40 ideas for 4th of July parties #summerfamilyfunparty

July 4 - give or take a week - usually means a block party in our neighborhood. It's a great pitch-in where neighbors get together, socialize and shoot off firecrackers.

Looking for some ideas to spice up your Fourth of July celebrations?

Here are 40 recipe ideas to get you going:

On the Grill

• Fiery Glazed Mango BBQ Chicken Skewers
• Best Grilled Chicken
• Lemon Basil Grilled Shrimp and Quinoa
• Double-Decker Stuffed Portobello Sandwiches
• Grilled Skirt Steak with Corn Salsa and Black Beans
• Chicken, Nectarine & Red Onion Kebabs
• Sweet & Spicy Smoked Ribs
• Balsamic Honey Grilled Steak Salad
• Fall Off the Bone Ribs
• Grilled Bacon Burgers
• Grilled Honey Dijon Chicken
• Grilled Fish Tacos
• Cowboy Burgers
• Chipotle Chicken Kebabs
• Grilled Peanut Butter Chicken
• Carmelized Salmon Skewers

Super Side Dishes

• Red, White & Blue Nachos
• Practically Perfect Pasta Salad
• Mango Avocado Salsa
• Stacked BLT Salad
• Patriotic Strawberry Bread
• Green Bean Salad Green Style
• Roasted Asparagus Salad with Strawberries and Pecans
• Easy Apple Coleslaw
• Heirloom Tomato Gratin
• Roasted Corn & Zucchini Salad with Chili Lime Vina
• Refrigerator Pickles

Sweet Treats

• Ginger Lemon Ice
• Raspberry Dessert
• Strawberry Ice Cream
• Key Lime Pie Bars
• Red, White & Blue Frozen Fruit Puree Shooters
• Strawberry Icebox Cake
• Berry Parfait
• Stained Glass Jello
• White Chocolate and Fireworks Popcorn
• Red White & Blue Berry Popsicles
• Grilled Pound Cake a la Mode
• 4th of July Tie Dye Fudge
• Fruit Flag Pizza

Drinks

• Patriotic Punch (kid-friendly recipe)
• Blueberries and lemon spritzer 
• Preppy Punch (Non-Alcoholic)
• Beer Margaritas
• Red Wine & Blue Spritzer

Share your favorite July 4 ideas or other inspiration for the #summerfamilyfunparty below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Stained-glass cookies

Stained-glass cookies are a Christmastime treat that I recall having as a child but hadn't reattempted until recently. They are a great way to use up the last of those Halloween candies, especially leftover lollipops.


Stained-glass cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour
crushed candies, sorted by flavor/color

Cream butter and sugar; beat in egg until mixed, then vanilla and salt. Add flour until blended. Divide the dough in half, flatten each into a disk and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or place in freezer for about 20 minutes.

Remove dough. let warm slightly, and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.

Preheat oven to 375. Cover baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray. Cut out cookies with larger cookie cutters, then with smaller cutters (or a clean top to a soda bottle) cut shapes within each.

Place on cookie sheet and sprinkle candies inside.

You will want to make sure the candies all are inside the centers, or they will melt into the cookie. (Read: If you want a perfectly "unstained" cookie, this may not be the part for helpers!)

Bake 10-12 minutes. Let centers cool thoroughly before removing from the pan.

Peanut Butter Coconut Clouds

This flourless cookie was a huge hit with my brother and kids--though having three helpers for this project was a bit much! Based off of an old kids' cookbook my mother had saved from my childhood.

Peanut Butter Coconut Clouds

1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla
dash salt
2/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. unsweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 325 and lightly spray cooking sheets.

In small mixer bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla and salt on high speed until soft peaks form (hint: tips curl over). Gradually add sugar (do not just dump it in), beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight.)

Melt peanut butter, about 30 seconds in microwave. Fold in peanut butter and coconut into egg whites. Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake 15-17 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool for a few minutes before removing from pan. Makes about 2 dozen.

Hot cross buns and other Easter plans

We're radically trying to change how we handle our holiday seasons, moving them more in line with what we'd initially hoped for our kids (more memories, less stuff). This is applying to Easter as well.

Instead of big baskets (which we'd never quite gotten to), the kids are each getting a bug box and magnifying glass. The in-laws have sent over candies from Russell Stovers in KC, and the Easter Bunny is largely sneaking in a few small candies and goldfish crackers for tomorrow's (likely indoors) hunt.

We're kicking up our Easter traditions in the kitchen, too. This year will be our first to dye eggs, and I have finally convinced my 5 year old that does not mean watercoloring broken eggshells after we've cooked! We also made for the first time Hot Cross Buns last night, a time-consuming project, though not as bad as making homemade cinnamon rolls. We deviated a bit from the original recipe, swapping dried cranberries for the currants. You could likely swap for raisins or any other dried fruit as well. You'd think my youngest had gone to heaven this morning at breakfast. Tomorrow, we're planning to make Resurrection Rolls, which hopefully can engage even the 3 year old for a few minutes.

