Time to start the summer. Bring on the food, fire up the grill, have a picnic, or go to the beach. It is time to cut loose. BUT we should not forget the meaning of this holiday. It is about all those patriots who have served and paid the ultimate price for us. Please pause and remember the true meaning of Memorial Day. And then bring on the food.
Introduction
This coming weekend is Memorial Day, a federal holiday for us in the USA, remembering the people who gave their lives while serving in its armed forces. But it also is commonly recognized as the kick-off for summer and a three-day holiday weekend.
Once known as Decoration Day, which started after the American Civil War to honor the Union dead, later it merged with a similar Confederate holiday and ultimately for all American war dead.
But on to the other part of this holiday. It’s FINALLY SUMMER—time for some deck and picnic food.
FOOD SAFETY
It's easy to forget food safety. But it's up to you to keep your friends and family safe. I see dangerous food handling on TV food shows and other blogs frequently. So know the rules. PLEASE.
As a start, please review my Summer Food Safety post. Let's be safe out there. Uncle Joe cannot have his burger rare even though you wouldn't mind seeing him sick. It is your responsibility to keep them safe.
Main Dishes
Side Dishes
Great side dishes make the meal. Image some corn on the cob with a nice spinach salad or grilled pineapple to make your meal special.
Sweet Endings
Don't Forget to Take the Party Animals
Please remember what it is all about. Have a great holiday weekend and enjoy your summer.
DrDan
PS. Stay safe out there, and please follow your local health department's recommendations.
Publisher note: This is a re-edit of the previous year's ( since 2016) post. New recipe recommendations are added as needed to keep it fresh.
Ashley
Our beautiful English Golden, Abby, will be 7 years old this Saturday! I think she might love to celebrate her birthday and Memorial Day with a juicy burger or some pulled pork. Thank you!!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Ashley,
Welcome to the blog.
I'm doing pulled pork myself but the girls will eat anything. Just not very picky.
Molly and Lilly say high to Abby.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
michele strong
I just stumbled across your site today and am already a fan! so happy I found you ☺ what kind of pups do you have? sometimes I can't tell the difference between an english cream retriever and a great pyrenees.. we were blessed with the most beautiful, smart, amazing.... pyr a couple of months ago! 😊
DrDan
Hi Michele,
Welcome to the blog.
The girls are 4 1/2 yr old English Golderns. They are litter mates and have be the blog mascots since being babies.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Jean
Dr. Dan,
I hope your feeling well. My whole family loves your recipes, your dog pictures, and you. Your a favorite of mine when sharing your recipes, your philosophy on cooking and while talking to friends. Friends come through the front door asking "what Dr. Dan recipe are we enjoying tonight". Your the best.
Take very good care of yourself.
Warmly,
Jean Rawlings
DrDan
I snuck that in this post and very few saw it but I feel better I "told" everybody. Just chronic things getting worse.
If you can only stand for 10 minutes, it is hard to cook a new recipe and take pictures. I can cook but the extra 10-15 minutes it takes for the pictures is just a bit too much.
Also, with 450 plus recipes, it is getting hard to find good ideas. So more older recipes nobody saw and less new one. A new one when I find something I really want to do like the grilled Ribeye post. It is long and very complete. I enjoyed writing it and I loved the results.
Thanks for the note and good wishes.
Dan
Mike
Thank you so much for the food safety tips, I didn't realize a lot of the things you wrote there!
Thanks DrDan