This year Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 26.

The holiday honoring servicemen and women is also a popular one for families to spend quality time together. One of the many time-honored traditions is for friends and extended families to get together for a barbecue or cookout. It is usually a good idea to check your local yellow pages or events directory to see if there is a barbecue or cookout event taking place in your area. Usually these go hand in hand with celebrating America's heroes. Often times those able to present a VA card will receive free entry and fun activities are planned to keep the whole family entertained. Often times an entry fee will include food and games or food will be sold at the event, including hot dogs, burgers and ice cream.

For those who wish to do things themselves and have the skills necessary to prepare and host a cookout event, here are some recipes you can use. An old-fashioned barbecue is always a winner, and what better food to serve at a barbecue than a burger that will have people talking and be remembered. Allrecipes.com has a recipe for the "best hamburger ever" which calls for making patties out of a mix of ground beef, onion, cheese, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, egg, onion soup mix, garlic, garlic powder, parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

For those opting for a leaner chicken main, Texascooking.com recommends leaving the bone in, reminding us to "remember that bone-in chicken with the skin on stands a better chance of becoming the succulent, juicy, crisp and brown entree you had in mind." That's an easy way to get more flavor than the typical boneless chicken breast. There is nothing better than having a bunch of sides to crown the main course, and the website has recipes for pinto beans, corn on the cob, cole slaw, dish bread, sugar cookies, and even ice cream.

The Food Network also has ideas for a delicious lemonade or basil-lemon ice as a sweet refreshment to wash down those grilled meat heavy main dishes. One thing we shouldn't be without this Memorial Day is good food.