Happy July 4th and why not make your table as beautiful as the fireworks above? Check out these ideas to make your table as worthy of the “oohs and aahhhs” that the fireworks are!
Red, White and Blue Jell-O Treat
Red, White, and Blue Brownie Pops
Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
My friend has been raving about her Buffalo Chicken Dip for a long time and I’ve hesitated trying to make it because I wasn’t sure if we’d like it or not. Turns out we LOVED it and I see it being a family favorite for every event.
I feel like the cast iron really gives this a little boost! A well seasoned cast iron skillet is a must have in ANY kitchen!
Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe
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Serves: 4 cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup Ranch Dressing
- ¾ cup Hot Sauce
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Crackers, celery or chips for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350 F.
- Mix all ingredients except ½ cup cheddar cheese together.
- Place in a large cast iron pan.
- Top with shredded cheese and bake 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese bubbles and browns.
- Serve with crackers and/or celery.
Red White & Blue Fruit & Jell-O Treat
I love themes – so July 4th is like the biggest theme of all year (okay maybe it falls a little short of Christmas …..or Easter…..or Thanksgiving or New Years) ok maybe not the biggest theme but it’s easy to make anything July 4th themed- just toss in some red, white and blue and bam- it’s now July 4th themed.
These are so cute and make any back yard BBQ festive! It takes several steps but in the end they are really July 4th-ish!
Red White & Blue Fruit & Jell-O Treat
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Ingredients
- Box Strawberry Jell-o
- Box Blue Jell-O
- Redi Whip
- Cherries
- Raspberries (or sliced strawberries)
- Blueberries
Instructions
- Set clear plastic cups on a baking sheet with a lip.
- Prepare red Jell-O according to directions.
- Pour an equal amount in the bottom of each cup.
- Place 3-5 raspberries into each cup.
- Place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
- Prepare blue Jell-O according to directions, allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
- Remove tray from fridge and pour blue Jell-O on top of the red layer.
- Place blueberries in the blue layer.
- Replace in the fridge for at least 4 hours until set.
- When ready to serve, top with Redi Whip and top with a cherry.
- Serve chilled.
S’more Pudding Cups
We love s’mores but it was just too hot to even run the microwave, let alone starting a bonfire! So we decided to make cool s’mores!
S'more Pudding Cups
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 box chocolate pudding (milk according to directions)
- Mini Marshmallows
- 6 Graham Crackers
Instructions
- Crush graham crackers.
- Mix pudding mix and milk according to directions.
- Place some in the bottom of a cup, top with several marshmallows and cracker crumbs.
- Refrigerate until set.
Pepper Steak Stir fry Recipe
This has been a family favorite recipe for years. It’s one of the very few dishes that my entire family will eat. Did I mention that it’s super easy? I use an electric skillet to make mine but you could use any skillet.
Pepper Steak Stir fry Recipe
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs stir fry beef strips (or flank steak cut into strips)
- ½ c. soy sauce
- 2 green peppers,sliced
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tbsp oil (for frying)
- sesame seeds, for garnish
- Rice Noodles, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium heat in skillet.
- Add beef and sear.
- Reduce heat to simmer and add sauce, peppers and onions.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender and peppers and onions are cooked. You may need to add a little more soy sauce to keep the pan from drying out.
- Serve over rice,garnished with seeds and/or rice noodles.
Cilantro Lime Corn
A can of corn can get pretty boring, adding butter makes it a little better but I really wanted to flavor things up the other night when we had shrimp tacos so I decided to try adding lime and cilantro to see if that made it a little more exciting!
It was definitely better than a plain can of corn and I expect that we’ll be having it this way many more nights!
Summer time sweet corn straight off the cob would make this even better- trade in 4 fresh cobs of corn for the can. Boil the shucked cobs and then cut the kernels off if you decide to go uber fresh!
This gadget would make that go really fast!
Cilantro Lime Corn
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 Can Unsalted Corn
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp butter melted
- ⅛ tsp salt (omit if using canned corn with salt added)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
- Lime Zest, about ½ tsp
Instructions
- Heat corn over medium heat in a sauce pan.
- Drain and add lime juice, butter, salt and lime zest.
- Mix.
- Just before serving add cilantro and toss to combine.
Sandy Beach Pudding Cups
We love the beach and since we’re not going to be able to make it back again this summer I wanted to surprise my kids with a little beachy feel at home with these pudding cups!
I saw a kit being sold by Jell-O but since I had all the ingredients at home I decided to make it ourselves!
Then we spread out some beach towels on the floor and pretended the ocean waves were lapping at our toes! These shark shaped fruit snacks make the perfect topping!
Sandy Beach Pudding Cups
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Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 Box Vanilla Pudding
- Graham Cracker Crumbs
- Fish (or shark) shaped fruit snacks
Instructions
- Mix pudding according to directions.
- In 6 cups put 1-2 spoonfuls of pudding.
- Layer about 1 tbsp crumbs in a layer.
- Top with more pudding.
- Layer more crumbs.
- Top with a few ocean themed fruit snacks.
- Place in the fridge for 3 hours until set.
Homemade Baked Fries
Let me tell you- these fries were YUMMY. Absolutely delicious- crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. And the Sea Salt? Makes such a difference. You’ll never want to use bagged frozen fries again!
And they are easy to make – just chop, bake and enjoy!
Homemade Baked Fries
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Ingredients
- 3 large potatoes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- Pepper to taste
- Sea Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice potato into thin sticks
- Place potatoes in cold water for about 30 minutes.
- Drain and dry potatoes
- Mix Olive Oil, Potatoes, Paprika, Garlic Powder and toss potatoes until evenly coated.
- Place on baking sheet.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.
- Season with Salt & Pepper as desired.
Fried PorkChop Sandwich Recipe
There is only one word for a Fried Porkchop Sandwich- YUM! If you live near Mt. Airy, NC you know about Snappy Lunch. They are famous for their fried pork chops. My mom has been serving fried pork chops for years and they are one of my favorite foods. Often I serve them as an entree with rice but the other night we decided to make them into sandwiches and YUM.
They are a little bit of work and time- but so delicious!
I like to mix bread crumbs and instant potatoes to make my coating. It makes it extra crunchy!
Pounding the pork chops makes them extra tender. Use a heavy meat mallet to pound them out.
After coating the tenderized chops, fry them in canola oil and yum!
Donut French Toast Recipe
It’s pretty rare that there are ever donuts left uneaten in my house. Actually, I can’t think that it’s ever happened before but the other day we had donuts and there were several left over. No one finished them and they went a little stale.
Not being able to stand the thought of throwing their deliciousness into the trash I decided to transform them into french toast. Now, this isn’t a breakfast we can eat everyday…or even every week….I refuse to even calculate the fat, sugar or calories loaded into these but they are so good they’ll be great for special breakfast events.
Confession- I made 2 donuts per person and that was WAY to much. That pile of 4 slices I had to share with my daughter because it was far too much! We topped ours with maple syrup but if you made a simple sugar glaze or used powdered sugar it would be delicious too!
Donut French Toast Recipe
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Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 4 Donuts, sliced in half into 2 circles.
- 2 eggs, beaten well
- ½ cup Vanilla coffee creamer
- Butter and syrup for topping
- Butter for cooking
Instructions
- Mix in creamer to eggs, beat well.
- Heat griddle or pan over medium heat and melt butter in griddle or pan.
- Dip the cut side of the donut into the batter. Allow excess to drip off.
- Place cut side down on the buttered pan.
- Cook until crispy.
- Serve hot with syrup and butter.
