Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This time of year it is impossible to not dream of eating turkey! The golden brown skin and delicious, juicy meat...my mouth is watering right now. It would be pretty hard to improve on the classic roast turkey, but we here at CAD found a way...cover it in BACON! That's right, a bacon wrapped turkey. Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye.

Enjoy! Gobble! Gobble!

Read more for the recipe.

So it's the dead of winter and you don't even want to think about standing outside in the blistering cold next to your grill. I personally would call you a wimp, but to each his own. Here's how you can make a delicious pulled chicken without even using a roasting pan or making the trek through the cold to get a whole bird. This recipe is 100% rummaging influenced. That means it uses things you should have in your freezer and in your cupboards during the cold months for just such and occasion. We'll be using some of my favorite "chefs hate this crap" kitchen staples.

4 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breast fillets
2 cups chicken bouillon (2 cubes plus water)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup minced dehydrated onions (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp worchestorshire sauce
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder (more or less to taste)
1 tsp ground pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce (optional)

Defrost the chicken breasts. Cut the chicken into strips. You can do this after the initial cooking if you just hate touching raw chicken (again, you're a wimp).

In a large pan, dissolve the bouillon cubes in about 3 cups of boiling water. It will be reduced while the cubes dissolve.

Add the chicken and all remaining ingredients except for the olive oil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

Heat a skillet or wok and add the olive oil. Remove the chicken from the stock and put it in the oil. Leave the stock in the original pot. Cook the chicken until well browned on one side. Turn the chicken and brown the other side.

Place the chicken back into the bouillon stock and simmer until the chicken begins to fall apart (approximately 30 to 45 minutes).

Remove the chicken and shred it with two forks or whatever turns you on. Now you can mix this with some of your favorite barbecue sauce and make a kick-ass sandwich (I personally enjoy Sweet Baby Ray's), or you can serve it as is with some mashed potatoes and your favorite frozen vegetable (so you don't die, of course... the only reason to eat your veggies).

Now start digging in your freezer!

Everyone that knows me definitely knows that I LOVES ME SOME WINGS!!

I've been working on this recipe for awhile and I think I finally got it right. So try it out and let me know what you think. ENJOY!

1 1/2 cup Frank's Original hot sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Pico de Gallo Hot Mexican fruit salad seasoning
1/2 tbsp Cayenne pepper
3/4 tbsp Garlic Powder
1/4 cup Honey
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
3 lbs. Chicken Wings (I prefer drummies, but use what you like)

Combine everything but the wings in a large bowl and whisk together. Put the wings into 2 freezer bags. Cover with sauce and refrigerate overnight. Make sure to reserve a little of the sauce for dipping later.

Click Read More for the rest of the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Turkey breast (bone in)
1 cup Kosher Salt
1 cup Maple syrup
1/2 Onion halved
1 Carrot halved
1 Lemon pierced w/ fork 4-6 times
3 sprigs Thyme fresh
1 1/2 tablespoon Poultry seasoning
Apple wood chips

Instructions:

Place turkey breast in a stock pot (Note: This should be a full, bone in turkey breast). Add enough water to cover, salt, and maple syrup to make the brine. Cover and place under refrigeration for 36 to 48 hours.

Take the breast out and rinse it under cold water very thoroughly. Pat dry. Spritz the outside of the breast with a light coating of olive oil. Season with a simple rub of salt, pepper, and commercially available poultry seasoning. Take a bamboo skewer and make a kabob of the onion, carrot, and lemon and then stuff it into the cavity of the breast. Slide the sprigs of thyme in also.

Prepare a bed of hot lump charcoal in your smoker and bring the temperature to 250 f.

Place the breast on the grate, bone side up (would be 'face down' if it were a whole bird). Add a handful of apple wood chips to the firebox about every 20 to 30 minutes to keep a nice flow of smoke. Replenish coal as necessary to maintain temp.

Smoke the bird until it hits 160 degrees internal (about 1 hour a pound at this temp). Remove from smoker, wrap with foil and place in an empty cooler (no ice) to let it rest for 30 minutes.

Slice and serve.

I've done this quite a few times and have never been disappointed. It's fast, easy and tastes great! This video from Food Network's Food 911 couldn't make it any easier!



Check out the entire video here.

Now I know you have seen the Meat Cake on our site before, but this one is worth repeating. I came across this while scouring the web for unique Thanksgiving recipes. Apparently the creator of the Turkey Cake, David Seah, had already done the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with most of his family, but had to do a separate dinner with his dad the following weekend. They didn't want to do a full blown dinner so they settled on the next best thing...Meat Cake! They took inspiration from the Black Widow Bakery meat cake that we mentioned in our original article and tweeked it a bit to fit their needs. Needless to say, it was a huge hit. I was impressed with David's effort, especially for a first timer! Great job David!

Check out more pics and the full story here.

It's coming up on one of my favorite times of the year...THANKSGIVING! There's very little that I love more than lots of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and so on and so on! My mouth is watering just writing about it! So, in honor of my favorite holiday, I am posting the first Thanksgiving recipe of the season. I hope the rest of you will follow suit.

I have hosted the past 3 Thanksgivings at my house and I have made the turkey the same way every year. I BRINE my turkey before I cook it. It has now become the tradition for our family. So, I know this works and it makes the moistest and juiciest turkey you have ever tasted!

So, try something new! It's super easy and you won't regret it!

Click "read more" for the recipe and directions...

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 lb. whole turkey
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare an outdoor grill for indirect medium-high heat.


2. Rinse turkey and pat dry. Turn wings back to hold neck skin in place. Return legs to tucked position. Brush turkey with oil. Season inside and out with Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper.


3. Place turkey, breast side up, on a metal grate inside a large roasting pan. Arrange pan on the prepared grill. Grill 2 to 3 hours, to an internal thigh temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Remove turkey from grill and let stand 15 minutes before carving.

Easy Spicy Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp spicy mustard

Heat oven to 350 F.

Flatten the chicken breasts or cut them into tenders. Coat them in the mayonnaise and mustard mixture and roll them in bread crumbs.

Bake uncovered at 350 F for approx 20-30 minutes.

Doesn't get any easier than that!

Ingredients:

2 cups diced, cooked chicken (you can even use the canned
chicken if you prefer)
2 cans cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup small, diced veggies of your choice (carrots, celery, mushrooms, etc.)
Salt, pepper and any other favorite seasonings to taste
2 cans refrigerated biscuits

Heat oven to 350 F.

Bring the two cans of soup and the milk to a light boil in a sauce pan.

Dice the chicken and selected vegetable. Add the seasonings of choice and mix them all together.

Flatten out each biscuit to at least a 3-inch circle. Place approx two tablespoons of the chicken mixture on one side of the biscuit, fold the biscuit over the chicken mixture and pinch the edges to seal them tightly. You can use a fork to crimp the edges too.

Coat the bottom of a 9 X 13 baking dish with the soup, then place the filled biscuits in the dish.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 F for approx 40-50 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.