Issue #1 May 31, 2011
Memorial Day Poem And Remembrance
The sun and blue skies soar above the World War II Memorial and display the wreaths of honor placed on the columns. We remember.
This page is dedicated to the memory of those who died in the Nation’s service. They left behind loved ones, college dreams, great careers and a future because they believed in America. They traded it all for limited supplies, hot, cold, and bad weather, challenges beyond comprehension and lousy pay. They never asked to be remembered, these heroes of conflict and battle. It is important to remember so that we do not let our freedom slip away.
Remembrance Confirmed: A Memorial Day Poem
Flags fly at half-staff on this Memorial Day.
Who will remember or even take a moment’s time to pray?
Many men and women died in response to Freedom’s call.
Should we not remember then, dead soldiers, one and all?
A holiday declares recognition of those who gave their life
To protect our country: son, daughter, husband, wife.
Monuments of tribute, wreaths, flags, flowers across the land
Show that we remember the brave courageous band
Of military troops who gave up everything so that we
Could benefit from their sacrifice by remaining free.
A Short History of Memorial Day
Memorial Day was once known as Decoration Day. Memorial Day was set aside to remember those who died in the service of our country. On May 5, 1868, national commander General John Logan formalized recognition of the fallen on May 5, 1868. Flowers were left May 30 of the same year Confederate and Union soldiers’ graves at Arlington, a National Cemetery in Virginia.
After World War I, the holiday changed to honor any American whose death resulted from fighting a war in defense of our nation. The National Holiday Act of 1971 made Memorial Day a three day holiday weekend in May, observed on the last Monday. Once, the day blazed with patriotic fervor. Now it seems that it revolves around shopping, fireworks, short vacations, NASCAR, the Indy 500, and picnics. It is not so much that tradition has been forgotten, as it is that tradition has been changed.
Parents must teach flag etiquette, no longer allowed at many public schools. Take some time to tend to the graves of fallen soldiers. Leave a flag or flower to declare that you remember freedom is not free. Work to reinstate the Memorial Day parade in your town or attend the one provided. Lead by example. Stand at attention and remove your hat as the flag approaches and passes by. Please take a moment to remember.
Special Memorial Day Meals
Not everyone gets a Monday holiday on Memorial Day, so celebrate over the weekend. Barbecues are popular because the weather has finally changed to sunny and warm. When you check the Internet, you will find many recipes that celebrate the resurrection of the grill for spring, summer, and fall. If you do not have traditional Memorial Day foods yet, make this the year to start your new traditions. Try some of the following suggestions that make the most of your grill.
- Main Dishes From The Grill: Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Hamburgers, Vegetable Shish Kabob
- Veggies From The Grill: Fresh Asparagus, Corn on the Cob, Zucchini, Bell Peppers, Onions
- Grilled Accompaniments: French Bread, English Muffins, Hamburger Buns
- Sides From The Grill: Pizza, Yams, Potatoes
- Desserts From The Grill: Cherry Cobbler, Grilled Strawberries, Grilled Apricot Pie
Invite friends and neighbors for the celebration. Fly the flag. Request a moment of silence as you remember those sent to war with no return ticket.
How to Grill Vegetables for Perfect Results Every Time
GrilledVegetableRecipe.com – Easy Grilled Vegetable Recipes
Few dishes can claim to be healthy, easy to prepare and delicious all at the same time, but a grilled vegetable recipe will always hit the spot. Vegetables are an economical choice but you can do such fantastic things with them. If you are grilling burgers, steak, or chicken, why not add some juicy veggies to the grill as well?
GrilledVegetableRecipe.com will walk you through how to make the best grilled vegetables ever, whether you are looking for advice about choosing and preparing veggies, or whether you just want some ideas for vegetable recipes. You can serve your grilled vegetables as they are, perhaps marinating them before cooking, or you can make them into pizza toppings, soups and much more. Grilled veggies are really versatile.
