Dad's Cooking Tonight: Thanksgiving Dinner (!)

A gourmet meal from freezer to table in less than 2 hours…

I did it! I pulled off a Thanksgiving dinner.

But I cheated. Sort of. I mean, it’s not cheating it you don’t get caught, right?

I’ll let you decide, but before you do, let’s turkey trot back to the beginning of this holiday-themed gourmet meal that spotlights a new celebrated 1-Step Rapid Roast meal from Omaha Steaks that’s ready freezer-to-table in less than two hours: The Turkey Roulade with Apple Cranberry Stuffing.

I’m a simple kind of chef.

If you’ve been tuning in to “Dad’s Cooking Tonight” the past couple of months you know that my kitchen skills are basic – at best. There’s no place for me on a reality cooking show like “Hell’s Kitchen” in the near future. My meals using Omaha Steaks products have been creative, fun and delicious for my wife and two young daughters. But the meals were simple to make. Which is precisely why Omaha Steaks is my go-to for these once-a-month culinary endeavors.

This month’s installment of “Dad’s Cooking Tonight” is, on the surface, a bit more involved. The two words demand it: Thanksgiving Dinner.

Yikes. Those two words freak me out. It’s not the eating part of a Thanksgiving dinner, that’s the easy part. I’m talking about making it. Add in another two words – Dad’s cooking – and we’ve got the makings of a horror film. “Dad’s cooking Thanksgiving dinner.” Double yikes.

But despite those scary implications, I was able to pull it off without a hitch. I did it by taking the drama and the exhausting production out of the event.

The truth of the matter.

Full disclosure: My wife did not put me in charge of our traditional Thanksgiving dinner – the one with the eight different casseroles, turkey-shaped butter molds, pilgrim-shaped Jell-O trays, meticulously made stuffing and piece de resistance, the big bird. There was none of that. The dinner I prepared was a practice run for a couple of friends we have coming to visit the week before Thanksgiving. I’m in charge of making that Thanksgiving dinner.

So my Thanksgiving dinner is a smaller, gourmet Thanksgiving that is going to be perfect for our out-of-town guests.

It starts with that luscious Turkey Roulade I mentioned above. It’s a sizable portion of juicy, premium white meat turkey breast that has been gently rolled with a foodie-approved apple cranberry stuffing. It’s the perfect size for six people.

A word about the stuffing: It’s made with a bountiful blend of spinach, croutons, simmered apple, cranberries and a rich and flavorful base of onions, mushrooms and garlic. I’ve had this Omaha Steaks specialty before, so I added an extra order of the Apple Cranberry Stuffing for this meal.

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

Here comes the easy part.

I simply removed the Turkey Roulade from the freezer, then placed it (still in its plastic film) on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 40 minutes at 350-degrees. After 40 minutes, I flipped it over and baked it for another 40 minutes. That’s it. Done.

While the Turkey Roulade was cooking in the oven, I used our microwave to heat the Apple Cranberry Stuffing and a batch of Omaha Steaks’ famous Smashed Red Potatoes – which are fire-roasted red potatoes mashed with skins and all, and flavored with a hint of garlic and a pinch of rosemary. L-to-the-O-to-the-V-to-the-E these Smashed Red Potatoes!

So, did they like it?

I had all of this – a gourmet meal ready to eat – on the table in about an hour and a half.

“How did you make this so fast?” asked Vivian, our 5-year-old daughter.

“He cheated,” said Stella, our ever-so-wise 11-year-old.

That’s the beauty of the Omaha Steaks 1-Step Rapid Roast meals. They allow you to “cheat” by being so amazing delicious and so fast and easy to make.

The colorful and complex palate from the Apple Cranberry Stuffing and the Turkey Roulade – with its own inner layer of stuffing in the spiral – along with those soft, Smashed Red Potatoes made for a flavorfully tasty meal that know our out-of-town guests are going to love.

But, Dad, what about dessert?

Way ahead of you, kids. To finish this festive dinner, I also ordered one of Omaha Steaks’ new award-winning Pumpkin Pies, the go-to way to cap a Thanksgiving-themed meal.

Made with butterfat cream and pure pumpkin puree for a nice silky base and spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice (no preservatives) and then poured into a flaky pastry crust, this pumpkin pie is a delight. Of course, we had to top this ready-to-eat pie with fresh whip cream. Of course we did!

Omaha Steaks Pumpkin Pie