Memorial Day Food

I have a soft spot for the Navy, because my dad was a Sailor, and one of my oldest friends (and the MOH at my wedding) and her husband are also Sailors, and I am grateful to all of our men and women of the military. I took a few moments yesterday on Memorial Day to remember them, as well as the fallen men and women who have made is possible for me to have three day weekends with friends and family!

I spent yesterday with my husband and friends playing Mystery Express, Ticket to Ride, and Puerto Rico and eating Pioneer Woman's big fat bacon sliders and a (slightly) modified version of her bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies. We also had chips, rotel, guacamole, mimosa fruit salad, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, thanks to Mai-Li.

Darren helped me put together the sliders on Sunday evening. We were expecting people to come over around 2:00 pm, and I wanted to make sure we had plenty of prep time so we would have plenty of time to play games with our guests. I read PW's recipe last week and decided that they would make the perfect Memorial Day burgers. For once, I more or less followed the recipe. I started with 4 pounds of ground beef and added some pepper and season salt and mixed it all together.

Then I rolled the meat into 24 balls.

I sliced up two fresh jalapenos to tuck under the bacon jackets of six of the burgers. All of the burgers were wrapped in a piece of bacon, cut in half.

Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon around the burger, joining the ends on the bottom, and then wrap a second 1/2 slice at 90 degrees to the first slice. Place the burgers on a broiler pan. Line the bottom with foil for easy cleanup!

Continue wrapping in bacon until all of the burgers are done.

I put toothpicks to mark the ones with jalapenos. I put these in the refrigerator until about 20 minutes prior to cooking on Monday.

Before cooking, I brushed the burgers with barbecue sauce. I forgot to take a picture of this step, and then cooked them at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. They looked delicious when they came out of the oven, and we served them on dinner rolls.

I did a terrible job of documenting the process of making the stuffed jalapenos, but I took pictures of the finished product.

Seeded jalapeno halves are filled with cheesy delicious filling and wrapped in bacon secured with a toothpick.The filling is an 8 oz. box of cream cheese softened and mixed with 4 oz. of shredded jack cheese. I made some without bacon for those crazy people who don't love pigs. They are cooked for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. YUM!

I hope you had a great Memorial Day with family and friends, and I hope you took a moment to remember our fallen.