But the biggest memory of this season? The grandparents are driving up. And that is the best thing any kid can wish for. Happy Easter!

Celebrating Chinese New Year

Homemade Chinese food is a luxury in our home. I learned long ago how to make the "real" thing, but the time element for making it - my favorite dish takes more than two hours to make - means that it's hardly a staple in my home.

But the new year is a reason to celebrate. On Sunday, we marked an early begining to the Chinese New Year (which is Thursday this year) with a couple of small activities in our home.

Of course, it centered around the meal, and while it wasn't three courses of fun (mom, after all, is still dealing with bronchitis), it was a success. For dinner, we splurged and made homemade Chinese dumplings, a great way to use some of the leftovers in our produce bin. This was an idealistic project, given the number of steps and potential for kitchen disasters (raw ground chicken, raw egg, shredding, frying...) but overall was met with success. I got about a dozen dumplings assembled before hearing my husband's desperate yells upstairs, which meant I had to switch gears...fast. The rest of the filling was tossed with some Ramen noodles for the kids. Hardly authentic Chinese, but the meal was surprisingly a success with the family, and the flavors were repeat-able.

We also made Chinese lanterns, an activity that I'm sure has been a staple for kindergarteners for generations, but it was an easy (and controlled) way for my 3-year-old to practice cutting with scissors. It's a simple way to get a second life out of school projects and other drawings too!

My kindergartener, of course, went for the avant garde-look with hers. Blame it on her 5-year-old creativity, "which is taking stuff and doing new things with it," she says.

The weekend was rounded out with an accidental reading of a Thomas the Train story centered around the Chinese New Year's dragon coming to town and scaring another train. This of course eliminated our other activity: crafting a Chinese New Year dragon from toilet paper rolls and paper towels, which I found on education.com. Sadly, if Percy was bothered by a dragon, my 3 year old would be too. Maybe next year.

Have a little more time - or more enthusiastic kitchen helpers - on your hands? Check out these recipes to celebrate your new year:

• Chicken in a Pot
• Chinese Chicken Soup
• Egg Rolls
• Stir-Fried Mushrooms
• Vegetable Lo Mein

Recipes for a Chinese New Year

If there's one thing that makes me blow my budget or my great intentions on a workday, it's when a coworker tucks her head around the corner and whispers a word: Chinese.

I'm a sucker for great Chinese food. I love the flavors, the vegetables, the soups. Just about everything.

And it's ever better when you get the real thing.

Now, I'm not talking about the Great China Buffet by any means. And I'm not talking about take-out. I'm talking about real, authentic Chinese food -- not the breaded, heavy on the meat, Americanized kind.

And, given that we're ringing in the new year in a few days, it's time to rethink our celebrations. Sure, you can get take out, but then you're doomed to use those annoying little waxed boxes with the funny handles that may or may not survive the ride home - but will land in a landfill for ages to come.

Instead, we're having a quick lesson in how to make authentic Chinese dishes from home. It's surprisingly easy, and it's a fun activity for a few friends over for dinner or an afternoon with the family.

One of the easiest - and laziest dishes - I know of to make is what we've come to call "Chicken in a Pot." Taken from an old Chinese cookbook I'd acquired after it was ruined in our flood-damaged apartment, this is a simple dish that doesn't require a lot of time.

Chicken in a Pot
Take a 3.5-4 pound chicken and rub with a tablespoon of salt. Put it in a large pot (we use a stockpot), cover with water and bring to a boil.Add fresh ginger (the original recipe calls for 6 slices but you can adjust) and 6 whole green onions. Cover tightly, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave covered tightly for one hour.Remove the chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Serve with dipping sauce. (See below) The liquid can be used as a start for making stock.

To make the dipping sauce:
Mix 4 tablespoons green onions, 2 tsp. ginger and 2 tsp. salt. Heat a wok until it's hot, and add 2 tablespoons peanut oil. When it's hot, add the green onion mix and mix well. Remove from heat.

Basic White Rice
I'm not sure how white rice became "the" staple for Chinese food, but so many people struggle with it.

Here's the thing: You don't need a rice cooker. After burning through a rice cooker a year for a decade, my husband learned how to make rice without one and has never gone back.

2 cups water
1 cup long grain white rice

Boil water over high heat. Add the rice and stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and keep covered. Let rest for 5 minutes. Remove cover and fluff with a fork. Serve immediately or keep warm.

And if it's sticky? You're fine! Sticky rice is OK!

