Memorial Day Cookout Time!

It’s finally here! Memorial Day! The unofficial summer kickoff — the time to fire up the grill, invite over a bunch of friends, pop open some beers, and hang out (while pausing to remember those who gave their lives for our freedom).

Here are a bunch of fun ideas for entertaining and enjoying the tastiest Memorial Day Weekend:

1. Serve fresh fruit on a watermelon grill.

Here’s a fun way to serve fresh fruit (and nothing is better than summer fruit)!

It’s a water that looks like a barbecue!

This grill was made with fruit skewers stacked with: cantelope, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, kiwi, and raspberries. (And don’t forget the blackberries! They make the “charcoal” in the bottom! (And you can find wooden skewers at most grocery stores or online).

Here’s how to construct:

2. Don’t buy barbecue sauce! Make your own!

It’s super, super easy to make your own BBQ sauce, and your friends will be SO impressed.

Earlier this week, I posted my recipe for my favorite of my homemade barbecue sauces. You can find that here.

If you’re more of a rub kind of barbecue fan, I’ve got you covered! I have my own organic barbecue spice blend available for sale and it works great as a rub. You can buy that here.

3. Entertaining? Serve beer like this!

Grab that wheelbarrow gathering rust in the garage, fill it with ice and plenty of beer and you’ve got yourself a cool take on the beer bucket!

4. It’s forecasted to be toasty out there this weekend. Serve wine ice!

That’s right, wine ice cubes. You can use red, white, or even rosé. To make these, simply freeze your wine in plastic ice cube trays and serve with sparkling water, soda, etc! They’re also great for sangria.

Just be sure to note that wine expands when it freezes so make sure not to fill the the ice cube tray all the way to the top with wine. Leave a little room in each ice cube hole for expansion.

5. Be sure to properly prep your grill.

Here’s a super useful lifehack/grillhack:

Cut an onion in half and rub the onion all over your heated grill, cut side down. This will make the grill non-stick! Then you’ll be all set to grill and feed your own hungry fans!

6. If you’re going to be outside this weekend, remember your sunscreen!

We can’t quite say it enough. If you’re going to be out in the backyard grilling, that’s awesome. But do remember to protect yourself from the suns’ summer rays. Before slathering on your sunscreen, read this first. (You want to be sure your sunscreen isn’t doing more harm than good).

7. Don’t forget dessert!

That’s a serious party foul. Salty, yummy grilled goodness with nothing sweet to top it off?

Here’s a super easy and fun America-themed dessert: a fruit and mascarpone tart. All it is is a graham cracker crust (you can make on your own [recipe below] or buy already made [pie form works ok too]). Top with mascarpone cheese (add sugar as desired) and strawberries and blueberries. Super simple!

To make your graham cracker crust:

Ingredients
* 1 1/2 cups Graham Crackers, finely ground
* 1/3 cup brown or Demerara sugar
* 6 tablespoons butter, melted (I like salted butter but you can use either salter or unsalted)
* Optional: nutmeg and cinnamon (1/2 teaspoons each)

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix all ingredients together and press into a rectangular-shaped baking dish
3. Bake for 7–8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Then top with mascarpone cheese and fresh berries. Serve!

Enjoy your holiday weekends, everyone! Have fun and be safe!

-Daina