New Grilled Veggie Ideas
Perhaps you have already experimented with grilled vegetable recipes, in which case GrilledVegetableRecipe.com can offer you some new ideas for your favorite veggies. You can add flavor by adding wine, spices, herbs, and other seasonings.
If you are looking for exciting vegetarian recipes, our grilled vegetable recipes are delicious and satisfying enough to serve without meat, fish, or poultry, if you choose. You might like to use your favorite vegetables, livening them up with a sauce, a marinade, or a special spice mix, or perhaps you fancy trying out some new, exotic veggies. The grill is the perfect place to cook them, giving you the most tender, juicy results.
A grill is a handy piece of kit to have and the smell of steak or chicken cooking to perfection on a sunny day is what grilling is all about, but adding a grilled vegetable recipe to the meat and chicken means you can make a healthy, easy and totally mouthwatering vegetable appetizer, entree or side dish too.
Grilling Tip:
Always preheat your grill before you begin to cook on it. This process is done in about 20 minutes to ensure it hits the idea temperatures that keep your meat from taking too long to grill and to prevent bacteria that might be already on the grill to effectively die. Ideally, you will want your grill to hit 400 degrees if you are going for high, 350 degrees for medium high, 300 degrees for medium heat and 250 degrees for low heat. As an added bonus, this is going to help your meats sear upon contact which adds a depth of flavor to the meat and can help you to get the caramelized color that is considered to be the ideal color for meat that has been cooked on the grill.
Recipe: Easy Grilled Eggplant with a Basil Tomato Salsa
This delicious appetizer or side dish is made with juicy grilled eggplant, tomato, basil and more. The eggplant is sliced thickly and grilled to perfection. You can use a gas grill or a charcoal grill for this recipe, but make sure the grill is nice and hot before adding the eggplant, so it cooks well. If you want to get grill marks on the eggplant slices, turn them only once on each side. Grill marks do not affect the flavor but they can make your grilled vegetable recipe look extra appealing.
The basil tomato salsa is sandwiched between the eggplant slices and this is made with tomatoes, onion, basil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. This simple, non-spicy salsa recipe has a fresh flavor which goes beautifully with the eggplant. If you want to add some zing, you can add some minced jalapeno (or even a splash of hot sauce) to the salsa, but that is your choice.
Make the stacks whatever size you want, but using three eggplant slices and two teaspoons of salsa per stack works well. You might choose to use fresh thyme sprigs to secure the stacks or you might prefer fresh rosemary. If you do not want to do this, toothpicks will also hold them together or you can omit those as well. Garnish the dish however you like. Balsamic vinegar is nice to drizzle on the plates because its sweet flavor echoes the sweetness from the eggplant and the salsa and it also looks decorative on the plate.
Photo Description:
This gourmet eggplant recipe shows you how to transform a couple of humble eggplants into a colorful feast. The eggplant is flavored with garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and moistened with olive oil. It is then grilled until pliable and tender, and served with a fresh-flavored basil and tomato salsa recipe. This is such an easy recipe to make and if you are grilling meat or chicken, you might as well add some eggplant slices to the grill too, and make this unique and impressive eggplant side dish recipe. It looks good, smells good, and tastes beautiful.
Juicy Eggplant and Basil Salsa Stacks
Ingredients
- 2 lbs eggplant
- ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar, plus extra for drizzling
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- Black pepper, to taste
- Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
For the Basil Tomato Salsa:
- 2 cups chopped, peeled, de-seeded tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to high.
- Combine the salsa ingredients and set the salsa to one side so the flavors can blend.
- Slice the eggplant into ⅓ inch thick slices.
- Stir the balsamic vinegar with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.
- Brush this mixture over both sides of the eggplant slices.
- Grill the eggplant slices for about 12 minutes, or until they are juicy and tender.
- Drizzle some balsamic vinegar over your serving plates.
- Stack the eggplant slices with the salsa and skewer each stack with a sprig of thyme, if you like.
- Serve the grilled eggplant stacks on the balsamic vinegar-drizzled plates.
