Sides for your Fourth of July Weekend

July 2, 2014 by 12 Comments

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.
Recipe idea for your Fourth of July, red and white blue (purple but close enough) potatoes that you can make on the skillet or oven or grill. Start your day with a patriotic breakfast or make these as a side dish! Vegetarian and very versatile, season to your liking

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.
Strawberry Bruschetta, vegetarian and easy to put together with fresh strawberries, basil, olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, and fresh mozzarella cheese on good bread Strawberry Bruschetta, vegetarian and easy to put together with fresh strawberries, basil, olive oil and balsalmic vinegar, and fresh goat cheese on good bread

More fruit won’t hurt on the table, such as these Prosciutto wrapped Cantaloupe with Red Pepper Lime Oil and Manchego
Prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe with red pepper lime oil and manchego recipe

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!
Summer Appetizer Recipe: Chilled Vegetable Pizza with dill/chive cream cheese mixture and broccoli, asparagus, baby carrots, red and orange bell peppers, corn kernels!

Upgrade your pasta salad side dish with a little heat as well as with avocados, corn, and Cotija cheese with this Elote Pasta Salad
Elote Pasta Salad - mixing pasta, pan roasted corn, cotija cheese and avocado

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.
April Fool's Recipe with no Trick: Strawberry Fool Recipe is blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional)

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!)?

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Happy April Fool’s Day with a Strawberry Fool Recipe

March 31, 2014 by 4 Comments

I’m too nice to play tricks. Still, I had it in my head for a while I wanted to share a recipe for April Fool’s day. After lots of recipes that try to trick you by appearing to be one thing but are actually another, I found that I couldn’t bear to do them. If I’m expecting something sweet and get something savory, or vice versa, and it’s a whole dish, it just seems like a lot of work and too much disappointment because I really thought I’d be getting the sweet frosted cupcake (but get meatloaf instead),  a cake that looks like a BLT but is white cake and gummy fruit and Tootsie Rolls, savory slider and fries basket that turns out to be a cake and cookie concoction or mini chicken pot pie that is candy and pudding. Don’t even get me started on the cakes that look like kitty litter which I even refuse to link to.

Instead, I decided to go with a Strawberry Fool recipe, which has no trick at all to it. There isn’t any cooking involved even- just cutting and you literally whip it together!
A Nice April Fool's recipe with no trick- the Strawberry Fool A Nice April Fool's recipe with no trick- the Strawberry Fool

In fact, it’s super easy and fast to do, and very classic. The sweet Hood strawberries are not at the Farmers Market yet, but there have been sales of strawberries at the grocery store and F brought some home as a surprise for me. I’m suffering from a cold with a bad sore throat and cough, so having something creamy was a very soothing prescription to myself.
April Fool's Recipe with no Trick: Strawberry Fool Recipe is blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional) April Fool's Recipe with no Trick: Strawberry Fool Recipe is blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional)

This simple recipe is from Mark Bittman in the New York Times and yields 4 servings supposedly but it was also enough for just the 2 of us in my household of F and myself.
April Fool's Recipe with no Trick: Strawberry Fool Recipe is blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional) April Fool's Recipe with no Trick: Strawberry Fool Recipe is blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional)

Strawberry Fool

Ingredients:

  • 1 pint strawberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste), separated into 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
  1. Hull the rest of the strawberries, then wash them. Reserve a few of the best looking strawberries for garnish, and chop the rest into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with 1/4 cup of the sugar, and wait at least 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices. Isn’t macerating so easy and magical?
    Strawberry Fool recipe- hull 1 pint of strawberries Strawberry Fool Recipe- 1/4 cup sugar with the hulled, 1/4 Strawberry Fool Recipe- 1/4 cup sugar with the hulled, 1/4
  2. Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender or food processor and purée, though you can also choose to just mush them however and with whatever you have. Pour purée back in bowl with other half of still chopped strawberries.
    Strawberry Fool Recipe- blended strawberries with the cut strawberries
  3. Whip the cream with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily. Fold berries and almost all the cream together, setting aside a bit of the cream aside as topping if you’d like. Cut the reserved strawberries from before in half and top. Serve immediately in small bowls or in wine glasses, or refrigerate for up to two hours and then serve if you would like it more chilled.
    Strawberry Fool Recipe- blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional) April Fool's treat with no trick, a Strawberry Fool Recipe- blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional)

I have tweaked this recipe sometimes- for instance, using honey instead of sugar for the maceration, or throwing in a teaspoon of Grand Marnier! If you’d like, garnish with some fresh mint. This also can work with any berry- raspberry, blueberry, marionberry, or you could try rhubarb or a lime or lemon variation, the list goes on. Instead of topping fresh whipped cream, you can go healthy and go with yogurt instead. You really can’t go wrong here.
April Fool's treat with no trick, a Strawberry Fool Recipe- blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional) April Fool's treat with no trick, a Strawberry Fool Recipe- blended strawberries with the cut strawberries and the fresh whipped vanilla cream (Grand Marnier optional)

Are you doing anything for April Fool’s Day?

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