Memorial Day: Grilling season begins

Memorial Day may mean hot dogs and burgers, but it can also mean aioli condiments, quinoa salad, and rhubarb spritzer.

As Memorial Day approaches and the nation prepares to honor is veterans with parades and tributes, at the back of everyone's mind is: Will the weather hold so we can eat outside? What should we grill?

Memorial Day means summer and weekly backyard picnics are just around the corner. Hooray! When rounding up friends and family to feast in the sunshine you could take the familiar route with hot dogs, ordinary burgers, and instant lemonade. Or you could stretch a bit and offer an elegant spread of juicy burgers topped with blue cheese and garlic-roasted aioli, tangy orange and ginger quinoa salad, and challenge your guests to figure out the "surprise" ingredient in rhubarb honey spritzers.

Or you could grill sea scallops and mix them in a tasty fruit salad as John Edward Young suggested in his Monitor article, "Going for thrills on the grill."

To get your imagination stirring, here are 15 recipes and photos from Stir It Up! that will be perfect for your backyard get-together right after the parade.