Happy Saturday my friends! We have one last post with Memorial Day Cook-Out Food for you, a little round-up of recipes that you may enjoy adding to your menu.

Enjoy your weekend! We won’t be posting a Weekly Menu on Monday because of the holiday, but will be back with the June Monthly Menu on Thursday.

Memorial Day Cook-Out Food

Main Dishes

• Build Your Own Hot Dog Bar with Chicago, Taco, Chili Cheese and Tex-Mex Dogs
• Beer Can Chicken on the Grill
• Mix and Match Burger Bar
• Grilled Naked Wings with Three Sauces
• Sweet BBQ Chicken Kabobs

Salads

• Pizza Pasta Salad
• Deli Style Pasta Salad
• Grilled Potato Salad
• Chef Salad on a Stick
• Honey Lime Fruit Salad

Sides

• Flag Fruit Kabobs
• Bacon Cheese Deviled Eggs
• Grilled Potatoes with Mushrooms
• Corn on the Cob with Herb Butter
• Roasted Corn Salsa

Drinks

• Memorial Day Drinks – Fill glass {or pint mason jar like above} with ice, fill half way with Fruit Punch, top off with blue Gatorade G2
• Frozen Blue Hawaiian
• Red, White & Blue Slushies
• USA Sugar Sips from Moore Minutes
• Lime Rickey from East Coast Creative

Dessert

• Top 10 Memorial Day Desserts
• Memorial Day Cupcakes
• Brownies on a Stick
• Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry S’Mores

Here’s a little re-cap from our Memorial Day Cook-Out

• Build Your Own Hot Dog Bar with Chicago, Taco, Chili Cheese and Tex-Mex Dogs
• Pizza Pasta Salad
• Flag Fruit Kabobs
• Patriotic Pie Squares
• Memorial Day Drinks – recipe above
• Memorial Day Printables
• Paper Bag Lanterns

Happy Memorial Day!

Just days away from the first holiday of the Summer season and we’re heading back to the Farmer’s Market for the freshest fruits and vegetables. We are looking forward to all the berries that the vendors bring in from their farms and orchards. Strawberries are my favorite but Liz just can’t get enough blueberries.

So to satisfy both our cravings we crafted this Flag Fruit Kabobs for our Memorial Day Cook-Out. It went together so easy, after I had laid out the fruit and cheese on a cutting board in the design I wanted all that was let to do was assemble the skewers and find a way to display them.

No easy task when you consider how top heavy the skewers are but after a few fails Liz and I found the perfect solution. Our vintage blue mason jars filled to the top with salt held the display perfectly.

Since you now know that blueberries are Liz’s favorite fruit you can bet we’ve got a few recipes to use them in, I’ll share a few with you…

• Blueberry Strawberry Trifle Dessert
• Homemade Blueberry Crisp
• Blueberry Orange Bread
• Triple Berry Shortcake
• Homemade Blueberry Sauce
• Blueberry Muffins
• Browie n’ Berries Dessert Pizza

And since you’ll want to enjoy them all year long here’s a little how-to on freezing blueberries.

• Stock the Freezer

Catch up on our past trips for more delicious recipes…

• Rhubarb
• Asparagus
• Strawberries
• Mushrooms

We’re celebrating Memorial Day all this week with our Memorial Day Cook-Out and sharing the recipes for all the yummy cook-out dishes. Yesterday we shared our Build Your Own Hot Dog Bar, today we have this delicious Pizza Pasta Salad that we discovered on Pillsbury.

I love the look of the layered pasta and other ingredients in this salad, the presentation in a clear glass bowl brightens up the table. Liz cooked the pasta and chopped all the veggies, pepperoni and cheese the night before, then we simply added the ingredients to the bowl the day of the party, making this a great make-ahead salad as well. Just be sure to add the dressing to the pasta before placing it in the fridge overnight, that way it won’t stick together.

