Mouth watering BBQ menus to Celebrate Memorial Day!

I love BBQs - from the food to the entertaining.  An added bonus that much of the cooking is done outdoors so there is less clean up!  (Right now is where most of my friends are saying "but your husband does the dishes"...yes, less clean up for him!)   Here are some of my favorite menus and recipes for a great Memorial Day BBQ.  Every BBQ needs a few signature drinks - come back and check out my separate blog post on great drinks for a BBQ'ing weekend!

Please comment with your favorite menus too (please include the recipe - a great sounding dish without the recipe just makes our mouth water!!)

Traditional BBQ Menu

     Marinated and Grilled Shrimp

A long standing BBQ favorite in my household.  It's important to get the right shrimp for this recipe. I generally get the frozen - size 21-25 or 16-20 (depending on where I am shopping).    These are often labeled as Jumbo.  Make sure to get raw and deveined.  If you are only able to get shell on - it is easy to remove the shells - just thaw and pull from the top of the tail toward the meat of the shrimp. It comes right off - make sure to do this before you marinate below.





Ingredients:
- 25-30 Jumbo shrimp
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 3 tsp Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro (sometimes I cheat and get the squeezable cilantro from the produce section)
- 1 tbs fresh garlic
- Skewers




Combine shrimp, sea salt and olive oil in a bowl.  Let sit in refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove and rinse thoroughly.

Add chopped cilantro and fresh garlic to rinsed shrimp. Let marinate in fridge for 3-4 hours. Skewer about 4-5 shrimp per skewer.   BBQ on medium heat until the shrimp just turn pink. Watch closely as they will get very chewy if cooked too long.

 Potato Salad with Dill

Boil 8 lbs large red potatoes with peel, let cool and dice. Add 16 oz sour cream and 3-4 cups mayo or more based on desired creaminess. Add 2 cups of chopped celery, 3 pinches chopped fresh dill, 1 small chopped red onion, garlic salt and pepper. Add 6-8 pieces of bacon and 2 eggs chopped.  Garnish with dill and bacon. Enjoy!

Honey Beer Ribs

Honey Beer Ribs

The main course.  Credit for this recipe goes to Taste of Home with one major change. The only BBQ sauce used in our house is Sweet Baby Rae's.  I've tried making sauce, tried a ton of other brands, but this is our family favorite.  If you have a favorite feel free to substitute!  No matter what - keep the wet wipes close by! The recipe can be found here.

Herbed Corn on the Cob

Herbed Corn on the Cob
What's a summer BBQ without Corn on the Cob.  Don't forget to get some cute corn holders! 

Recipe:

6 ears of fresh corn, cleaned
6 tbs sweet butter, softened
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fresh basil
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh rosemary

Directions:
Place one corn on each foil.  Mix ingredients together (grind the herbs together if you have a herb grinder) and rub onto each cob.  Wrap foil around the corn and grill for 15 minutes - turning often.

Cute Corn Holders!

Cherry Pie

What do you do when your cherry tree goes CRAZY?  Make pie of course! I've never really followed a recipe for cherry pie - but here goes!  If you are going to make many cherry pies or other cherry desserts I totally recommend a cherry pitter. You can get a pretty inexpensive one here.  Great job if you have a little helper (granted my little helper got a little cranky by the end of the pitting!)

Ingredients:
- Pre-made pie crust (if you are especially good at making crusts go for it - I go for ease)
- Pitted and sliced cherries
- 1/2-1 cup of sugar - depending on the sweetness of the cherries and how tart you want the pie
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 1 cup applesauce 

Press one of the pie crusts into the bottom of a pie plate. Combine all the dry ingredients. Add the cherries and applesauce until well mixed. Put into the pie crust.  You can either do a criss cross type crust or you can just put the 2nd crust over the top of the pie.  I like the look of the criss cross version.  Cook for 25-30 minutes or until brown. I generally cover the edges of the pie with foil until the last 10 minutes of cooking so that they don't brown too much.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Around the World BBQ

Traditional BBQs are great - but it's always fun to try new things and experiment a little.  Here are some great recipes if you want to try an around-the-world BBQ theme.

Mexican Bruchetta

Ingredients

½ loaf French bread
1 clove garlic
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 tomatoes, medium chopped
2 avocados, medium chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Slice the French bread on the diagonal into ½" rounds and place on a baking sheet.

Toast the slicebread in the oven for 3 minutes, then flip each piece over and toast an additional 3 minutes.

Remove the toasted bread from the oven and immediately rub with the clove of garlic (it works best to first cut a small tip off the garlic clove so that the oils will seep out).

Brush the tops of the garlic-rubbed toasts with olive oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix together gently making sure the avocado is well coated in the lime juice.

Spoon a portion of the mixture onto each of the garlic toasts and serve.

Ceviche

Ceviche

Admittedly, I was totally baffled at how you could "cook" fish with just lime juice. Now, I'm hooked! This is a wonderful, light salad that can be served as a salad or an appetizer.  The recipe can be found here.

Grilled Curried Peanut Chicken

Mix it up a little bit with this main dish!  Curry and peanut butter make a rich and delicious main dish.  Serve over rice.  Recipe can be found here - credit goes to Taste of Home.

For the rice I prefer Jasmine - cooked just until sticky.

Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles

I served this as a side dish but it's filling enough for a main dish on a warm summer night.  Great compliment to the curry chicken!  Credit goes to Food Network and could be found here. 

Ice Cream with Cinnamon Tortillas

This is a nice light dessert - and if you are feeling especially adventurous you can mold the tortillas into a bowl.  Recipe is simple. For the tortilla: Brush both sides with  melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Put into a sprayed cupcake tin or ramekin and bake for 15 minutes until set.  When cool, add ice cream and carmel sauce.  Enjoy!