We have had a turkey in the freezer for about 4 months. We bought it right before summer started. At the time we had planned on having some family over and were going to serve turkey dinner. We ended up doing something else and the turkey hung out in the freezer taking up space for the summer. Who wants to eat a turkey dinner in the middle of summer? With the weather getting a bit more fall like lately. Although, the past few days have been more like spring. The windows are open and the fans are running. It is beautiful outside and I am sitting inside working and not outside enjoying it. Anyway.. back to my turkey. I decided it was time to put the thing out of its misery and enjoy a turkey dinner. With thanksgiving coming up in just over a month, we decided to make the turkey a little different than what we usually do. Usually we roast it with lots of good veggies like celery and onion and carrots and packed full of homemade bread stuffing that I have been perfecting over the years. Each year it gets a little bit better. This time though, we opted to use a recipe we tried once before saving the traditional bird recipe for thanksgiving day. Yesterday’s recipe was a maple, bacon turkey. More specifically, this was a 13 pound turkey covered in two pounds of tasty bacon and smothered with a full flask of 100% pure maple syrup. Now, seeing as I am trying to lose weight, I know I’m not supposed to be eating things like this. But, sometimes you just need to say, what the hell. And I did!

This recipe cooks up so good, and even though all that fat is so bad, you just can’t help yourself. At least I sure can’t. The flavor from the bacon and maple syrup just permeates the turkey and the resulting flavor is just unbelievable. Add to that a few glasses of the wine we had sitting around and the french onion soup I made on Tuesday, I think it is safe to say I threw off this week altogether. I suppose I should have been out walking it all off today, but I have a pile of work that needs doing and just don’t have the time. We are going to try and take the kids to a corn maze Friday or Saturday. Hopefully that will be a fair amount of walking for the weekend.

The recipe is pretty basic. What you need is:

One turkey - fresh or frozen. pick a size to feed the people you will be entertaining. We used a 13 pound frozen turkey.
2 Pounds of bacon. Pick your favorite type.
1 flask of 100% pure maple syrup. It needs to be the real deal. None of that fake stuff.
1 Turkey roasting bag.

Place the bacon along the top of the turkey running the strips front to back, starting on the inside of the left leg and wing and going across to the other side. After you have a layer of bacon down, pour about half of the maple syrup on top spreading it around evenly. Next, start a second layer of bacon with the strips going across the turkey from left to right. Starting at the front and working your way back. When the top of the turkey is covered, take some of the leftover strips and wrap them around the legs and the wings. Then pour the rest of your maple syrup evenly across the top of the turkey. Cook your turkey according to the directions, adding an extra 30 minutes or so for the 2 pounds of bacon you added to the turkey.

Enjoy!

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