I’m not sure exactly how original my creations are but it’s pretty much all I could come up with. Hot Dogs with a Blueberry aioli didn’t exactly make sense so Beanie Weanie seemed to make some sense. As a kid, and even today, I love to slice up a couple (okay, maybe three or four) good hot dogs and after pan frying them toss in a can of pork and beans. Add some spices, some ketchup and a little hot sauce and I’ve got a lunch that warms the innards.

I also wanted to use the cast iron skillet I had just, the day before, lovingly re-seasoned. The whole mixture was cooked in the skillet in the Traeger and turned out pretty darn tasty. This is one of those recipes that would need a little added flavoring with spices to get just right. Or I might use blueberry pie filling instead of blueberry syrup next time. (I just thought of the blueberry pie filling while writing them, I wish I’d thought about sooner because that would have been even better.)

And I did use canned beans this time around. This has been a crazy month, so far, and I just didn’t leave myself enough time to use dried beans. And if I told the truth I don’t think it would have made a lot of difference.

Smoked Blueberry Beanie Weenie

Ingredients

• 2 cans (14 oz) S&W White Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (14 oz) S&W White Beans
• 3/4 cups Blueberry Syrup
• 1/2 cup tomato ketchup
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• Salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your smoker to 275 degrees (or oven if you feel you must)

Drain the beans in a mesh strainer. Rinse off all the bean slime and set aside.

Fry the chopped bacon until the fat is rendered. Don’t over cook. You don’t want it crispy. Remove bacon and set aside. Saute the onions until soft. Add all the ingredients and stir to mix well. Use 1/2

Place the bean mixture, in the cast iron skillet in your smoker and cook for about three hours. Add the hot dogs to the top and continue cooking until the hot dogs are warmed, about 30 minutes. Take them out and serve them!

For the dill pickles I decided the best way to handle them, because I was smart enough to not put them in the beans, was to batter and fry them. I had also made up some crappy corn bread (See my request here) and used a little diluted corn bread batter. The fried pickles with some ranch dressing were actually pretty darn tasty.

Additional participants in this month’s Ingredient Challenge include:

Paul Haight of No Excuses BBQ – ENTRY HERE

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of cooking outdoors at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world. Somewhere along the way things got out of control…

Bob Fukushima of Bob’s Brew & Que – ENTRY HERE

Bob started Bob’s Brew and ‘Que in August of 2009 with the intent of sharing his views on food and drink. Originally focused on BBQ and Homebrew, it was inevitable that the influences of his upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area and it’s wealth of ingredients as well as his heritage as an American of Japanese ancestry would help focus his blog, as it has his approach to food and drink.

Jason Adams of Jason’s BBQ Adventures – ENTRY HERE

Jason’s BBQ Adventures was started in 2007 when Jason fell in love with real BBQ the first time and tried to smoked a pork shoulder and soon after started smoking ribs, brisket, and chicken. After a while he started to experiment with grilling and smoking just about anything and ultimately fell in love with the entire cooking process.

Hanneke Eerden of The Dutchess Cooks – ENTRY HERE

After years of cooking, grilling, baking and reading other people’s blogs, I thought “why not start my own blog??” And I did, in 2010, but already after a short period of time, a blog wasn’t enough, and I started my own website. It’s not my goal to publish or come up with fancy and difficult recipes: just good and delicious food with an international twist! Straight from my plate to yours!

Marc Van Der Wouw of Grill Adventures-ENTRY HERE

Grilladventures by broadcastmarc is started on march of 2010.I started the BBQ thing when I was 30,before that we eat a lot outside.have fun,but when the kids came in our life We start serious cooking.Most of it is realy healthy I think;-)The grill has a special place in my heart,We love to do things outside..Everything I make is an adventure,and sometimes we use the books.We try to grill as much as we can year round.

Chris of Nibble Me This – ENTRY HERE

The Nibble Me This website was created to share Chris’ misadventures in live fire cooking. ”I have no culinary training….I’m just entertaining myself with fire and food”.

And this month we welcome Wilfred Reinke from Oshawa, Canada!

Wilfred Reinke of The Oshawa Ogre – ENTRY HERE

Wilfred is somewhat of a newcomer to the BBQ scene having only done standard grilling for most of his 50 years, He found and became passionate about Low & Slow about 2 years ago. and that passion also morphed into a second hobby which is writing. Oshawa Ogre’s Views News & BBQ’s has been a project that has taken on a life of it’s own and blessed him with many many new friends in the BBQ community on Twitter, facebook and through the blog.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

What did that first face of Memorial Day look like in 2009?

Memorial Day looked like people.

Where's all the girls? I'm looking so cool!

Enjoying each other's company

I love hot dogs!

Why are you taking my picture?

Can I get the whole dog in my mouth?

The face of Memorial Day 2009 was the face of food.  Lots and lots of food.

300 hot dogs grilled and eaten

Gotta have some hot links too!

Country style pork ribs.

Lots of salads to choose from

But what about the second face of Memorial Day.  Have we forgotten, except for a couple of brief news stories or brief mentions around the BBQ grill.  That other face of Memorial Day looks like this:

It’s the face of James Lacy Havins, my great, great grandfather.  A civil war doctor who braved the vicious battles between the North and South to try and save lives.  Only to end of dying without anything in a Civil War Veterans Hospital in Austin, Texas.

It’s the face of Robert Everett Gahan, my grandfather, who lied about his age to enter the Navy at age 16 and fight in two wars.

It’s the face of Charles Everett Gaian, my father, who also joined the Navy to serve in the Vietnam War.

It’s the face of numerous uncles who also served their country.

Today to me the face of Memorial Day is:

It’s the Stars and Stripes.  The American Flag.  Old Glory.

The flag now flys in front of my house 24/7 (it’s lit at night) in honor of the Matthew David Ross, my son-in-law who finds himself away from home and his new bride serving his country somewhere south of Bagdad.

God Bless all those soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen who serve their country honorably so we can sit in the comfort of our chairs and stuff our faces with hot dogs and cole slaw.

If you happen to read this, would you mind leaving a comment for our service men and women.  Maybe, some way, some how one of them will find them and be comforted.