Stir-Fried Mushrooms
Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil in a wok until it is hot and slightly smoking. Toss in 1 tsp. salt, 2 tablespoons chopped garlic and 1 tsp. ginger and stirfry for 1 minute.

Add 1 pound sliced mushrooms and stirfry 2 minutes. Pour in 2 tsp. sherry, 2 tsp. soy sauce and 1 tsp. sugar. Stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add 2 tsp. sesame oil just before serving.

Looking for other recipes to try? Here are some tried-and-true ones that our family enjoys:
Chinese Chicken Soup
Vegetable Low Mein

Originally published at the Green Phone Booth, February 2010

Entertaining your turkeys at Thanksgiving

Keeping my kids away from the pantry and stove at mealtime is tough under the best of circumstances, but at a holiday, the excitement just amplifies. Today at the Green Phone Booth, I'm sharing a few recycled Thanksgiving craft ideas I found.

Offering holiday support to unemployed loved ones

The holiday season can be a happy time, but for friends and family who are unemployed, it can be a time of anxiety and stress. Today, I'm guest-posting at Life as Mom on how you can help your loved ones during this Christmas season.

De-stuff your Thanksgiving dinner

Today I'm blogging at the Green Phone Booth about ways to take the stuff out of your Thanksgiving dinner. Simplify, and be thankful!

Egg rolls for Chinese New Year

Feb. 14 rings in the Year of the Tiger, and what better way to celebrate than making your own Chinese dinner!

Why make your own? No waiting in lines, no take out trash, you can adjust the recipes for your tastes - and frankly, it's a lot of fun to make. In my weekly post on the Green Phone Booth, I share some ideas on just how easy it is: including our family favorite "Chicken in a pot," white rice and stir-fried mushrooms.

In the meantime, here's a family recipe for egg rolls from a friend. Enjoy!

Egg Rolls
Chop:
1 head cabbage
2 carrots
1 can drained bean sprouts
1 bunch green onions
garlic.

Sautee vegetables with soy sauce and sesame oil.

Brown 1 pound ground beef, adding soy sauce to taste. Mix with vegetables. Wrap mix in 2 packages of egg roll wrappers. (Tuck in the corners and use water to "seal" the edges so the filler doesn't come out during frying.)

Fry egg rolls in vegetable oil 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

Looking for other recipes to try? Here are some tried-and-true ones that our family enjoys:

• Chinese Chicken Soup
• Vegetable Low Mein

Silence is golden

An overnight power surge took out our alarm clock and our surge protector, which meant that the router for our cable, Internet and phones were out most of of our day.

At first I felt strangely wierd. The TV I could live without. The Internet meant I couldn't sneak in some work time. But the phones? I felt disconnected in more ways than one.

While our morning meant church and errands, our early afternon posed some questions. Sadly, we'd gotten into the habit of letting our oldest have quiet time watching a TV show while her brother was napping. No such luck today, and frankly, they were wired and wearing on my nerves. (I think the sad fact I accidently typed "wierd" instead speaks volumes too!)

Then creativity hit. I sent my daughter upstairs for some mandated "rest" time in her room. Just read a book or listen to music, but you had to be in your bed. And I whipped up a batch of my great-grandmother's Christmas cookies. (I say that like it's no big deal, but the dough was practically falling out of the mixing bowl, the batch made so much.)

Company snuck downstairs, peeking around the corner into the kitchen. Not yet, I insisted, and she trotted back up the stairs.

I worked in an unusual silence. No music was blasted, no TV noise was on, no telephones rang to interrupt, no "Mooommmmm...." repeated over and over again.

Finally, after nearly an hour of baking and a dusting of powdered sugar covering me after my attempt at making frosting, we were ready to go. I presented my little chef with her own bowl of frosting, which she proudly dumped every holiday sprinkle known to man inside before coating a handful of cookies with her concoction - which was then unceremoniously slathered in more green sprinkles to make the "green sprinkle mountain." I heard stories of her imaginary friend and her excitement over the holiday. Best of all, we talked - uninterrupted - something that rarely happens in a family of four.

At the end of our adventure, our kitchen was trashed, but I'll tell you this - it was a wonderful afternoon. I was almost sad when my husband came home and brought us back to the 21st Century!

Save the animals

Save the animals.

Really. As a parent, that's one of my greatest pleas this holiday season.

Just about any mother of a little girl can tell you that they're swimming in stuffed animals. Small ones. Fluffy ones. Musical ones. Ones so large that can wear their child's clothes.

If these were real animals, the codes people would be in force.

The problem with these fluffy friends is they're cute. Look at their sweet faces. The soft furr. The just-right-for-snuggling size.

And then they join the herd, forced to a lifetime of being squished in their corral of the parents' choice, largely forgotten until the day mom or dad decide they have had enough and attempt to clean out.

