Recipe Roundup: 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend!  We spent it at my inlaw's cottage on the coast.  The week before got away from me a bit--as you can tell from the lack of recipes from last week.  But I'm back.  At least for today.

As we left the house, we thought we were completely packed and ready to go.  Well, we were.  Except for one thing.  The camera.  So, no pics with these recipes, but they're pretty simple and easy to envision.  I thought about drawing a few pics to go with this post, but really, that wouldn't make it any more appetizing.  Moving on...

We were in charge of lunch on Saturday.  And, we had the added challenge of a couple of Weight Watchers joining us for that meal.  Here's the menu I came up with:

Kangaroo Pocket sandwiches

Fruit with fruit dip

Multigrain chips

Peppers and carrots

Hummus

Patriotic jello

I'll start with the Kangaroo Pockets.  Although I was aware of the idea for most of my life, this was something that really stuck when I married into my husband's family.  They are simple and easy to feed a crowd.  I made a large salad of lettuce and tomatoes, then added cubed ham and chicken breast.  I served cucumbers and shredded cheese on the side.  (My hubby doesn't like cucumbers and I wanted to let the WW decide whether to put cheese on.)  The salad was then served in pocket-style whole wheat pita bread, then topped with salad dressing.  My husband likes to mix his salad and dressing in a bowl and then put it into the pita.  Something about better distribution of dressing.  I figure it all just drips down and out the bottom anyway.  Either way, this is a light but filling lunch. 

On to the fruit dip.  Years and years and years ago, I was at a church youth function and tasted a fabulous and simple fruit dip.  From that time on, it has been my dip of choice when fruit is involved.  Are you ready for this?  Mix one small container of Cool Whip with one container of yogurt.  Voila!  Fruit dip.  This time, I used lite Cool Whip and lite mixed berry yogurt.  Again--a totally light, totally simple addition to the meal.  (By the way, although I didn't use them this time, my favorite flavors for this dip are lemon or vanilla.  Always great with fruit.  Or waffles.  Or cookies.  Or...)

Finally, the patriotic jello.  I found this recipe a few months ago on foodgawker--which led me to Brown Eyed Baker's post about stained glass jello.  I instantly knew I had to make it THIS YEAR.  It couldn't wait. I wish I had a pic of this--it looks so cool!  You'll just have to head over to Brown Eyed Baker and check out her pics.

Stained Glass Jello

1 box (6 oz.) cherry jello

1 box (6 oz) berry blue jello

2 envelopes Knox gelatin (unflavored)

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

Water for jello prep

Pour the jello powder into 2 separate bowls.  For each flavor, add 2 cups boiling water; stir until jello is dissolved.  Pour into 8x8 baking pan. Chill until firm. (Should be a few hours.)  Cut jello into small "blocks." 

In the mean time, bloom Knox gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water.  Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water; stir until dissolved.  Add sweetened condensed milk.  Set aside to cool.

Gently combine red and blue jello blocks in 9x13 pan.  Pour cooled Knox/milk mixture over cubes.  Chill in fridge until solid. 

NOTES: The original recipe called for 4 (3 oz.) boxes of jello.  Since I was only doing 2 colors, I used the larger boxes.  If you want to make more colors, just use 1 cup boiling water for every 3 oz. package of jello.

I didn't let my Knox/milk mixture cool enough before pouring it over the jello cubes.  As a result, my jello cubes melted just a little into the white--which made the colors just a bit less crisp than I would have liked.  Live and learn.

And, I didn't cut my final product into cute little stars or even boring cubes.  I just let people scoop it out of the glass cake pan with a spoon.  Hey--I was on vacation.

Hope you had a happy 4th of July celebration!

Father's Day: 3 recipes in one

I am going to start this post with an apology.  By the time we served dinner on Father's Day, I was too hungry to take a pic.  So, you are just going to have to use your imagination with this one...

Originally, Ryan was planning to make a smoked brisket for Father's Day.  I was all for it.  Less planning and work on my part.  However, when we saw that the weather was going to be rainy and cold all weekend, we scrapped that idea.  Instead, Ryan requested the following:

Pot roast with carrots and onions

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Steamed broccoli

Jello

Rolls

Yellow cake with strawberries and cream

(OK--I decided to have mashed potatoes and jello.  It just went!)

(The explanation paragraphs are color coded to match the colored items on the menu.)

I was reminded that just before we moved, my friend Anna Marie made us pot roast for dinner one evening.  It was seriously the BEST pot roast I had ever tasted and I demanded her recipe.  Turns out it was Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast.  So, that's where I went for Ryan's roast.  Because I forgot to add beef broth to my grocery list, I used 2 cans of chicken broth with 3 beef bullion cubes.  (Again. Has anyone else realized yet that these things are more the norm than the exception?)  I have to say, though, it was still absolutely fabulous.  This recipe has become my absolute favorite Sunday Roast recipe.

And, going back to the whole forgetfulness thing, I'll tell you about our Father's Day jello.  We painted our kitchen (red, of course) on Saturday.  Since it was drying overnight, we had a lot to put away on Sunday morning.  Between assembling the kitchen, getting all 5 of us ready for church, and prepping food, we had a very busy morning.  And, I didn't get a ton of time to prep food prior to our 11 o'clock church meeting.  I made our "Tropical Fusion" jello and put it in the fridge to wait for the pineapple tidbits and chopped maraschino cherries to go in.  When we got home from church, I realized that I had forgotten to stir the fruit into the jello.  By that time, the jello was completely set.  Instead of serving the fruit on top, I broke up the smooth, solid jello and stirred in the fruit bits.  And then I prepared a small box of peach jello (what I had on hand) according to the "Speed Set" directions, then stirred it into the Tropical Fusion and fruit.  By dinner time, the jello was set beautifully--once again smooth and beautiful.  The flavors blended perfectly and it was quite tasty.

OK. Last one. I love watching Alton Brown.  And I consider it quite fortunate that I happened to catch his "Gold Cake" episode sometime last week.  When it came time to make Ryan's yellow cake, I knew I had to give Alton's recipe a try.  Ryan described the cake as "Alton Inspired" because I had to make a few subs.  First of all, I didn't have an accurate kitchen scale.  So, I wasn't able to weigh the ingredients.  Secondly, I didn't have cake flour.  I subbed all-purpose flour. (1 cup cake flour = 1 cup minus 2 Tbls AP flour)  And thirdly, I eyeballed the vanilla and accidentally added way too much.  This being said, it was not my favorite yellow cake.  I thought the butter flavored shortening and too much vanilla gave it an artificial flavor.  And it was a little dry and not very sweet.  Next time, I think I'll switch back to "David's Yellow Cake" from allrecipes.com.  That's my favorite so far.

There you have it.  I hope your Father's Day was as tasty as ours was!