I thought I would pick out some of my recommendations for Sides for your Fourth of July Weekend from my recipe archives.

Well, not all of them are from the archive. This initial one is merely a suggestion and guideline. First, you could start off with a patriotic Red, white, and blue potatoes dish (ok, purple potatoes but close enough) for breakfast. You can do these in a skillet like here, or you can roast them in the oven or even put them on the grill and make it a bbq side if you’d prefer.

Season how you’d like- I don’t know if I ever make them the same way twice as I quite liberally open up my spices and seasonings to pull things out and keep tasting until I like it. You’ll definitely want salt and pepper of course, but sometimes I use cumin, or rosemary, or dill, or chili powder, or onion or garlic powder (or I’ll throw actual diced onion or minced garlic in), the possibilities are endless based on what you have and like.

It’s still strawberry season, and these Strawberry and Cheese Bruschettas – either with mozzarella or with goat cheese – just look so elegant and classy.
 

More fruit won’t hurt on the table, such as these Prosciutto wrapped Cantaloupe with Red Pepper Lime Oil and Manchego

Besides your fruit, add more vegetables to your Fourth of July weekend with via this recipe for Chilled Vegetable Pizza that can be a rainbow of various colors depending on what veggies you choose and can easily serve a crowd. You can also adapt this version to have fruit instead for a chilled dessert fruit pizza!

Upgrade your pasta salad side dish with a little heat as well as with avocados, corn, and Cotija cheese with this Elote Pasta Salad

This dessert only has strawberry, but no reason you can’t add blueberries or blackberries to complete the red white and blue, and you will be no fool with this Strawberry Fool Recipe  of blended strawberries with cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream.

If you are making burgers or hot dogs for a group, consider having a variety of cheeses besides Cheddar such as Swiss or Pepperjack (even if you are doing hot dogs!) and also bacon. Not only can you top your burger with bacon, but believe me, I am happy to add it to my hot dog as well.

Besides ketchup and mustard and relish and pickles, for you might consider having little dish where guests can add toppings of sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions, guacamole, salsa (and your guac and salsa can double to go with chips),  bbq sauce and/or blue cheese (MMMM bbq sauce and blue cheese!).

Also, if you haven’t tried this before, if there are potato chips at the party you are having/attending, try taking a handful and adding them on to your burger or hot dog!

For the fourth of July itself, which falls on a Friday this year so I think everyone is enjoying at least a 3 day weekend, I will not be doing any cooking. In fact, instead I’ll be judging cooking- I will be seated as one of the PNWBA judges at the Dallas Oregon Freedomfest BBQ competition. If you are in the area, they will be holding it in Dallas City Park and you will have an opportunity to sample some of the best BBQ in the Northwest ($1 for 2 oz sample) and a fireworks show that evening too! There should be some great teams because at 18 teams, the competition counts as a qualifier for the national competition.

This means that probably during the weekend, there will probably be at least one dish of bbq mac and cheese with some leftovers from the BBQ competition that I take home!

What are you doing for the Fourth of July? Is there a special dish you are making or looking forward to? Are you going to watch the fireworks live or on TV (I personally like the DC ones!)?