Memorial Day 2009 Top Recipes

Why cook for days when you can whip up some traditional and not-so-traditional dishes in just minutes? Try these recipes for some tasty, time-saving and healthy Memorial Day 2009 meals.

Quick Hot Coleslaw

* 1 - 12 oz. pkg. coleslaw mix
* ½ lb. low sodium bacon
* ½ - 1 T. Balsamic vinegar

Fry bacon until crisp, remove from skillet and place on paper towel to drain. Remove skillet from heat, pour off all but 1 T. of bacon drippings, return to medium heat stove. Crumble bacon and reserve for later. Add coleslaw mix and stir-fry in the bacon drippings, stirring constantly, until slaw is crisp-tender. Add ½ - 1T. Balsamic vinegar (depending on how tart you like slaw), and crumbled bacon, and sauté about 1 to 2 minutes until dish is hot. Serve hot with sausage links or wieners, or as a side dish.

This recipe was created and tested using Farmland lower sodium bacon, and Fresh Express 3 color deli coleslaw. Feel free to substitute your favorite brands for your Memorial Day 2009 dish.

Big Daddy's Secret Memorial Day 2009 BBQ Sauce

Yield: 3 cups

* 1 - 24 oz. bottle ketchup
* ¼ cup local, organic honey
* 1 cup distilled white vinegar
* 1 T. prepared yellow mustard

Pour entire contents of the 24 oz. ketchup bottle in a medium size mixing bowl. Use some of the white vinegar to rinse bottle and drain remaining ketchup. Add other ingredients and whisk vigorously until well combined. This is your base BBQ sauce. Use it for basting meats, marinating, or as a sauce for grilling or baking meats. For safety's sake, do not reuse marinate. Divide the recipe in half, and leave one half for a basic BBQ sauce, but add other ingredients to the other portion for flavor variations. Here are some suggestions for additions: horseradish, Tabasco sauce, fresh or dried fruit, or nuts.

Tastes Like Homemade Potato Salad 2009

* 2 - 24 oz. containers of Gunnoes potato salad (look for it in the deli section)
* 1 - 12 oz. package lower Sodium bacon

Spoon potato salad into serving bowl. Fry bacon until crisp, drain, crumble. Add to the potato salad, mix well. Quick but tasty! If you are feeling more creative, you can take this up a notch by adding: chopped pepper, diced cheese, olives, or other tasty morsels, but it is delicious with just the bacon.

Memorial Day Burgers 2009 Style

* 2 organic eggs (or farm fresh if available)
* ¾ cup organic milk
* 2 T. each of oat flour, flaxseed meal, and wheat germ (organic if possible)
* ¼ - ½ cup bread crumbs (if necessary)
* ¼ cup each of minced onion, and assorted red, green, or yellow peppers
* 1 tsp. sea salt
* 1 tsp. turmeric
* 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (freshly ground if possible)
* 2 T. fresh organic parsley, minced
* ½ tsp. ground organic sage
* 1 ½ - 2 lbs. organic ground beef

Combine eggs and milk in a large mixing bowl. Stir in oat flour, flaxseed meal, and wheat germ. Add onion, peppers, seasonings, and ground beef. Mix well. If mixture is too soft to form patties, add bread crumbs ¼ cup at a time until mixture holds its shape.

Form into patties and grill on both sides until done. Serve on organic whole grain buns with your favorite condiments. This recipe takes a few minutes to assemble, but is well worth the time!

Remember food safety when preparing foods for Memorial Day 2009. Use a meat thermometer to check internal food temperatures and keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. For more information on how to have a healthy Memorial Day get-together, follow this link www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fssummer.html