- Serves 8
Diet type: Vegetarian
Diet tags: Low calorie, Reduced fat
Number of servings (yield): 8
Culinary tradition: USA (Nouveau)
Grilling Tip:
Your grill is going to benefit from the use of oil on it. What many people do not realize is that having a well oiled grill is going to help to prevent items from sticking and deliver a better result with the sear marks that appear on your food. What you are going to find that in the case of lean meats, you are going to also see an increase in the amount of items that stick to the grill. Applying cooking oil is going to be an effective way to do this. Keep in mind that if you try to spray this with cooking spray you can have a fire or exploding can. Your best choice is going to be to take a paper towel and soak it in vegetable oil. Then with a pair of tongs, you are going to run it over the grill. In just a matter of moments, you are going to have a better cooking surface.
How to Make the World’s Best Hamburger Recipes Guaranteed
BestHamburgerRecipes.org – A Best Hamburger Recipes for Any Occasion
If the only hamburgers you are familiar are greasy ones from fast food outlets or lackluster Frisbee-like disks from the freezer, you have been missing out. Homemade hamburgers are really delicious and, better still, they are easy to make, even for novice home cooks.
New Heavenly Hamburger Ideas
Everyone enjoys cheeseburger recipes but have you ever thought of adding the cheese to the patty mixture, rather than topping the patty with a slice of cheese? How about using different toppings for your burgers, like grilled onions, pineapple rings, sliced jalapeno, or sautéed mushrooms. You do not have to use beef to make hamburgers either. Ground turkey, chicken, or lamb can be used instead. There are also recipes for fish burgers and bean burgers.
At BestHamburgerRecipes.org you will find tips on how to prepare the best patties and how to cook them to perfection, whether you want to use the grill, the oven or cook them in a pan.
Your Hamburgers, Your Choice
If you thought all hamburger recipes were sinful, think again, because we have healthy ones too! You can use extra lean ground beef and serve your patties with fresh salad leaves in whole wheat buns and enjoy both the delicious hamburger recipe and the knowledge that you are eating something nutritious.
On the other hand, if you want to enjoy a rich and luxurious hamburger, with cheese, bacon, mayonnaise and an extra thick, juicy patty, we can show you how to make that from scratch too. BestHamburgerRecipes.org offers something for everyone.
If you love hamburgers and you want to know how to make your own perfect hamburgers to delight the whole family, check out BestHamburgerRecipes.org for all the tips and recipes you will ever need.
Grilling Tip
Marinating your meat is essential on the grill. This helps you to expand the flavors of the meat and helps to keep them tender to a point. You can use a variety of items to help bring out your flavors that you think will help your meats to taste the best. This can be a prepackaged marinade or you can choose from a variety of recipes that can be found online as well. As an added bonus, you are going to find that the research has shown that by doing this, you reduce the number of carcinogens in the meat as well and that reduces the risk of cancer you have. That makes this a delicious option you will have that will keep you healthy at the same time.
Recipe: Italian Marinated Grilled New York Strip Steaks
How many cooking methods have you tried with steak? Pan-fried steak is good and you can also broil your steak or cook it in the oven. The best cooking method for steak though has to be grilling! Not only does the grill give your steaks a nice smoky flavor but also the meat chars on the outside while staying tender and juicy on the inside. Any fat which drips off the meat ends up on the coals rather than on your plate. The following recipe shows you how to marinate New York strip steaks and grill them to juicy perfection. We recommend that you cook the steaks to medium rare (pink inside). The longer you cook them, the dryer the texture inside will be.
New York strip steaks are a popular cut of meat, but feel free to use rib-eye, sirloin, T-bone, tri-tips or another cut if you prefer. The marinade will work just as well on other cuts of steak. The marinade has an Italian feel to it, especially with the basil and Italian seasoning mix, although the Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and steak seasoning add a hearty meatiness too. Pierce your steaks with a fork, so the marinade can really infuse them with flavor, and then let them soak for a minimum of two hours. The longer the steaks sit in the marinade the stronger the end flavor will be.
