Being from South Jersey, my 4th of July celebrations always ended with an awesome fireworks show either down at the shore in Wildwood, New Jersey… or even better, the Fireworks Spectacular at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nations’ independence.
Please enjoy a clip of that wonderful display of pyrotechnics just below.
Independence Day is this Friday. Here’s a quick and easy recipe you can make and bring to any 4th of July celebration, the classic American Stars and Stripes Cake (Flag Cake).
Stars and Stripes Cake
Ingredients:
2 pints of strawberries
1 pint of blueberries
1 tub of whipped topping
1 box of your favorite white or yellow sheet cake mix
Directions:
1. Bake your sheet cake as directed on the box. You can make two separate sheet cakes, or if you feel confident in cutting and balancing skills, you can cut one sheet cake in half lengthwise.
2. Roughly chop 1 pint of the strawberries. You can sprinkle a little sugar on the berries to bring out their natural juices.
3. Top the bottom layer of the sheet cake with a generous helping of whipped topping. Sprinkle the chopped strawberries on top.
4. Add the top layer.
5. Cover the top layer of the cake with the remaining whipped topping.
6. In the upper left hand corner of the cake, arrange your blueberries in a small square (this will represent the star section of the flag).
7. You’ll need around 20 whole strawberries cut in half to create your stripes. Once the berries are sliced, you can arrange them in the strip formation on your cake.
Variations:
*You can use raspberries instead of strawberries, or both.
*For an added richness, you can fill the center of the cake with whipped topping, and ice the top of the cake with an actual icing.
*This cake can be decorated and presented in two different ways. If you’re simply transporting it from the kitchen to the dinner table, try removing it from the cake pan and decorating and presenting it on a rectangular cake plate. If you do that, you may want to cover all of the sides with the whipped topping, or just the top to show the center layer. If the cake does have to travel, it may be best to simply present it in a cake dish and just decorate the top layer.
Summer is officially in full swing, and that means it’s time for Summer Grilling. Everyone knows how to work a grill when it comes to the main course, but what about dessert? Here’s a great video that shows a quick, easy, and delicious preparation of Grilled Peaches topped with a Raspberry Sauce and served with some refreshing ice-cream and nicely warmed Grilled Pound Cake, yum!
Don’t forget, if you don’t have an outdoor grill that’s not a problem. Indoor grills and grill plates work just as well. You can get your grill marks inside, and enjoy your delicious grilled feast outside.
So Father’s Day is this weekend but let’s face it, people, Dad’s are good for more than just wearing ties, grilling burgers, and fixing things with their tools. Why not get Dad his very own Secret Ingredients Cookbook.
Whether it’s a Keepsake, or an Heirloom Cookbook, Dad will love it. You can fill it with family pictures, and all of Dad’s favorite recipes. My future father-in-law makes an awesome Gumbo, and my own father is great when it comes to spaghetti. So that covers the things Dad loves to make, but of course there’s always plenty of room for the things he likes to eat too. His wife’s famous pound cake, his mother’s cheesy macaroni and cheese, the beefy chili he taught his son to make, or maybe even the ice-cream sundaes he always makes with his sweet little girl when she comes home from college.
Either way a Secret Ingredients Cookbook would be a perfect gift for dear old dad on Father’s Day. If you feel like there’s just not enough time to finish a cookbook, not a problem. Our Secret Ingredients Customer Service Representatives would be more than happy to provide you with a Gift Certificate, Gift Note, or even the fast turnover of a Secret Ingredients Cookbook Kit so you and Dad can create your memorable cookbook together.
Barely through the first week in June and it already is beginning to feel like summer outside (we’ve still got about 3 weeks until the season officially starts).
The high temperatures here in the Southeast are making me yearn for my favorite warm weather treat… a nice cold fresh fruit salad. I love going to the grocery store to pick out pounds of delicious fruit, and bringing it back home to create an awesome fruit salad.
Melons are always a must; juicy watermelons, cantaloupe, and honey dew are the ones I like to stick with. I also like to add fresh pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and a few sliced bananas. I chop up all of the fruit into a large bowl and pour on just a few splashes of orange juice. Sometimes I eat it as soon as I finish making it, but it always taste that much better after it’s cooled in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Fruit salads are a great healthy meal option for breakfast, lunch, a snack or even dessert. To increase its level of “dessertitude” add some plain or vanilla flavored yogurt or ice cream and you’ll be sure to have the perfect treat to cool you off on those warm days.
Instead of the proverbial BBQ in the backyard, this Memorial Day I celebrated with a delicious breakfast at this great place called Mimis Café.
My mother, fiancé, and I all hopped in the car and headed to Mimis. The restaurant was absolutely gorgeous with indoor and outdoor seating. Its quaint European theme, with a touch of jazzy Mardi Gras décor made for a wonderful atmosphere.
The menu at Mimis is severely extensive to say the least. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day (my favorite), and also have a great lunch, dinner, dessert, and drink menu.
