Fourth of July Weekend

It was a wonderful fourth of July weekend and our week was very busy preparing for the holiday.  We had planned on visiting friends in the afternoon for a homemade meal and fireworks but before we headed out I prepared an all American lunch for the family. 

 

The cupcakes on the left were created for the cookout as we had promised to bring dessert.  The recipe and more images are below.  I love chalkboards and for the Fourth I decided to find a quote and write it on a little chalkboard from Michaels.  I found the design and quote on Pinterest.  My family loves lemonade and I decided to make a strawberry lemonade.  It was gone it seconds!  This is the recipe for the Strawberry Lemonade: http://thefrugalgirls.com/2013/07/homemade-strawberry-lemonade-recipe.html.

 

Another idea I found on Pinterest was the fruit American Flag.  I used strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and skewers of course!  The lunch meal include baked beans, homemade coleslaw, and Cowboy hotdogs.  My mom is a tough coleslaw critic and she said it was very good so it must be!  The recipe for the coleslaw is: http://www.seededatthetable.com/2012/03/21/memphis-style-coleslaw/.  The hotdog recipe was already a hit in our family so I decided to bring it back for the Fourth.  Here is the recipe for the Cowboy Hotdogs: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/the-cowboy-hot-dog-50400000121902/.

 

 

The friends we were planning to visit in the afternoon on the Fourth had asked us to bring a dessert, so we decided to bring cupcakes.  I had originally seen this idea on Pinterest and honestly didn't think I could pull it off but decided to give it a shot!  I was surprised at how easy it was.  It took a lot of patience and food coloring but turned out better than I had expected.  The original recipe said it would only make about 16 cupcakes so I bought a box of cake mix and canned frosting just in case.  However I was able to get 24 cupcakes out of it!  I ended up making the box mix as well and had a total of 48 cupcakes to share with our friends and neighbors!  It was cupcake overload! Truth be told, the box cupcakes are good in a pinch but nothing beats homemade!!

 

 

 The decorating took the most patience but it was well worth it in the end!  Here is the recipe for the cupcakes: http://www.bakerella.com/snow-cones/.

 

 

We love to support our local farmers market and purchase some of the fresh veggies the local farms have to offer.  This weekend we decided to try a few new markets and this is what we purchased and what it became.

 

I used the fresh strawberries to make a homemade jam from allrecipes.com.  My family and I love to put it on toast and my frozen waffles.  Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Jam: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Jam/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=strawberry%20jam&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1.

 

My dad loves HOT peppers, so I bought some jalapeno peppers.  In order to make them less spicy we took out the seeds and stuffed them with cream cheese and cheese.  It is very simple to make and my family loves them!  Here is the recipe for the stuffed peppers: http://www.marthastewart.com/317501/stuffed-jalapenos.

 

I chose a Vegetable soup recipe to use up some of our fresh veggies. Once again it was a big hit for our family.  Here is the Martha Stewart recipe for the vegetable soup: http://www.marthastewart.com/318100/big-batch-vegetable-soup.

 

 

I love to go out to eat at some of the local restaurants to get some inspiration.  We went out to breakfast on Saturday morning to the Breakfast Club in Scottsdale.  Every thing was amazing from the spicy biscuits and gravy to the Bananas Foster Pancakes!

 

The Breakfast Grilled Cheese sandwich was also a delight.  It had every element of breakfast, like eggs, bacon, hash browns, and cheese!

 

 

My last recipe of the night is a "Quick and Easy" recipe.  Sometimes I just whip things up with thing we have at home and this week I made a chicken Alfredo.  I found the recipe for the Alfredo sauce at allrecipes.com.  Here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Sauce-2/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=alfredo%20sauce&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1.

 

That is it for this week!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and you, too, try out some of these recipes yourself!  Check in next week to see what is cookin!

 

Also check out my Etsy business, IzzabelesCreations, for puppy tutus and handmade headbands. Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IzzabelesCreations .