Smaller Labor Day Recipes

It is time for a relaxed end-of-summer party. The kids are back in school, football and apple season is upon us, and the weather is beautiful. Whether you are going small or bigger, try some of these easy recipes. It is a relaxing holiday, so you deserve great food that is easy to make.

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🔥Backyard BBQ Grill Recipes
🔥Other classic grill recipes
👨‍🍳Sauce and Dry Rubs
🥣Grilling Side Dishes
👨‍🍳No grill, no problem; take it inside
🥧Pie, Pie, Pie, and Kinda Pie
😀My Bad—A Labor Day Story
⚕️FOOD SAFETY

I now love Labor Day. Once, it was just a long weekend to work for me, but now it is the gateway to my favorite months, with cooler weather, the most beautiful change of season, and college football season.

Although it is "labor" day, none of us want to work for our fun. I present a few grand, simple ways to cap off the "traditional" summer season. Be sure to get to the end of this post, and you will be rewarded with an enjoyable Labor Day story. Do you have one?

🔥Backyard BBQ Grill Recipes

Fire up the grill for some end-of-the-season great taste. With these recipes, you pick the amount, which is perfect if you are cooking for two.

How to Grill Hamburgers

Grilling hamburgers on your backyard gas (or charcoal) grill is fast and easy using store-bought ground beef and simple seasonings. Grilled over high heat for the best juicy homemade burgers, which will go from the refrigerator to your plate in under 20 minutes

How to Grill Burgers

How to Grill Chicken Breasts on a Gas Grill

Grilled chicken breasts can be juicy and tender with only a few simple steps. In under 30 minutes, you can have perfect chicken breasts every time. Just pay attention to our tips and follow the easy step-by-step photo instructions.

How to Grill Chicken Breasts

Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

Perfectly Grilled Chicken Drumsticks are fast and easy with this never-fail recipe. Tender, flavorful, and budget-friendly, everybody from picky kids to grandma will love these crispy grilled drumsticks.

How to Grill Chicken Drumsticks

Grilled Chicken Thighs

Perfectly Grilled Chicken Thighs are juicy and tender, with crispy skin and delicious char. They are fast and easy on your gas grill with only a few simple steps. Super flexible, you can use a charcoal grill, bone-in or boneless thigh, the season of your choice, or even BBQ sauce.

How to Grill Chicken Thighs

Grilled New York Strip Steaks

Perfectly Grilled NY Strip Steaks on the Gas Grill are fast and easy with this never-fail recipe. Fire up that backyard BBQ for some juicy, flavorful, and tender strip steaks—we grill steaks several times a month

How to Grill NY Strip Steaks

a strip steak with grill marks on a gray plate

How to Grill Pork Chops on a Gas Grill

Get perfect moist and tender Grilled Pork Chops on your gas grill in under 30 minutes. Use boneless or bone-in chops, an optional brine, and season to your taste.

How to Grill Ribeye Steaks

two grilled pork chops on an orange plate

How to Grill a Ribeye Steak

Tender and juicy grilled Ribeye Steak perfectly every time with this quick and easy ribeye steak recipe. With only a few minutes of prep, simple seasoning, and about 10 minutes on your BBQ grill, you can have the best steak dinner for your family or special occasions.

How to Grill Ribeye Steaks

🔥Other classic grill recipes

Other great classic recipes can be cooked smaller than you think or bigger for larger gatherings or leftovers.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Grilling pork tenderloin on a gas grill is fast and easy. With a touch of char outside and juicy and tender meat inside, we love this fool-proof recipe, and so will you.

How to Grill Pork Tenderloin

Smoked Pulled Pork Butt on a Gas Grill

Cooking smoked pulled pork butt low and slow on your backyard gas grill is easier than you think. With just a pork butt roast (AKA Boston butt), a dry rub, and wood chips, you can make juicy BBQ pulled pork with fantastic crusty bark and smoky flavor.

Grilled Pork Butt

Pulled Pork on a Gas Grill from 101 Cooking for Two

Grilled Baby Back Ribs

Grilled baby back ribs on the gas grill are simple with this never-fail recipe. Seasoned with dry rub and cooked low and slow, these juicy BBQ pork ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender. Served with BBQ sauce, you will love this classic grilling favorite.

BBQ Ribs on the Grill

grilled Baby Back Ribs on black cutting board

How to Cook a Brisket on a Gas Grill

Cook smoked Grilled Brisket low-and-slow on your backyard gas grill—moist and tender meat with crusty bark and a smokey taste. Make classic BBQ brisket without a smoker.

How to Cook Brisket on the Grill

Grilled Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking

Grilled Whole Chicken Without Spatchcocking (butterflied or flattened) is juicy and tender with great grilled flavor. This recipe starts with an easy prep, and then you cook the intact, full chicken with indirect heat on your backyard grill.

Grilled Whole Chicken

👨‍🍳Sauce and Dry Rubs

Enhancement for almost any recipe—homemade is the best, freshest, and economical.

Memphis BBQ Sauce

The best Memphis BBQ sauce is perfect for chicken, pulled pork, pork ribs, and brisket. The sweet and tangy flavor of Memphis-style BBQ sauce complements smoky barbecues like pulled pork, pork ribs, or beef brisket.

Memphis BBQ Sauce Recipe

BBQ Dry Rub for Ribs, Pork, Beef, and More

The best BBQ Dry Rub recipes will enhance the meats' taste and complement the sauce's flavors. This easy-to-adjust homemade rub recipe has classic BBQ flavors.

BBQ Dry Rub Recipe

Memphis Dry Rub Recipe

A classic sweet and spicy Memphis Dry Rub Recipe from Marlowes of Memphis. Bring the great taste of Memphis to your grilled ribs or other BBQ recipes.