Memorial Day Cook-Out

• Hot Dog Bar – grab the recipes
• Pizza Pasta Salad
• Flag Fruit Kabobs
• Patriotic Pie Squares
• Memorial Day Drinks
• Memorial Day Printables – WATCH for them in Cupcake Chronicles Newsletter on Friday!! If you aren’t a subscriber…CHECK it out! It’s FREE!
• Paper Bag Lanterns

We’ve got a busy couple of weeks on the horizon, a Memorial Day Cook-out, high school graduation and the graduation party that goes along with it. We’ll be getting a workout getting ready for all the festivities, as will our grill. We’ve figured out over the years that it pays off to get the majority of the food prep done ahead of the party and serve easy, make-ahead food makes the party a lot less stressful on the hosts.

And what better way to accomplish that than a Hot Dog Bar. But not just any ordinary bar will do…no, we want our guests to remember the occasion not only for the company but the food as well. So let’s kick this bar into high gear, we’ve pulled together all the fixins’ for a Chicago Dog, hot and spicy Taco Dog, Chili Cheese Dog and our version of a Tex-Mex Dog.

Chicago Style Dog

Taco Dog

Chili Cheese Dog

Tex-Mex Dog

But wait there’s a couple of important details that need our attention. With all the flavors and shear volume of toppings that will be added to the dogs we’re going to need a bun that can stand the punishment and we’ll want a hot dog that’s not your average dog. So we grabbed the biggest hot dogs we could find and paired them up with some bratwurst buns to do the trick.

The possible combinations are only limited by you and your guests imaginations and unique tastes.

We will sharing the recipes, decorations and printables from our Memorial Day Cook-Out over the next few days, so stay tuned right here and on Hoosier Homemade for all the fun details! A special Thank You to Charlotte from The Paper Cupcake for designing the Memorial Day Printables. They will be sent out in the Cupcake Chronicles Newsletter this Friday, so if you are interested, please sign up…it’s FREE!

If hot dogs aren’t your thing here are a few suggestions…

• Mix and Match Burger Bar
• Grilled Naked Wings with Three Sauces
• Grilled Pork Ribs
• Pork-on-a-Stick

Linking to…Transformation Thursday

Memorial Day and Summer is just around the corner and for many of you this will be the first opportunity to gather with friends and enjoy the weather. But let’s face it there are so many obstacles to pulling off the perfect gathering. No one wants to go through all the time and effort it takes to pull together a party and have it fall flat because of one forgotten detail. One way to ease the process and take some of the preparations off you is to enlist the help of those you invite by hosting a potluck party.

Here’s my list of Essential Party Planning Tips:

• Decide what kind of party you want to have.

Is it a holiday party or are you celebrating a birthday or other special occasion?

• How many guests can I comfortably fit?

You’ll want to think about the weather, can I plan on expanding my party space into the house in case of bad weather? How large is your space?

• What type of food do I want to serve?

Once you have decided on the menu split up the items and assign food items for guest to bring. Most people like to bring their special dish, allow them to be in the spot light as well.

• What kind of drinks should I serve?

Pop, punch, alcohol. Consider if there will be young kids at the party, supply a variety of drinks but let your guests know that if they want a special cocktail or brand they might want to BYOB.

• What type of decorations do I want?

Fancy or simple, paper or china? Make this fit the occasion and guests, if it’s a business cookout you might not want to serve of paper plates… just a thought.

• Will we have games? Music maybe?

Make it fun but keep it with in reason, don’t make guests uncomfortable with embarrassing games and don’t play the wrong genre of music… hip hop may not be the best choice for the Silver Anniversary celebration.

• Who to invite?

Will it only include family or will you invite friends to mingle. Which ever you decide make the invite list eclectic, you never know who will hit it off… the lawyer may hit it off with the biker.

• When to begin party preparations?

5-7 days ahead

~Plan your menu

~Make a grocery list

~Make a list of accessories if needed (plates, napkins, etc)

~Make a list of everything that needs to be done

3-4 days ahead

~Buy groceries

~Prep and pre-cook any ingredients that you can

2-3 days ahead

~Clean out fridge

~Do any “deep” cleaning that needs to be done, I clean finger prints on doors, stairway and walls

~Wash windows, not all of them, but the entry doors really needed it

~Get extra leaves for table and extra chairs

The day before

~Bake the cake, cupcakes or dessert

~Get out serving dishes and add a sticky note to each dish with the food that will be added

~Deep clean bathroom, be sure this room is well stocked and ready for lots of traffic

~Dust and sweep

~ Make a time-line of when food needs to be done. I start by working backwards. Say you are eating at 5 p.m., then plan your dishes according to how much time they need to cook, write it down and even set a timer if you need to.

