4th of July goodness

Now for the baking part of the blog!

So, we went back to my hometown for the 4th of July, which meant we had to go celebrate the 4th with my brother-in-law's (John) firework-loving family.  Now don't get me wrong, my dad is quite the pyro, but John's family loves a good, loud time with explosives fireworks!  Well, since we were going to be around quite a few people (about 25-30 kids and adults), I thought it would be a good time to try out a few new food ideas (and bring out some old favorites)!  So, here are a few highligths from the day!






First up, Red, White, and Blue Strawberries!  This turned out so fun.  Too bad I couldn't find just blue sprinkles!  None of the grocery stores had any, and Walmart was sold out.  Apparently I should have looked earlier than the weekend before the 4th of July to get the goods!  These were very simple to create.  Just get some strawberries, vanilla almond bark, and blue sprinkles (I eventually found some blue sprinkles in a canister of four seperate colored sprinkles).  Rinse and dry the strawberries (make sure they are dry or else the almond bark won't stay on well)!  Dip in almond bark (melt this according to the instructions on the package).  Finally, dip in blue sprinkles and place on wax paper.  I placed the blue sprinkles in a small cup o it made it easy to dip in rather than having to roll it.  Let set and enjoy!

Next, I used the leftover almond bark and sprinkles to decorate some pretzels and vanilla wafers.  The sprinkles on the wafers are orange, but I figured they at least had a tint of red to them, so it worked :) Oh yes, and those are some good ol' Rice Krispies in the back!  Yum!

Finally, I (with my husband's help) made the coolest kool-aid dispenser I have ever seen!  All you do is carve out a watermelon (just like a pumpkin - but save the insides to cut up and eat), slice a little of one end (to create a stable base).  Then, cut a small hole (I used the end of a potato peeler - worked great) and stick a spigot in (I used a spigot I unscrewed from a cheap plastic jug/dispenser I got at Walmart).  Make sure the hole is slightly smaller than the spigot so it fits tight!  Finally, fill with kool-aid or any other of your favorite beverages!  I created this around 1pm and had minimal leakage by 8pm, so it held up really well.  I thought about freezing the watermelon shell before putting the kool-aid in to keep it cool longer, but didn't get to it.  Maybe next time! 

Here is the awesome watermelon kool-aid dispenser!

 

And here is a pic of the inside!  The little green circle on the bottom right is the end of the spigot.

Hope you had a great 4th!  Did anyone else try out any fun new ideas?  Share them in the comments!