Let the steaks marinate in the refrigerator but bring them to room temperature before cooking them. This is important (and a step which many people overlook) because if you put cold meat on a hot grill, the meat will “seize up” and the result will be a tougher steak. Half an hour is usually enough to bring the steak back to room temperature. You can serve the finished steaks with your favorite side dishes. A grilled vegetable recipe like eggplant slices, corn on the cob or veggie kabobs would be a great idea.
Photo Description:
This photo shows the dancing flames of the grill searing and cooking the marinated New York strip steaks to succulent, charred perfection. Nothing beats grilled steak if you are looking for something satisfying and mouthwatering and this recipe is perfect for the spring or summertime, when the weather is good and you fancy firing up the grill. It is easy to marinate steak and also simple to cook the meat on the grill. You could use a gas grill, or even an indoor grill, but for a wonderful smoky flavor use a charcoal grill. This recipe gives you tender, juicy meat which has a great Italian flavor.
Juicy New York Strip Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 New York strip steaks, 8 oz each
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons steak seasoning
- 2 smashed garlic cloves
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
Instructions
- Combine the red wine vinegar, steak seasoning, garlic cloves, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and basil in a glass dish.
- Use a fork to pierce the steaks in several places.
- Add the meat to the marinade and turn it well to coat.
- Cover and refrigerate the steaks for 2 hours, turning once or twice, then bring them to room temperature.
- Grill the marinated New York strip steaks over a high heat until they are done to your liking.
- Take the meat off the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- (Serves 4)
Diet tags: Reduced carbohydrate, High protein
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: USA (Traditional)
Grilling Tip:
When you are done cooking your meat on the grill, take a moment to remove it and place it on a platter and cover it with foil. A majority of juice can be lost during this time and by doing this you end of up with the juice staying in your meat and have a juicy cut of meat that offers a great depth of flavor. That is after all your main goal and one you should consider in this process.
Featured Article:
Cleaning Barbecue Grills
Since Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of the cookout season, one thing that an awful lot of us will be doing on or shortly before the long holiday weekend is to get to work cleaning barbecue grills to prepare them for the holiday’s – and the season’s grilling.
While most serious barbecue enthusiasts will clean their grills after every use, your grill is still going to need a thorough cleaning before you fire it up for the year’s first big cookout. Of course, if you tend to start a little earlier, then you may have already done some sort of cleaning, but even so, it never hurts to do a good job of it; the cleaner your grill, the better your food will taste. Keep reading for a few barbecue grill cleaning tips to help you get everything ready for your big cookout season kickoff:
The Most Important Tools: Wire Brush and Scraper
The tools you’ll use the most are also the simplest: your scraper and wire brush. The best time to clean your grill this way is actually after a barbecuing when the grill is still warm, but for your Memorial Day cookout you’ll need to give the grill a good scraping and brushing beforehand. Don’t be afraid to put some elbow grease into it, since a clean grill will definitely be worth the effort. To make things a little easier, especially if there is a lot of buildup to clean off of your grill, start by taking the grate out of your grill and give it a good hosing down before you do anything else.
Using a Grill Stone
A grill stone is something that you may want to invest in if you grill frequently, since it requires a lot less effort to remove residue from the grate this way. These extremely abrasive stones make short work of even relatively tough grill messes, but like a wire brush, you may not want to use this tool to for cleaning your barbecue grill if the grate is made from ceramic rather than metal.
Working With Iron Grates
If your grill’s grate is cast iron, then remember to take proper care of it; just as you would with a cast iron skillet, your grate will last far longer if you oil it after use to prevent rust. Make sure to do this after you finish cleaning it, rubbing it down with a paper towel dipped in a little vegetable oil.
Portable and Semi-Portable Charcoal Grills
As long as you’re cleaning off the grate, you may as well go beyond just dumping out the ashes from your portable or semi-portable grill. Once it’s cooled down, scrape or brush out the inside and if possible, hose it down as well.
A clean grill makes for a great Memorial Day barbecue, so feel free to get started early with these barbecue grill cleaning tips before you get the first barbecue of the year underway.