Party Day

~Finish cooking food

~Get plates, etc ready

~Pick up house

~Swish and swipe bathrooms

And if you are just taking a picnic with the family, here are some Picnic Recipes and Tips I shared on Hoosier Homemade!

Happy Monday my friends! Did you enjoy your weekend? Ours was jam packed, with Nick’s Senior Prom and cupcakes for a Bridal Shower, there was little time for anything else. And surprisingly we battled the heat a bit, Doug made these Grilled Brat Kabobs for a quick dinner.

I love putting together and of course, eating Kabobs. The ideas are endless, so we decided to change up the normal Chicken or Beef Kabob and grill up these Brat Kabobs. Just like all Kabobs, a little goes a long way, which is great when you are serving a crowd. Be sure you use smoked or pre-cooked sausage or brats though.

The vegetable ideas are also endless, we used mushrooms, grape tomatoes and onions this time and marinated them in World Harbors Jamaican Jerk, just like the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Fajitas. World Harbors has several flavors to choose from, depending on what type of delicious journey you are ready to take!

Weekly Menu Plan

Monday ~ Kung Pao Chicken and Rice

Tuesday ~ Open Face Grilled Cheese and Soup

Wednesday ~ Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry and Rice

Thursday ~ Taco Ring, Homemade Pico de Gallo and Chips

Friday ~ Ham & Cheese Pockets, Mac & Cheese

Saturday ~ Mix & Match Burger Bar, Grilled Potatoes with Mushrooms

Sunday ~ Buffalo Chicken Fingers, Oven Fries

Dessert for the Week – Oreo Brownies

What’s on your menu this week?

Linking to…Menu Plan Monday

Need a vacation? Pop on over to the World Harbors Facebook page for all the details on the World Harbors Golden Label Sweepstakes.

Disclosure: I’m a Mizkan Blogger Advocate and this is a compensated post. All the opinions and photos are my own.

Happy Friday! Here we are, another week has just blown by. We are excited to share another edition of Farmer’s Market Friday! Have you been enjoying it? Even if you don’t live near a Farmer’s Market, it’s great to have some new recipes.

Whether you get your mushrooms from the Farmer’s Market or spend the day in the woods with the family hunting them… that just sounds weird, hunting mushrooms. Like they’re going to run and hide on you. But that is exactly how it seems sometimes. And don’t even approach an experienced mushroom hunter and ask where he goes to hunt. More than likely he’ll send you to the opposite side of the county.

Photo source

It’s been many years since I went on a successful hunt, it really is an art to find Morels in the wild. I’ve know many avid mushroom hunters, one of which is my oldest brother. He was the best that I ever went with, I don’t know if he could smell them or what but he just had the knack and would always bring home a bag full. And like all good hunters he never would tell us where he found them. I even suspect that when he would take us along he never would go near his secret spot.

There are many ways to fix mushrooms and one of my favorites is to dredge them in egg and flour ad fry them in butter till they are really crispy. Here’s a few more for the playbook.

• Open Faced Grilled Cheese with Mushrooms
• Cheese n’ Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms
• Grilled Potatoes and Mushrooms
• Grilled Italian Chicken Sandwich with Mushrooms
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Sauteed Mushrooms and Jarlsberg Cheese
• Portobella Pizza Burger
• Grilled Portobella Mushroom Burgers
• Portobello Fajitas and Fontina Queso

Have you been to the Farmer’s Market this year? What did you find? Feel free to leave your recipes in the comments.

Oh My Gosh!!! Yes those were the words uttered by Liz when she first gazed upon this burger greatness. You see earlier this week I mixed up a batch of our copycat Red Robin Seasoning for some oven fries. Well there was some seasoning left over and… I couldn’t let it go to waste. Hence I present to you my Royal Ultimate Burger.

