Camp Recipe - A Whole Turkey Dinner

We camped over Christmas and I didn’t want to miss out on turkey dinner, so I made one for us and our friend Manya. 

You may already know that we have a very small travel trailer (16-feet) with nearly zero counter space. You can see the entirety of the counter space in the photo of the mayonnaise rub. I did a lot of the prep work on the dinette table. 

Let me tell you how easy it was.

The Turkey

We had a 4.5 -pound turkey breast. We thawed it completely. We rubbed it with mayonnaise and some seasoning, and cooked it in the air fryer at 350 degrees. We have the Ninja Food 5-in-1 air fryer. It took one hour. I turned it over every 20 minutes. It was moist and perfectly cooked. The skin was wonderfully crispy from the mayo (it does basically the same thing as butter, try it on grilled cheese some time). 

Gravy

The turkey breast came with a package of gravy. It was ok. It wasn’t the best gravy, but considering I just had to warm it up with some water, I appreciated the convenience. 

Mashed Potatoes

We got an early start by boiling potatoes on the stovetop. They were drained and mashed, with some butter and milk. In the past, I’ve put my mashed potatoes in a baking dish, added some pats of butter, and let it rest in a warm oven for a while, but the timing just didn’t work out for this meal. 

Sweet Potatoes

I had a can of yams (sweet potatoes) that I emptied into a foil bread pan with some pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar. Nobody wanted marshmallows. I prepared this just as the turkey went in the fryer. Lesson I learned, because I had never used canned sweet potatoes before: drain the can! We had very juicy sweet potatoes. I do realize that these could have been made with fresh sweet potatoes, but the convenience of a can was too tempting. 

I have to interject here something that’s always bothered me. They are sweet potatoes. Even though in the US we tend to use the two names interchangeably, yams and sweet potatoes are not the same. Yams can only grow in very specific conditions in the Caribbean, and they hardly ever actually make it to US grocery stores. Yams are more like a potato, and I don’t know anyone who puts brown sugar or marshmallows on their potatoes. (Steps off soap box.)

Green Bean Casserole

I put together the requisite green bean/mushroom soup/fried onion casserole in another bread pan. This was also prepared as the turkey began to cook, while the crescent rolls were baking. I forgot to pack soy sauce so this casserole just contained a can of green beans (drained), a can of cream of mushroom soup, some salt, milk, and French-fried onions (both mixed in and then added on top for the last 10 minutes of baking).

Crescent Rolls

I baked a batch of canned crescent rolls. After those were done, I put the sweet potatoes and green beans in the oven. Tony was happy that his sister wasn’t there to fight over them. I swear those two each need a can of rolls to themselves.

Stuffing

I used a box of stove-top stuffing, which is as easy as boiling water. Literally. Boil water, turn off the fire, mix in the stuffing. Done. Honestly, I prefer this to all the prep work of making my own stuffing. 

Cranberries

I did not forget the can of cranberry jelly! Again, some people are very particular about their cranberry sauce. I do like fresh-made, but we also love the can. And in a tiny camper kitchen, why make life more complicated than it needs to be?

Dessert

Tony bought a lemon crunch pie for dessert. While we could have put a frozen pie in the oven to cook while we ate, I didn’t want to be the next Sharon, blaming Marie Calendar on my ruined dessert.