This tasty flag was created by Vermont Farmstead Cheese Co., an award-winning creamery in Woodstock, Vermont. The creamery specializes in Cheddar, Edam, Tilsit and WindsorDale (based on a 1800 farmhouse Wensleydale recipe).

You can make your own flag cheese plate with:

If you don’t have a large, white rectangular plate, use a rectangular baking pan. If it isn’t in gleaming condition, cover it with foil.

Play John Philip Sousa marches as you prepare the food.
 
FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE CHEESES & CHEESE RECIPES.

It’s easy to find red berries and blue berries. For white fruit, consider apples, bananas, coconut and lychees. You can also use a white topping—cream cheese, crème fraîche, frosting, mascarpone, sour cream, whipped cream, yogurt, etc.

One of the challenges is the lack of blue food, other than blue cheese and hard-to-find blue potatoes, in the savory dishes for lunch and dinner. But you can easily create tasty and artistic July 4th food in the other categories.

Check the drawer for star-shaped or bell-shaped cookie cutters, check the stores for red, white and blue sprinkles and candy stars.

Patriotic fruit skewers, for dessert or snack. Photo courtesy Stix Mediterranean Grill | NYC.

Lunch & Dinner

 
Dessert

 
Snacks

SHARE YOUR OWN IDEAS.

Some people love coming across photos of cute babies or puppies.

We love cute food.

These bacon and “egg” cupcakes with a “pancake” base were created by Apollina of TheYouFinder. We discovered them on Foodiggity.

Apollina made a buttermilk cupcake topped with maple frosting and a gummi fried egg. A piece of candied bacon (recipe) is tucked in for garnish.

If you can’t find gummi fried eggs, make your own with fondant.

Buttermilk pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and eggs: a yummy breakfast cupcake.

Check out this hamburger cupcake recipe.

Red velvet, white frosting, blue berries.
Photo courtesy Wholesome Sweeteners.

These festive July 4th cupcakes combine popular red velvet cake with red and blue berries and white frosting (cream cheese!) Thanks to Wholesome Sweeteners, purveyors of organic and Fair Trade sugar, for the recipe. It makes 24 cupcakes.

JULY 4TH CUPCAKES: TAKE A BITE OF RED, WHITE & BLUE

Ingredients

*You can make your own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes. If you buy a quart, check the bottom of this article for other ways to use buttermilk.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the sugar and butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl frequently throughout this recipe’s preparation.

2. COMBINE. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Resift twice, making sure that the dry ingredients are well blended.

3. BLEND. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla extract. Add ¼ of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat on low until just blended; then add a third of the buttermilk mix. Being careful not to overmix. Add another ¼ of the dry mix, then 1/3 of the wet mix, until all are incorporated.

3. BAKE. Place cupcake papers into a cupcake/muffin tin and fill each about 1/2 to 3/4 full with the batter. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 3-7 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. COOL. Allow to cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. FROST. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle with fresh red and blue berries for July 4th. For Valentine’s Day, dust with cocoa powder or top with a chocolate kiss or other chocolate garnish.

Makes about 2½ dozen cupcakes–depending on the size of the cupcakes, of course.
 
OPTION FOR VALENTINE’S DAY

Use a heart-shaped muffin pan.

Recioe © 2011 Wholesome Sweeteners.

On Saturday we provided fish-buying tips from chef Scott Leibfried of Arch Rock Fish restaurant in Santa Barbara.

Today, Chef Scott provides some fish-cooking tips to turn home cooks into chefs de poisson.
INITIAL DECISIONS FOR COOKING FISH

Olive oil poached salmon, skin off. Here‘s the recipe. Photo courtesy Pom Wonderful.

BREAKING DOWN A FISH

If you like to wield a knife, you can save money by purchasing a whole fish rather than fillets.

There are two groups of fish: round fish (bass, salmon, snapper) and flatfish (flounder, halibut, sole). The different shapes mean different skeletal structure. Chef Scott explains how to break down the more popular round fish:

Ingredients For 4 Servings

1. TURN grill on; you want it to be fairly hot, so the fish cooks quickly. Oil the grill with a cloth: This avoids sticking and breaking.

2. OIL the fillets and season with salt and pepper. Don’t drench the fish with oil, just brush it. Otherwise, the grill may flare up from the excess oil. Place the fillets on the grill and leave them there. Don’t play with the fish; let the grill marks set in.

3. FLIP fish with a spatula once, halfway through cooking. Be gentle: Fish is delicate, unlike a burger or chicken. If the grill is hot enough and oiled correctly, the fillets should neither stick nor break. This, of course, takes practice!

4. COVER and let the fish finish grilling. The process shouldn’t take longer then 8 minutes. The fish will continue to cook when taken off the grill. If undercooked you can return it to the grill (in restaurants they finish it in the oven). But try the undercooked fish: The flavor is more elegant and never “fishy.” The greatest sin is dry, overcooked fish.

5. ADD sauce and serve. Plate it chef-style: Place the fish atop a bed of starch (noodles, potatoes, rice) or green vegetables (kale, spinach, zucchini) and drizzle the sauce around the circumference of the plate.
 
Preparation: Sauce

1. COMBINE onion, garlic and jalapeño in a pan with oil; sweat them over medium high heat.

2. ADD tomatoes, olives, capers, thyme and cilantro.

3. SEASON with salt and pepper.

4. GARNISH with cilantro; or for something more special, fried capers.

 
Chef Scott likes to serve this dish with a sweet potato hash.
 
FILET VS. FILLET

Filet (fee-LAY) is French, fillet (FILL-let) is British. They mean the same thing: a boneless cut or slice of fish or meat.