Now before you pass out from it’s greatness let me assure you this monstrosity won’t break your family’s budget, face it one of these babies is enough to feed two maybe more. My biggest question is whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner. Oh let’s just call it BRUNC-NER.

Let’s Build One

Construction Zone-Hardhat Required

• Like any good construction project we start out with a blueprint, nothing to hard though a good sandwich stands on it’s own. My all time favorite burger is the Royal Red Robin at Red Robin’s so let’s start there.
• Next is prepping the toppings, cook up some bacon ahead of time. Slice some nice firm red tomatoes and crisp lettuce.
• Every building needs a good foundation so splurge a little and get some really fresh burger buns.
• Form up your burgers and let them come to room temperature, now we’re not talking a mini burger here so go heavy. I’m talking at a minimum 1/3 pound, no wait let’s go 1/2 pound patties.
• Ok, head to the grill and cook these babies up. Be generous with the copycat Red Robin Seasoning, there’s alot of other flavors competing for your tastebuds.
• Once your patties are cook let them sit for 5 minutes. Use this time to fry up an egg.
• Now it’s time to build. Layer in all the levels, the order you choose is up to you, here’s ours…Bun, lettuce, mayo, bacon, burger patty, American cheese slice, egg, tomato, bun.

Now it’s your turn, what is your ultimate burger combination?

Linking to…Show & Tell Friday, Gooseberry Patch

After sharing the Cinnamon Roll Doughnuts, I have had Cinnamon Rolls on my brain, and since we don’t live anywhere close to a Mall that has a Cinnabon Store, I figured I would cook up the next best thing…Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.

For many years, I have added syrup to pancakes for my oldest, but I had not ever made them the way Recipe Girl teaches, with a butter, brown sugar and cinnamon thick glaze swirled into the pancakes. So we set out to give them a try…and they turned out pretty well!

I drizzled the Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with a simple glaze with powdered sugar and milk, of course you can certainly add Cream Cheese Drizzle, but I’m not a huge fan of cream cheese…I know the shame of it…right?

And…they were delicious! The Cinnamon Roll Pancakes were just as easy as regular pancakes to make, with just a few special tips…

• Start with fluffy pancake mix – we like the Old Fashioned Homemade Pancake Mix
• When you are making the cinnamon filling, be sure the butter is completely melted before adding the brown sugar and cinnamon – it will swirl easier
• After mixing the cinnamon filling, pour into a resealable bag and snip a VERY small corner off
• Heat up your griddle, but don’t get it too hot or the cinnamon filling will burn
• When you add the cinnamon filling, be sure not to get it close to the edge
• Flip the pancakes quickly
• Wipe off the griddle in between batches

For more tips…see Recipe Girl’s post

What is your favorite breakfast-for-dinner meal?

We’re just your typical family, we like to occasionally have a night out with the family. When we do one of our boys favorite haunts is Red Robin Restaurant and their unlimited Red Robin Seasoned Fries. But alas we don’t always have the time or money to get there too often so why not bring the seasoned fries to the boys.

We have a fun little book from CopyKat.com, Dining Out at Home Cookbook and their recipes from some of the best restaurants available. We did find the Red Robin Freckled Lemonade in the book, but no Red Robin Seasoning. So I went on a search to see what I could find. Bingo, there it was the recipe for Red Robin Seasoning was on Food.com. Looks pretty standard, salt pepper,cumin… wait, instant tomato soup. I never thought of adding that to a seasoning mix, I always thought that they got the reddish color in their seasoning from seasoned salt.. you know.

So I don’t know about you but I’ve never seen instant tomato soup mix at our local store, not that I’ve ever looked. So I went searching and came up empty, after trying three stores with no luck I figured it was time to improvise, adapt… you know , hail mary pass. So when I came across the dry spaghetti sauce mix at Walmart I figured it’s got tomato and herbs in it and it just might work.

Yeah, it works. I made some homemade oven fries for the family last night and they went gaa-gaa over them and I’ve got to admit they were great.

When I prepared the fries I tossed them in vegetable oil to get the seasoning to cover and the dry spaghetti sauce mix converted into a liquid and made a nice covering when it cooked up.

Do you have a favorite copy cat seasoning? Do you like experimenting and adapting recipes?