the stuffing according to directions on the box,  or use your own home made stuffing. Set aside.

In a small pot, combine the cranberries- sugar- and water, mix. Heat over low until slightly warmed. Set aside.

Get your gravy ready. Wether you are making home made, or store bought. And set that aside.

Once the turkey is done, let cool for about 5 minutes- then slice it up.

To assemble the casserole- Butter an 8x8 baking dish. 

Place the stuffing on the bottom.

Followed by the cranberry sauce.

Then the sliced turkey. Spoon the gravy over the turkey, and top with the mozz cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through.

So the second time we made this, Mike suggested we put crescent roll dough over the top. We did, and baked it until the crescent rolls were golden brown. It was really good- when you ate it right away, but the longer it sat the soggier the crescent rolls got. I'd say do the original recipe, the way I posted it above- but try it out if you want to! 

This is an awesome weeknight dinner, that can be made quickly and is completely satisfying. Leftovers? Hey, throw it on some bread and have yourself a Thanksgiving sandwich! You're welcome. Cheers.

One of the kiddo's plate

Adapted from: Pilgrim Casserole