Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!  Today, we remember our fallen veterans, who made the ultimate sacrifice and their families that were left behind.  I thank each and every one of you, and as the granddaughter of two veterans (now deceased) of WWII, and the niece of multiple veterans of Vietnam, I respect and honor you all today and everyday.

On a much more superficial note, today we also "officially" kick off the summer season.  My kids still have a week and a half of school to finish, so we are not calling it summer just yet, but it is hot, which, here in Texas (and on my light and fun food blog), means grilling season is in full force.  Fortunately for me, my husband procured a new propane tank for my grill yesterday, not to mention some lovely organic and biodegradable cleaners for said grill.  I decided, at 8:30 last night to try them out; let's just say that, for only owning that grill for a year (maybe not even that), it was NASTY.  Lots of char, lots of grease - it was another fireball waiting to happen.  So, maybe it wasn't the worst thing in the world that my propane ran out mid-dinner preparation the other night.  That sucker needed to be scoured.  So, did that - it's all nice and clean and pretty now.  The plan was to dirty it up again a little with hot dogs for this evening (what kid doesn't love hot dogs, even the nitrate and nitrite free turkey dogs that I insist on buying), but my two year old accidentally kicked me full on in the eye (with shoes on, no less) earlier today, so my throbbing face and I feel that the grill may just be too much freaking trouble for this evening.  Hot dogs taste almost as good cooked in a skillet on the stove, and my family of five will enjoy a fun Memorial Day dinner regardless.  The grill can definitely be dirtied another day. 

You Know That Thing When You are Grilling...

And you have all of your food - veggies and hamburger patties - lined up nice and pretty on your wonderful, propane-powered grill and you go inside and when you come back five minutes later, you wonder why the grill is cold all of a sudden and your food is no longer cooking, but just sitting there having one big cross-contamination par-tay?  Yeah, that super sucks and I discovered why I miss my natural gas grill the other night (despite the fact that I accidentally set that one on fire, and which considering the gas connected directly to the house, it could have been BAD.  Real bad).  My propane ran out, in the middle of cooking dinner for my in-laws, and all I could hear in my head was Hank Hill's voice wondering why I hadn't checked my "propane and propane accessories" before I started cooking.  (I didn't really watch that show much - just enough to get that line good and freaking stuck in my head, especially when it comes to my grill.)  It wasn't that big of a deal, really, but I did have to haul everything off of the stone cold grill and back inside for a mish-mash of stove top and electric grill cooking.  Good times.  Now I get to go to the hardware store and refill my propane tank.  Extra good times.