How many red, white & blue recipes can you devise? Share them here!
Plan ahead for at least one red, white and blue recipe for July 4th.
You can start the day with plain or vanilla yogurt, topped with raspberries and blueberries.
For lunch, make red, white and blue potato salad (keep skins on red-jacket potatoes with your favorite recipe, sprinkle top with crumbled blue cheese) and decorate the bowl with a perimeter of blueberries.
Use blue and red tortilla chips with your regular nachos recipe, along with white Cheddar or other good white melting cheese. Sprinkle some blue cheese or goat cheese (it‘s very white) atop the red salsa.
For appetizers or snacks, make a white bean dip and garnish the perimeter of the bowl with a few raspberries and blueberries.
For dessert at dinner, top ice cream with strawberry or raspberry purée and whipped cream, sprinkled with blueberries. You can make a parfait by layering the ingredients in a sundae glass or wine goblet. (See our Ice Cream Glossary for ice cream terms.)
Or, add any red and blue berry combination to cake, cupcakes, sorbet and any white cheese. Use toothpicks to anchor berries for a red, white and blue “centerpiece cheese” on a cheese tray.
Instead of macaroni salad, make a pasta salad with white pasta, halved red cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes) and garnish with blue cheese and/or blueberries.
Serve pink lemonade with blueberries and raspberries. You can freeze blueberries and raspberries in the ice cubes, and sprinkle a few of each in the drink for a dramatic effect.
For dessert, how about a watermelon “napoleon?” cut slices of watermelon into squares. Make a three-decker napoleon, filling the layers with whipped cream and berries.
For more Independence Day food and beverage ideas, select the July 4th category in the column at the right.
In two hours, THE NIBBLE staff will assemble at the Fancy Food Show, our “home” for the next three days.
Our goal: to find the best new foods and beverages to review.
The Fancy Food Show is like culinary Disneyland—you’re surrounded by enticing exhibits and you can’t hope to see it all. We’ll be tripping the light fantastic—or more realistically, the hard concrete floor of New York City’s Javits Center.
We anticipate fewer posts to www.thenibble.com/blog and less publishing on TheNibble.com until the latter part of next week. Don’t think we’re slacking off; food shows are hard work!
You’ve heard for years how important it is not to use the same cutting boards, utensils and plates for other foods that you use when preparing raw poultry, pork and other raw meats. You know to avoid cross-contamination.
But what happens when you leave the structure of the kitchen and head outdoors to the grill?
It’s easy for unsafe practices to transpire beyond the safety of the kitchen.
Just plan ahead and you’ll find that it’s almost as easy to practice “safe meat” when cooking outside.
Photo by Matt Moser | SXC.
Here’s a tip to circumvent a big cross-contamination point and make cooking and serving more convenient:
Cover a plate, platter or tray with plastic wrap to carry the raw meat to the grill. After the meat is on the fire, throw away the plastic wrap. Use the clean plate to carry food back to the table.
We love this box of cherries and blueberries displayed in the shape of the American flag. If you’re handy, you can make this yourself: Configure a white gift box or find a white tray and add the fruit.
There’s also an Old Glory Gift Tower: five keepsake red, white and blue boxes filled with different goodies—Moose Munch, cookies, Gummi stars and “patriotic” taffies.
We’re ready to start celebrating: Please pass the Moose Munch!
