Quick and Easy Fourth of July Recipes

The 4th of July is a wonderful time to reflect on our freedoms and to celebrate being an American! While large meals and cookouts seem to be the thing to do before the fireworks, some people have way too many celebrations, things to do and not enough time to think about the food. Use these tips and recipes to help you get done with the food faster and on to your next activity... even if it's lounging and enjoying the weekend!

Breakfast of champions!
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If your day is starting early or if you're like me and you just don't feel like making breakfast on the 4th of July, here are some ideas. You can always start the day right with fresh fruit. What's better than natures most portable breakfast food? Make it look a little festive for the kids by adding blueberries and/or strawberries to a plain or vanilla yogurt cup. You don't have to spend a lot of time chopping. Toss the blueberries in whole. The strawberries can be cut into 4 slices with one strawberry per cup. Simple. Almost too simple.

If you want something a little more exciting and don't mind cooking while you are doing something else, Faux French toast is for you!

Starting the night before will help make it go faster. Crack 4 eggs into a bowl. I add 3/4 to 1 cup of milk. Splash in vanilla extract, add a teaspoon of cinnamon, sprinkle the top with nutmeg and stir together. Put the bowl in the refrigerator until morning. In the morning, have two packets of unsalted saltines ready to go. Hold the packet with one hand at each end and then squeeze your hands together. This should crush the crackers in the package and save you a large crumbled cracker mess. BEWARE: If you do this too fast, the cracker package will burst and crackers will come flying out the opened seem. Do this slowly!

Now that you have easy crushed crackers, add them to your egg mix and stir. Pour into a 9X13 inch buttered or greased pan and bake at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. When they come out of the oven, cut into squares, place on a plate, pour syrup over it and VOILA! The easiest neatest french toast you will ever make.

Lunch!
The easiest lunch is sandwiches. But who wants boring sandwiches on a day like this? Have a veggie platter. Cutting up your own veggies the night before will make a veggie platter much easier. Lunch could be as quick as pulling a tray from the fridge! Add salad dressing to dip in and your lunch is set.

If you want something a little more exciting than veggies, then you could make wraps. Wraps are easy and can be tasty. Try these delicious combinations.

Place a handful of cheese on a tortilla, fold in half and microwave for 1 minute or until the cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and dip in spaghetti sauce for almost instant "pizza dippers".

Heat polska kelibasa, polish sausage or hot dogs however you would like. Add to your wrap (or hotdog buns) with cream cheese and sauteed onions. I thought this was the nastiest sounding thing until I tried it. It is VERY delcioous.

Don't put the cream cheese away yet! It goes great with bacon crumbles, lettuce and ham. Mix a packet of cream cheese with a ranch dressing mix packet and some shredded carrot. Spread it over the tortilla, add the meat of your choice and some lettuce too. Roll the tortilla and place in the fridge overnight. At lunch time, cut into 1" thick slices. Serve with fruit, chips or any other quick grab packages food for a tasty, filling lunch.

If you want some chips and dip but want an easy dip, make chili cream dip. Take one can of hormel chili and a package of cream cheese. Microwave on high in a microwave safe bowl until the mixture is smooth, hot and bubbly. Dip your tortilla chips in and ENJOY! Other brands of chili can be used, but my favorite is Hormel brand.

Sweet Treats

For a sweet treat everyone is sure to love, fresh juices of your choice in a cup with a stick in it or in a store bought popsicle mold. We use spoons for our "sticks" and hold them in place with aluminum foil. If you start these the day before, they'll be a quick grab when it gets hot outside! Try frozen banana's, grapes, strawberries or blueberry whir (puree the blueberries first) for a healthy tasty treat. Frozen whip cream acts as an inexpensive ice cream also. Top with chocolate drizzle and enjoy.

Dinner Time!

If hamburgers and hotdogs aren't on the menu, they should be. Store bought patties make a quick and easy meal. Dress them up for something a little different with these ideas.

I like to take a bag of store bought salad mix, pour it in a bowl and top with cooked hamburger. Sprinkle with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle slices and onion. For your dressing use thousand island. I like a 50/50 ketchup and mustard mix but my kids like the thousand island dressing. Toss the salad and place it in a wrap for a "burger/ salad to go" or eat it like it is for a tasty treat.

Top with cheese and spaghetti sauce and serve over 1/2 cup cooked noodles for a "spaghetti burger".

Top with taco toppings like cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce and tomato for a taco style burger.

For a side, the easiest beans I can think of for a barbeque are the beans my husband makes. He cooks 2 cans of pork and beans, with 1/2 to 1 bottle of barbeque sauce, adds chopped onions (about 1 medium) and cooks over medium heat. This is the best beans!

I hope you enjoy some of these recipes and have a wonderful Fourth of July!