I meant to get this post out a little earlier, but i have been slightly busy with wedding planning (since the big day is this weekend). Since the 4th is already over, I'd say use these recipes for any barbeque, or save them for next year! :)
Drink...
I don't really know how to make proper sangria. When I looked up recipes online, I found quite a few variations. So, I just used bits and pieces of everything I found and made up my own recipe. It was pretty good! The part that makes it patriotic are the red strawberries, blue blueberries, and pinapple cut into star shapes (sorry, you can't really see my stars in the picture). You could easily make this a non-alcoholic, kid-friendly drink by just using a white grape juice or a sparkling grape juice with the fruit (my mom had it with sparking grape juice).
Ingredients:
- White Wine (or juice for non-alcoholic)
- Apple Jucie
- Club Soda
- Sugar
- Strawberries, sliced
- Blueberries
- Pinapple, cut with a cookie cutter into a star shape
- Place strawberries, bluberries, and star shaped pineapple in the bottom of a glass.
- Fill glass 3/4 of the way with white wine.
- Add a couple splashes of apple juice.
- Add a splash of club soda.
- Add a couple tablespoons of sugar.
- Stir to dissolve the sugar and enjoy cold.
Can you tell I am taking advantage of being home with my parents and using the grill? I will definitely miss grilling when I go back to NYC! Plus, what's a Fourth of July meal without grilling?
P.S - sorry about that picture above. The food doesn't look so great, but I was in a hurry to eat that burger, so there was no time to make it look pretty! :) And, with my wedding coming up, I decided not to have a bun, so the burger looks a bit strange and naked.
Best Barbeque Burgers
*recipe from Six Sisters Stuff
Ingredients:
(makes 5 big burgers)
Burger:
- 1 lb ground beef (I used 85/15- you want a fattier meat to make a juicier burger!)
- sesame seed buns (I used regular buns)
- 1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
- seasoned salt to taste
- cracked black pepper
- onion powder
Secret Sauce:
- 3/4 cup of mayo
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup relish
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- seasoned salt
Directions:
- Combine the ground beef, grated cheese, bbq sauce, and seasonings. Shape patties that are about 1 inch thick. With the 1 pound of ground beef I made 5 large patties.
- Turn grill up to high and let it get hot.
- Reduce heat to medium-high and place the burgers on the grill. Allow this side of the patty to cook for about 4-6 minutes, but make sure it doesn’t burn. Then flip the burger over and cook until done.
- For the sauce: Combine all ingredients and whisk until well mixed. Taste and adjust ingredients to your liking.
- Assemble the burgers and serve with the special sauce, avocado, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles and your other favorite hamburger toppings!
Maureen's Foil Pack Potatoes
*recipe from Maureen K.
We used to eat these potatoes a lot when I was a kid. I remembered loving them and decided to make them again. They were just as great as I remembered. Also, they are really easy because once they are in the foil, you don't have to do anything but leave them on the grill. That leaves you plenty of time to enjoy your 4th of July instead of fussing over the food!
Ingredients:
(serves 6)
-
5-6 baking potatoes,peeled and cubed
my potatoes ready to be wrapped up! - 1 lg. (or 2 med.) onion, sliced
- 1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 stick margarine, sliced
- garlic powder
- salt
- pepper
- parmesan cheese
- oil
-
- Make 1 large, or 2 medium, double strength aluminium packets for potatoes. Thinly coat the inside of packet with oil to prevent vegetables from sticking and burning.
- Add 1/2 of potatoes, 1/2 of onions, 1/2 of carrots to packet. Sprinkle top with garlic powder, salt, pepper and parmesian cheese. Top with 1/2 of the margarine slices.
- Add remaining potatoes, onions and carrots. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper and parmesian cheese. Top with remaining margarine. (I sometimes sprinkle thyme or rosemary in with the potatoes - depending on the type of meat I am serving with them).
- Seal aluminium tightly. Wrap packet in another layer of aluminium foil to prevent the juices from leaking out into the barbecue.
- Cook on side of barbecue, along with main course, approx. 1-1/2 hours. Turn packets over occasionally.
- Remove from grill, carefully open packages (steam and inside juices are very hot), place in bowl and serve.
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| Potatoes and burgers gilling away! |
Dessert...
4th of July Surprise Cake
*recipe from Glorious Treats
I first saw this cake a couple years ago when my cousin Erin made it for the 4th of July. I love it because on the outside it looks like a plain, boring cake. But, when you cut into it, everyone is surprised by what's inside! The blog linked to above has great step-by-step instructions with pictures.
Ingredients:
- 2 boxes of vanilla cake mix
- ingedients listed on the box to make the cake
- 2 tubs of store bought vanilla icing
- strawberries
- blueberries
- Prepare a total of two Vanilla cake mixes (from a box- but feel free to use any Vanilla cake recipe you love). Prepare two 8″ cake pans by coating with a small amount of butter and flour, and placing parchment paper in the bottom.
- Prepare one batch of batter and color it red (I used Americolor super red gel). Divide the batter equally and pour into the two prepared pans. Bake as instucted by your recipe.
- While the red cakes are baking, prepare another batch of batter. Divide the batter into two bowls and color one of the bowls of batter blue. Leave the remaining bowl of batter uncolored.
- When your red cakes have baked and cooled, remove from pans. Wash and then prepare pans for the white and blue batter. Bake.
- However you get there, what you want to end up with is..
- 1- 8″ round blue cake
- 1- 8″ round white cake
- 2- 8″ round red cakes
- Slice the two red cake in half (horizontally), so you’ll have a total of 4 red layers. Set aside one layer, this will not be used for the cake. Cut a 4″ circle out of one of the layers. So you want to have two 8″ round layers and one 4″ round layer.
- Cut the white cake in half as well. Then use a 4″ cookie cutter to cut a circle out of one of the halves.
- Use a 4″ cookie cutter again (or make cut out a 4″ circle of cardboard and use that as your template) to cut out the center of your blue cake.
- You’re ready to assemble your cake when you have…
- 1 thick layer of blue, with the center cut out
- 2- 8″ layers of red
- 1- 4″ layer of red
- 1- 8″ layer of white
- 1- 4″ layer of white
- Prepare a batch of Vanilla frosting. I was being lazy and used store bought frosting.
- Assemble cake with a thin layer of frosting between each layer of cake, starting on the bottom with red cake, then white, then red, then blue. Add some frosting along the inside “ring” of the blue cake to hold in the next two layer which will fit inside the opening. Fill the hole in the blue cake with a 4″ round layer of with cake, some frosting, then the 4″ round of red.
My un-iced, assembled cake - Once assembled, frost the cake as desired. Chill the frosted cake in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. Then cut it open and smile at the pretty surprise inside.
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| SURPRISE! |
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