Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!

We had our gathering last night with our friends and family and we had a great time. The boys were worn out before the festivities even began. Grandpa and Vince were tired. This little nap helped Vince stay up until about 1 in the morning! He's a trooper!

We had supper. Mary brought over this salsa and chips....it is so yummy!!

Corn Salsa

2 cans corn - drained

2 cans black beans - keeping half of the liquid

2 cans diced tomatoes - keeping just a little of the juice

Mix it all together and add in a little bit of jar salsa.

For a little bit of flavor, add in a little bit of cilantro and a few drops of tabasco sauce and a dash of salt and pepper. Serve with salsa chips and enjoy!

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We had fresh picked lettuce from my garden.

We had potato salad.

Potato Salad

6-8 potatoes

4-6 eggs

sweet relish or bread & butter pickles

onion - chopped

celery - chopped

celery seed

Dressing:

miracle whip

mustard

salt

pepper

milk

sugar

little lemon juice

little apple cider vinegar

Peel and cube potatoes and boil for 20 minutes or until just barely soft. Drain and let cool. Boil eggs for 15 minutes. Let cool and then peel. Add the sweet relish, chopped onion, chopped celery, and celery seed. Mix together.

For the dressing: Put about 2 cups of miracle whip in a bowl. Add about a tablespoon of mustard, a dash of salt and a tsp. of pepper, about a tsp. of lemon juice, and about a tsp. of apple cider vinegar. Add a tablespoon of sugar and a little milk. Stir together with a whisk and taste. Keep adding milk until you get the consistency that you like and keep adding sugar a little at a time until it's as sweet as you like. Pour it into the potato mixture and stir gently until combined. Put in fridge until cold.

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We also had grilled pork burgers and maid-rites with all the fixins. I found an old newspaper article in my Grandma's recipes and the article says this recipe is supposed to be the actual maid-rite recipe and came from a guy who worked for the chain that popularized the sandwich. Who knows if it actually is, but it is really good and simple.

Maid-Rite Sandwiches

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 can chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Crumble meat in skillet over medium to medium low heat; add onion. Brown meat and cook until onions begin to turn clear. Drain off fat. Meat should be very crumbly. Add broth and continue cooking until most of the liquid evaporates. Serve in buns and garnish with dill pickle.

I serve them with dill relish and ketchup.

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We had all-american homemade apple pie and raspberry cobbler.....yummy! And Jewels brought brownies and angel food cake.

Apple Pie

See Apple Pie post in the cookbook section.

Black Raspberry Cobbler

1 qt. bag (4 C) of black raspberries

2 C sugar

2 C flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1 stick butter

Heat oven to 350º F. Grease an 8x8 in. baking dish. Place raspberries in the bottom of the baking dish. Mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, and eggs until well blended. Crumble over berries. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour over the crumble. Bake at 350º F for 35 to 40 min.

This is absolutely delicious over fresh picked wild raspberries....or frozen ones too! Enjoy over homemade vanilla ice cream.

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And this is what's left of our vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Needless to say, we all stuffed ourselves silly....well, at least I did!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

4 eggs - beat until light

Whisk in 2 1/2 C sugar gradually until mixture is thick.

Add remaining one at a time and mix after each:

6 C whole milk

4 C (1 qt.) half & half

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

Pour into ice cream maker and make.

To make chocolate ice cream, add 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix and stir in well. The longer is sits after you stir it, the more it will dissolve and tastes better in my opinion. Stir right before pouring in ice cream maker.

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We watched fireworks and we were far enough away that they weren't loud enough for the kids to be scared....woohoo!

Then for breakfast this morning we had some good 'ole all american.....doughnuts!!
We had a great 4th of July celebration. Have a great Independence Day!

Keeping Things Fun!

Jess