Memorial Day

This past Memorial Day was pretty easy and kick back. We had a potluck with the family at our place.

 A trio of salads: fruit salad, mac and mixed greens. Once again, my mom made the mac salad with chicken. She added cherries on top for garnish. Kinda fail because I didn't really like seeing it and tasting cherries with mayo and mac. Sorry mom! But she doesn't read this blog (or any blog for that matter) anyways.

The mixed green salad was so easy.  This is the lazy person's sald. It looks impressive but it's just putting stuff together. Just get a bagged salad or two, then add dried cranberries, some sort of nut (in this case, thinly sliced almonds), some sort of cheese (feta for everyone but not for me because feta is barf inducing) and (not pictured) fresh fruit (thinly sliced green pear). The dressing was balsamic but of course, being the dressing hater that I am, had it plain.


I also made Chili Burger Sliders (recipe courtesy of JustJenn; her blog is great with so many easy and fun recipes to try), except everyone ended up eating the chili separate or with chips instead of on the burgers!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 

I ended up doubling everything

• King’s Hawaiian sweet bread rolls. I bought 2 packs (1 dozen in each pack) from Seafood City.
• Plus a crock pot of chili (again, the recipe is courtesy of JustJenn)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Prep a baking sheet lined with foil on the bottom and then a wire rack on top. I didn't have a wire rack so I baked them on top of this vented sheet over a roasting pan, that way, at least the fat would still go through the vents.
• In a bowl combine the ground beef, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. So easy!
• Form little slider size patties. (you can make an indention in the middle if you wish)

Place on the prepped pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until the juices run clear.
I ended up putting little slices of American cheese inside and then sticking a toothpick to hold them together. TC and the nephews liked theirs. These taste so much better when they're hot. I also liked using the sweet rolls instead of regular mini buns.

More of that fruit salad (canned: lychees, pineapple, jackfruit and cherries plus fresh melon, oranges from our back yard, as well as kiwis, strawberries, and blueberries). I like my fruit salads to be very colorful.

Here's that chili that no one had with their mini sliders. Wait, TC tried it but the meat was so loose and it got too sloppy. Ewww, I used the word "loose". Sounds like loose stool. My bro and sis ended up eating the chili with potato chips. I also ended up using the rest of the leftovers as wanna be Cincinnati Spaghetti (spaghetti with chili and cheddar cheese on top).

Here's the recipe for the Crock Pot Chili (again, courtesy of the fab JustJenn)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 (28 oz) can stewed tomatoes
• 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce (oops, I actually didn't put this in! Duh on me!)
• 1-1/2 (14.5 oz) cans kidney beans
• 5 tbsp chili powder (yes, 5 tbsp really gives it that kick!)
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1-1/2 tsp black pepper
• a pinch of crushed red pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Brown meat in a large skillet. (I also drained the fat)
• Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft.
• In a large bowl, combine the meat mixture with all the other ingredients. Stir well.
• Pour into a crock pot and set on low for 4 hours.

 OMFG, how easy is THAT? Eat with rice or with hot dogs or burgers. You can also add grated cheddar cheese and extra onions but I didn't do that.

Below, the hot dogs that my bro grilled...nice and meaty. I forgot what brand they were.

The exciting gourmet quality condiments. When you care to use the very best.    Pause.

My bro in law (Bert's bro) brought some fried chicken from Church's. Ooh, crunchy and crispety skinz!

My parents also brought this really nice dessert tray from Filipino Desserts Plus from the new Seafood City. Now, I thought it looked pretty but my dad was bitching about how much it cost ($12) and how he could have gotten it $2 cheaper at some other place in National City. He also says they put more pieces in theirs too. Okayyy, I'll save $2 on the same thing by using up $2 worth of gas to drive up to National City? Uhhh, not. In any case, what you see (from left to right) is: Purple rice, three kinds of glutinous rice cakes - purple, white and orange, and some sort of corn dessert. The brown stuff is toasted coconut and brown sugar.
 
I asked my sis to buy some vanilla ice cream for root beer floats. Because her boys don't like root beer, she brought orange soda instead.

This was a massive hit with the kids. We stuck straws in them which always makes drinking fun.

The food was simple - burgers and dogs. A few sides plus soda floats! We had fun watching the youngest nephew totter around and try to touch everything. He' s a little over a year old and is babbling like crazy! So cute!

Summer's almost here!