Want a celebratory drink for July 4th?

How about a red, white and blue layered shooter?

A drink with several layers of different colored liqueurs is called a pousse café (pronounced POOSE-caff-fay). A classic pousse café is a liqueur-based drink served with after-dinner coffee. In French, the name translates to “pushes coffee,” or coffee chaser. The term first appeared in France in 1880.

Because different liqueurs have different densities, they can be made to sit atop each other in discrete layers, when poured in order of densest to lightest. The result is a fun drink that delights the eye, rather than a strategic layering of flavors.

Three flavors can be combined in a shot glass, or more flavors in a tall cordial glass or a whiskey glass. We’ve had one with seven different layers—although that’s not necessarily a good thing. It may look stunning, but combining seven flavors in a pleasing manner is a tough job.

The minute you tip the glass to drink, you’ll be getting tastes of all or several liqueurs—which is why it’s a good idea to cap them at three. Some bartenders provide a straw to sip the pousse café one layer at a time.

The original recipe is believed to have been red, yellow and green layers: grenadine, yellow chartreuse and green chartreuse.

But you can make a red, white and blue July 4th pousse café. Just call it a shooter: an all-American drink for Independence Day.

American Flag Cocktail

Who wants leftover pancakes? We do!

We reheat them by toasting them in the toaster oven. The outsides get nice and crispy. In our book, they’re even better than the original batch.

July 4th Recipes

 
TIP: If you’re going to make pancakes, get a delicious whole wheat pancake mix. The pancakes will count toward your daily recommended 48 grams of whole grain.

Canapés with star quality. Photo by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

For July 4th celebrations, these star crackers add surprise and delight.

Turn them into red, white and blue canapés with raspberry jam, brie and a blueberry garnish anchored with a dab of blueberry jam.

Or, present the crackers in a basket with different spreads and dips, and let guests create their own snacks.

For a sweet treat, mix 3 tablespoons black raspberry liqueur into 8 ounces mascarpone cheese (don’t over-mix—the mascarpone becomes too soft). Spread or pipe the mascarpone onto the star crackers; top with two raspberries, a blueberry and a small mint leaf.

The crackers are made by one of our favorite companies, Valley Lahvosh Baking Co.

Lahvosh, also spelled lavash and lahvash, is an Armenian flatbread made with wheat flour, water and salt. When fresh, lahvosh is soft and thin like a tortilla, and is used as a sandwich wrap for kebabs and other foods.

The fresh lahvosh hardens into a crunchy cracker consistency, which is how it is most often found in the U.S.—typically sold in boxes of long strips topped with toasted sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic or other seasonings. It’s a very popular part of the bread basket in some restaurants.

Among other favorites in the Valley Lahvosh line are heart-shaped crackers (for engagement parties, Valentine’s Day, etc.) and Lucky Lahvosh, an assortment of crackers shaped like clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades.

Each year, roughly 1 out of 6 Americans (48 million people) becomes ill, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 actually die from foodborne diseases.

These safety tips from the American Dietetic Association/ConAgra Foods Home Food Safety Program may make the difference between a refreshing meal or snack and food poisoning.

 
Don’t forget that carry-out and fast foods are also susceptible to food poisoning.

*Shelf stable foods are those that require no refrigeration, except for storing the remainder of the container after the package is opened.

Learn more at HomeFoodSafety.org.

Rainer cherries are now in stores. We got
ours at Trader Joe’s. Photo courtesy
Washington State Fruit Commission.

Cherries are a healthy snack food on their own, but also consider them as recipe ingredients. Just for starters:

 
Northwest Cherries, an association of growers, has a wealth of fresh cherry recipes, from breakfast to appetizers, salads, mains and of course, desserts.

TIP: Make life easier: Buy a cherry pitter. You can also use it to pit olives. Here’s an excellent basic cherry pitter, plus a more complex one for faster pitting.

Calories In Cherries
Cherries have a bad rap as a more “fattening” fruit. A single cherry contains about 5 calories; a cup of cherries with pitts, 87 calories; a cup of pitted cherries, 97 calories.

Cherries & Health
A growing number of Americans are drinking cherry juice 365 days a year. Tart red cherries contain significant levels of 17 different antioxidants, including anthocyanins and melatonin. Reports about cherry health benefits are promising. Antioxidants can help fight cell damage, which produces cancer and heart disease.

You’ll want to get guidance from your healthcare provider, but according to the Cherry Marketing Institute, to date no other fruit or vegetable has been found to have the pain-relieving properties of tart cherries.

Anthocyanin, one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants, is a natural Cox-2 inhibitor that can relieve the pain of arthritis, gout and possibly fibromyalgia for many people. Ongoing research at Michigan State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio shows that tart cherries contain enough anthocyanins to help relieve the pain of these diseases, and can be a safe alternative to drugs such as Vioxx and Celebrex for the relief of pain from arthritis.

CHERRY TRIVIA: Cherries have been eaten since prehistoric times. Wild cherry trees grew throughout Europe, western Asia and parts of northern Africa. The word cherry (cerise in French, cereza in Spanish) derives from a city in northern Turkey—Cerasus in the Roman Empire, Giresun today—from which the cherry was first exported to Europe.