Monday's Food Tip: Festive Foods for the Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day, USA! Here's to a day of parades, barbeques, and fireworks!

If a big barbeque or picnic is part of your plan for today, take a little time to create some festive food for the fourth of July. With a little imagination, you can come up with all sorts of things. Here are a couple of ideas for making fun "flag foods."

Try this "Flag Fruit and Veggie Tray" - can you identify the different fruits and veggies used for this?



Note: If you prefer white stars, peel and thinly slice a medium size jicama. Use a small star-shaped cookie cutter to cut out white stars for your "Flag Fruit & Veggie Tray."

You've probably seen, or even made, a "Flag Cake" for the 4th of July. But here's a huge "Flag Cookie."



I used a couple of packages of Three Angels Gourmet Co. Sugar Cookie Mix to make the cookie. Then I covered the top of the "flag" with a thin layer of plain powdered sugar frosting, so the berries would stick to the top of the flag. Red raspberries are good for this cookie flag, too, but since I had strawberries on hand, I used those.

After you have all the berries in place, make white stripes across the flag with whipped cream in a pastry bag, or just use a big can of Reddi-wip. Use the whipped cream to make the white stars, too. Store the Flag Cookie in the refrigerator until time to serve.


ANOTHER IDEA: Red, White, & Blue Star Cookies

Dig out those larger star-shaped cookie cutters that you usually use only at Christmas time. Use them to make star-shaped sugar cookies.

Ice the stars with powdered sugar frosting - color some of the frosting blue, some red, and leave the rest white. Frost the cookies in a variety of these colors. Put red, white, and blue star shaped cookies on a plate and see how quickly they disappear.