Memphis Dry Rub Recipe

Applying Memphis dry rub to baby back ribs

🥣Grilling Side Dishes

There is nothing like grilled vegetables or fruits. That extra grill flavor is just outstanding.

Grilled Baby Potatoes

Grilled Baby Potatoes are the perfect side dish for any summer meal. We typically grill small red potatoes, but there's a variety of small potatoes to choose from, including fingerling, yellow, new, or baby potatoes, in addition to red potatoes. No foil or parboiling is required.

Grilled Baby Potatoes

Grilled Mixed Vegetables

Delicious Grilled Mixed Vegetables cooked on the grill compliments any meal. You can easily add them to your grill while you cook dinner to complete your meal.

Grilled Mix Vegetables

Grilled Mixed Vegetables in a white bowl

Grilled Pineapple Slices with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Glaze

Glazed grilled pineapple slices are an easy delicious summer side dish. With a buttery caramelized brown sugar glaze, it also makes a great dessert when combined with ice cream—Ready in less than 15 minutes.

Grilled Pineapple

close up of Grilled Pineacpple with grill marks on a blue plate

Parmesan Grilled Asparagus on a Gas Grill

Parmesan Grilled Asparagus is something special that is the perfect side dish for almost any meal—sweet and tender with a bit charred on the edges, ready in about 15 minutes.

How to Grill Asparagus

asparagus on a white plate with Parmansan

👨‍🍳No grill, no problem; take it inside

Not everybody has a grill; you can have similar results cooking inside.

Baked Chicken Legs - Quick and Easy

Crispy baked chicken legs (drumsticks) are fast and easy, with about 5 minutes of prep time. Use a simple seasoning and then bake for about 35 minutes with convection—perfectly crispy, moist, and tender every time.

Baked Chicken Legs

Oven Pulled Pork Butt—Low and Slow

Oven Pulled Pork from pork butt is cooked in the oven low and slow. Our best-pulled pork recipe is tender and moist with delicious bark. Super easy, with almost no work—you rub, bake at 250° for 8 to 9 hours, shred, and eat.

Pork Butt in the Oven

How to Bake Chicken Breasts in a Convection Oven

The best way to bake chicken breasts is with your convection oven, but you can bake them in any type of oven. Your dinner will be ready in about 30 minutes and will be healthy, moist, and tender every time. Quick and easy with just a few easy secrets any home cook can master.

Convection Oven Chicken Breasts

Pan Seared Oven Roasted Strip Steak

Quick and easy, this New York Strip Steak recipe uses the classic sear-and-bake method to get the best moist and tender steaks every time. Trim and season, then a fast pan sear and finish to temperature in the oven.

Pan Seared Strip Steak

Pan Seared Oven Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Pan-seared pork tenderloin, finished by baking to your ideal temperature, is tender, juicy, and delicious! With excellent browning from cast iron searing, it is still moist and tender from oven roasting— an easy, 30-minute dinner recipe.

Pan Seared Pork Tenderloin

🥧Pie, Pie, Pie, and Kinda Pie

Your holiday meal desires a great ending that everybody will be talking about.

Easy Apple Crumble Pie

This easy Apple Crumble Pie recipe is quick to make with a few fresh apples, a premade crust, and a simple buttery crumb streusel topping! An everyday homemade apple pie recipe you will make over and over using refrigerated store-bought pie crust takes to do most of the work for you.

Apple Crumble Pie

Easy Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

This easy Old Fashioned Apple Crisp is a small-batch recipe with only three apples and a few pantry ingredients. Easy to make for two or a crowd. It's a delicious apple dessert with plenty of cinnamon apples and a crumble topping, just like Grandma would make.

Apple Crisp Recipe

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Quick, easy, and delicious, this Blueberry Crumble Pie recipe is semi-homemade with a refrigerated crust, sweet fresh or frozen blueberries, and a crispy crumb topping. I see nothing wrong with using shortcuts to achieve delicious results.

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello

Fresh strawberry pie with Jello is a simple old-fashioned recipe made famous at Shoney's Big Boy. Served topped with whipped cream, strawberry Jello pie is the perfect light summer dessert for a picnic or every day.

Strawberry Pie with Jello

Whole fresh strawberry jello pie ready to eat.

😀My Bad—A Labor Day Story

When I first started my private practice almost 50 years ago, I started in mid-August, and the other pediatrician went on vacation a week later (his first is over a year old).

I was left to see patients and make all business decisions. It was the Friday before Labor Day, and I said good night to the employees and told them I would see them on Monday. A huge scream went up.

Them: "No, Tuesday"

Me: "Monday"

Them: (very loudly) "Tuesday, Monday is Labor Day."

Me: "So"

Them: "It's a holiday."

Me: "No"

Them: "YES"

Me: "A real holiday? I thought it was like Ground Hog Day or Columbus Day."

Them: "See you TUESDAY," they all shook their heads as they walked out snickering.

Me: "Hmmm, OK."

In my defense, I have just come out of years of medical training, working 80 to 100 hours per week. There were only two holidays, the Fourth of July and Christmas, and you got one off. All the rest of the days were equal, meaning they were nothing special, and you worked.

My bad, I guess.

I put that in to see if anybody got this far. And it is totally true. Even the wording is correct. Who else has a Labor Day story?

⚕️FOOD SAFETY

It is up to you to keep your friends and family safe. I frequently see dangerous food handling on TV food shows and other blogs. So, know the rules. PLEASE.

Check out food safety suggestions from FoodSafety.gov for best practices to keep everybody's holiday safe and healthy.

So relax and enjoy yourself. Grill a hot dog and have some ice cream. Enjoy your family and reflect on the last few years. Be kind to all and be filled with grace.

Wifo, Molly, Lilly, and DrDan

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