We’re eating spicy Chinese-style blood orange chicken served with steamed rice and garnished with green onions.

Apparently I need a serious vacation to get over my vacation! We’re back from paradise but I’m still not really feeling this whole “work” thing, if you know what I mean! Alas, I do believe I made some promises back in in March or April that I would start updating WWE at least three times a week. I still fully plan for that to be the case, although I’m slow getting started with it.

This dish is one I whipped up over the winter when local blood oranges were in season and I was craving Chinese food without leaving the house. Likely you won’t be able to find blood oranges in the markets since it’s the middle of May but you can always substitute any freshly squeezed ripe orange juice and zest in the recipe.

Recipes in this post:

• Chinese-Style Blood Orange Chicken

Related posts:

1. Sweet & Spicy Asian Bourbon Chicken
2. Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken & Whipped Sweet Potatoes
3. Super Easy Sriracha-Peach Chicken Wings

We’re eating kinda-Hawaiian chicken sandwiches made with grilled soy-pepper jelly marinated chicken tenderloins, bacon, asiago cheese, juicy grilled fresh pineapple slices, red onions, spring mix and mayonnaise.

There is a bar and grill a few blocks from where we live that serves a delicious Hawaiian hamburger. The cheese, burger, pineapple, teriyaki sauce and mayo combine to form heaven in a bite. I was craving said burger the day I made this little number. Instead of making it a hamburger I when for a slightly healthier option and made it with grilled chicken tenderloin. If you really want to keep it healthy, substitute the bacon with ham or Canadian bacon and instead of mayo brush the buns with more of the soy-pepper jelly sauce. Also, if you are feeling REEEEAAAALLY lazy you can just use a bottle of teriyaki sauce to marinate the chicken rather than making the soy-pepper jelly sauce. In my opinion, chicken is never as good as a burger but this hit the spot and staved off my craving for the day!

Recipes in this post:

• Kinda-Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich

Related posts:

1. Sweet & Spicy Asian Bourbon Chicken
2. Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken & Whipped Sweet Potatoes
3. Super Easy Sriracha-Peach Chicken Wings

We’re eating sweet and spicy chicken wings baked in a sriracha, peach and soy glaze.

I freaking love football… and not just because it makes cracking a beer at 10am completely acceptable. I love it for the intensity of the game, the astounding athleticism of the players, the fanatical crazy fans and yes… the tailgating food. Tailgating food changes from region to region, and while in Baton Rouge you’ll see tons of people eating gumbo or jambalaya in San Diego it’ll be tangy ceviche and carne asada tacos. One of the tailgating foods that seems to be in every region of the country is the almighty buffalo wing… and I must say, thanks, Buffalo, for such an awesome creation! If there’s a heaven, I hope it’s filled with calorieless buffalo wings, blue cheese dressing, bacon and good beer.

Anyway, our friend Justin’s family makes this thing they call Hawaiian chicken that is basically fried chicken braised in canned peaches. When I first learned about this dish, my initial response was – why’s it called Hawaian chicken? Shouldn’t it be Georgian chicken if we’re assigning it a state. Do they even grow peaches in Hawaii? After I was able to let that thought leave my mind, I started thinking about how good some spicy peach chicken wings would be and ba da bing ba da boom the conception of these sweet and spicy sriracha peach chicken wings! I’m not going to call them hawaiian chicken wings, cuz that name still boggles my mind, but Justin’s family definitely gets credit for inspiring this dish. These wings were a freaking delicious consolation prize for us while watching in pain as LSU lost to Penn State in the Capitol One bowl game. I would make these wings again this weekend while I watch the NFC championship game but I don’t want to do anything to jinx the Saints… I mean, LSU did lose the game while we were eating these wings…

Recipes in this post:

• Sriracha-Peach Chicken Wings

Related posts:

1. Two Tasty Turnover Recipes!
2. Sweet & Spicy Asian Bourbon Chicken
3. Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken & Whipped Sweet Potatoes

We’re eating grilled butterflied turkey that was brined in a mixture flavored with chipotle in adobo puree, epazote, cumin, chile powder, garlic and mexican oregano to ensure flavorful juicy meat.

So what if I’m not posting my turkey recipe until after Thanksgiving! Get off my back, yo! You can always use this recipe for Christmas… or Turkey Day next year or in the middle of summer during grilling season!

Apparently a technique that I’ve always known as “butterflying” is trendy under a different name – Spatchcock. Spatchcocking and butterflying a turkey (or any fowl) are really the same: you simply cut out the back bone of the bird then crack the breast bone so the bird can lay completely flat (essential for even cooking!). Here’s a video for those of you (like me) that are visual learners. Watch and learn. This technique is a great time saver and cuts the cooking process in half. If you know me, you know I can be one lazy ho, so the less time I have to spend tending to the bird the better.

After butterflying our bird, I submerged it into a Mexican chipotle spiced brine to sit overnight to give it some flavor. The day of our feast I just patted it dry, seasoned the skin, then seared both sides over high heat on the grill before putting it into its final resting place: an aluminum roasting pan on the grill over indirect heat. All in all, I think the cooking process took me about 2 hours and produced fantastically moist and smokey turkey. Next time you have a reason for a feast, why not try spatchcocking your bird and throwing it on the grill?

Recipes in this post:

• Chipotle Brined Grilled Butterflied Turkey

Related posts:

1. Turkey Cooking Basics
2. Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Bolognese
3. Sweet & Spicy Asian Bourbon Chicken

In my opinion, all you really need in order to cook great food is knowledge of proper cooking times and temperatures (as well as the ability to season). With that in mind I want to give you some turkey cooking time basics. This will allow you to season your bird however you like then cook it to perfection.

Turkey Basics:

Defrosting
- First of all, always make sure that your turkey is completely defrosted before you begin the cooking process. There are two safe methods for defrosting a turkey.

1) Defrosting in the refrigerator. To defrost in the fridge simply move the turkey from the freezer to ther fridge and allow the bird to defrost for about 24-36 hours for ever 5lbs. For example if you have a 12 pound bird you will need to move the turkey from the freezer to the fridge at least 2 1/2 days before you want to cook it.

2) The cold water method. This is the quicker defrosting method but it’s suggested that you roast the turkey immediately after defrosting. For this method simply completely submerge the turkey in cold water, changing the water ever 30 minutes. The turkey will defrost at a rate of 1 pound/30 minutes. So for instance the same 12 pound bird will be defrosted in approximately 6 hours using the cold water method.

Resting - When cooking all meat it's a fundamental basic that you allow your meat to rest, loosely covered in foil, for at least 10 minutes after it's removed from the heat source to allow the juices to be reabsorbed. Cooking a turkey is no different. If you do not allow your bird to rest and prematurely cut into it all of the juices will end up on your cutting board rather than in the meat and you'll be eating dry leftovers for days!