Not your average hot dogs and orange juice

(Is it just me, or do other people out there grin and drool at the phrase, "wrapped in bacon"?)

It is Labor Day, and Mom and Dad and I spent the day outside - Mom was working in her garden, Dad was washing the cars, and I was sunbathing and chilling in the jacuzzi. After all of our hard work, Mom made a classic Labor Day picnic lunch... with a Betty Crocker cookbook (BCC) twist.

  

Orange Swizzle (from p. 40 of the BCC) - 

This cool summer drink was super easy to make, with a can of frozen orange juice and a quart of ginger-ale, mixed and poured over crushed ice. And it's really pretty too, with a garnish of an orange slice and maraschino cherry speared together with a toothpick, and a colorful swizzle straw.  

Cheese Boats (from page 262 of the BCC) - 

Hot dogs, cheese, and bacon are three of our favorite things, so why not use a recipe that brings all three of these together?? Split a hotdog halfway through the middle from end to end, and stuff the split with sharp cheddar cheese, then wrap the hotdog up with a piece of bacon, and secure the bacon on both ends of the hotdog with toothpicks. Place the hotdogs - split side down - on a broiler pan and broil them for 15 minutes at 500 degrees, flipping them over halfway through. SO GOOOOOD... Melty, cheesy, crispy, salty, sizzly, meaty, mmmm... Best hotdogs ever!

Both recipes were new for Mom, and in fact it was the first time she had used the broiler in her new oven that she got earlier this year. She served the hotdogs and swizzle with deviled eggs, pasta salad, and watermelon, outside on the back porch.

Dad ate three cheese boats, so I think he liked them. :) He also ate his orange slice garnish, and all the left over orange slices for which we didn't have enough drinks... which made me think (in a shocked, Meg Ryan voice), "You ate that orange?! That orange slice is a garnish!" But really, it was cool to see him enjoying this special (and successful) BCC meal... the first of many more!