I got cream cheese and marmalade stuffed French Toast topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberry compote. It came with a side of eggs and plump grilled sausages. My mother ordered the turkey club, which seems to be a Mimis favorite since I saw several other tables order the same thing. It’s kind of hard to miss the turkey club pass through the restaurant because it’s absolutely huge. Six quarter slices filled to the brim with fresh sliced turkey, lettuce, tomato, and bacon, served with your choice of side. My fiancé got the Cajun style chicken sausage (delicious with the perfect amount of spice) and home-style potatoes and eggs. Mom and fiancé also got Mimosa’s served with sparkling wine; strawberry and original respectively. The meal was awesome to say the least, and the prices were quiet reasonable.
Mimis Café is a nationwide restaurant, so check out their website (they even share a few of their great recipes on it), find a location near you, and stop in for a bite. You’ll thank me for it!
Everyone loves a good old fashion bake sale, so why not have one and support a worthy cause all at the same time?
Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale is a national campaign that works to end childhood hunger through volunteers that hold bake sales in their own communities. Over the last five years, more than 1-million people have donated their bake sale proceeds to the campaign to help the 12-million children in America who are at risk of hunger.
All of the information you need to host your own bake sale on behalf of Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale can be found on their website. There, you’ll also find statistics about the child-hunger epidemic and how this program is working to put an end to it, as well as tips on how to organize a successful bake sale.
Events like these are also a great way to get your kids involved. They can help out in the kitchen with all those yummy baked goods, be an extra hand at the actual bake sale, and it’s also a fun way to teach children about the value of helping people in need.
If you’ve already got a bake sale scheduled on your calendar such as for your church, school, or neighborhood, consider donating your usual profits to Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale. Just like the slogan says, “Ending Childhood Hunger Can Be A Piece of Cake”.
Yesterday was National Blueberry Pie Day. I love most kinds of pie, and I think blueberry is a great spring and summer dessert. Last summer one of my new neighbors shared a piece of her homemade blueberry pie with me. It was absolutely delicious, so I’ve asked her to share the recipe with me in celebration of National Blueberry Pie Day. I hope mine comes out as good as hers.
Mary Lou’s Blueberry Pie
1 pre-made frozen deep dish pie crust, with roll out top
5 cups of fresh blueberries
3 ½ tablespoons of cornstarch
½ tablespoon of flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
1 ½ tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
½ cup of water
Directions:
Prepare your pie crust as directed; set aside.
In a saucepan, combine 3 cups of blueberries, cornstarch, flour, salt, cinnamon, sugar, butter, lemon juice, and water. Bring to a boil. Cook until blueberries are tender or pop, and a nice blueberry syrup has formed.
Let cooked blueberries slightly cool so syrup can begin to thicken.
Add remaining 2 cups of uncooked fresh blueberries to prepared pie shell.
Top blueberries in pie shell with cooked blueberry mixture.
Cover pie with roll out pie cover. Be sure to cut slices in top for ventilation.
When you get a Secret Ingredients Keepsake Cookbook, you have the ability to name your creation what ever you’d like to. Of course you can always go with classic cookbook names like “Our Family Cookbook” or “Recipes from the Heart”. But why not step it up a notch and make the name of your cookbook super creative?
You can use the classic titles as a base, and then add your family name to personalize it; “The Davis Family Cookbook” or “Grandma Pat’s Recipes from the Heart” are just a few variations that come to mind. You can always create cookbook titles based on what the cookbook is being used for such as “Christmas with the Harris Family” or “Who’s In the Kitchen?: Dan and Alice are getting married!”. Or take a hint from your favorite cooking show and name your cookbook like a star: “Cooking with Lisa Hollenbeck”, “In the Kitchen with Bob Cole”, or “A Taste of Italy: Angela Manzetti’s Culinary Creations”.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to creative cookbook titles. Pick your brain and see what extra personal touch you can add to your Secret Ingredients Keepsake Cookbook.
In less than a month, we will all take a moment to honor those special ladies in our lives… our Mom’s. Mother’s Day is May 11th.
Breakfast in bed and beautiful flowers are nice presents, but why not go the extra mile for Mom and give her a Secret Ingredients Gift Certificate. With our gift certificates there’s no need to run to a local shopping mall, or pay the extra price for shipping while you anxiously bite your nails wondering if the gift will be delivered on time. It’s the perfect Mother’s Day gift with ease.
We offer gift certificates in any dollar amount. Gift certificates can be used for Heirloom and Keepsake Cookbooks, as well as Cookbook Kits. If you’re having trouble figuring out the best dollar amount, feel free to contact a Secret Ingredients Customer Service representative. We’re available via our Customer Service line at toll free 866-697-3247, or you can email us at info@heirloomcookbook.com. We’ll be happy to help you determine the best gift certificate amount to best suit you and your Mom’s needs. Also, once you place your gift certificate order, you can expect to receive it via email within 12-36 hours.
Secret Ingredients offers custom cookbook options perfect for every family. Kate Walling, President and Founder, built her company as a platform through which she explores the importance of food traditions, cooking, and their integral place in the lives of modern families. Check back often for updates on Secret Ingredients products, as well as tips, recipes, inspiration, and ideas!