And what can you do with stuffed animals who have lost their love? Parents don't want them. You can hardly donate them. Instead, many of them meet the same fate as one Build-a-Bear, casually tossed on the curb down my street.

This holiday season, save the animals. If you think your family's or friends' children need someone to cuddle, there are little arms waiting for real hugs.

Don't have a trashy Christmas, part 2: Reducing wrapping and shipping waste

Ninety nine percent of the trappings of Christmas end up in the landfill within six months, I read in the paper today. That's a lot of waste for one magic moment.

Lisa over at Retro Housewife Goes Green started the discussion on how we can reduce the trash in our holiday celebrations, and I'd like to offer a few more ideas that have worked for our family.

While re-thinking our gift-giving can make it more meaningful - and hopefully cut down on your holiday spend and wasted gifts - there are steps you can take to reduce the trash generated in your holiday celebrations. A lot of the trash we generate isn't even from the gifts themselves - it's from getting the gifts to the recipient.

Wrapping it up

We rely heavily on gift bags in our house. It came less from a desire to be green than the reality that I hated to trash the pretty bags after the holidays. I'll admit I love pulling out my Crown Center bags each year - it helps with a bit of the homesickness, in a strange way. But they're easy, and frankly, if the little ones break into the gifts, there's a lot less re-wrapping and re-taping needed.

Because I use bags, I also don't have to rely on bows or ribbons on my gifts, which just go in the trash anyway. If you're dead-set on using ribbons and are feeling crafty, you can find out how to make your own bows here.

Find more ideas for greener ways to wrap your gifts here.

Gifts to be shipped

As we can't be in every city for the holidays, we have to ship gifts to at least one home each season. You can be smarter in how you ship things by following these tips:

Pick flatter or modular sized gifts. Odd-shaped gifts are challenging to find packaging for and often require a larger box - meaning more freight costs and fuel to send - and extra "stuff" to pad the package.

If you must buy an odd-shaped gift (such as the guitar my sister-in-law bought my child last year), consider either padding the package with newsprint, plastic bags or leftover packaging from something received at home at work instead of buying new packing materials. In our office, we're notorious for hoarding boxes and packing materials for such occasions.

Or, buy the uniquely shaped or fragile present online and have it shipped directly from the store. It saves you the gas and hassle of trying to find appropriate shipping materials, and they typically have resources on hand to ship them effectively.

If you have several families in one city, designate a "point person" to receive and distribute the holiday gifts. Chances are they're share a celebration at some point in the Christmas season, and the gifts can be distributed at that time.

Hopefully, as Black Friday approaches, this gives you a few options to consider to make things easier on your family.

Happy holidays!

Handling the holiday juggle

My family is descending upon our home in a few short days, and I confess that I am just not ready.

My planned "cleaning day" off from work was spent deep cleaning - "cleaning the mess that was hiding," as I told my oldest. Junking out, finally, those "sort boxes." Shredding a few reams' worth of paper, held on to for who knows how long. Yanking out children's clothes of every size. And sadly, reorganizing my house.

You can't tell.

Right now, I'm in the "darkest hours are just before dawn" phase of my clean-up, just as my children's and husband's colds have now been shared with yours truly (who's still getting over a sinus infection in her own right).

And of course, we're approaching the easiest of guest-hosting scenarios. Planning dinner for seven isn't a simple task. I'm trying to balance my idea of what Thanksgiving dinner should shape up like with the wants of my family. The first time I hosted Thanksgiving, I asked my family members what was the one dish they had to have. My brother alone can eat a package of Stovetop stuffing. My mother can't live without marshmellow-encrusted sweet potatoes. And my daughter has requested, of all things, pumpkin tarts...and hot dogs.

Me, I confess, I've gotten out of the habit of eating out of a box. We really like making our own foods, baking our own breads. Yet there's only so many burners on the stove, so many hours in the night.

So if you were me, what would you choose? What are the must-haves? What can I live without? Help me decide. The clock is ticking!

Christmas decorations donated

Pleas for help with Christmas gifts this year seem to be coming from everywhere. But can you imagine a Christmas with no signs of the season in your home?

You can make a family's holiday season brighter by donating new or gently used artificial Christmas trees, ornaments or decorations to Fresh Start of Indiana, a nonprofit organization that helps provide transitional services for survivors of domestic violence.

Deciding to pare down? Tired of that fake tree? Want to get rid of that decoration Aunt Millie sent? This is your chance to do something about it. If you're in Indianapolis, call Fresh Start at (317) 541-1655 to arrange pickup or delivery of these items. Christmas donations will be accepted through Dec. 20.

Don't live in Indy? I encourage you to seek out organizations such as this. While dropping donations to Goodwill and similar groups are fine, helping out families who are trying to re-establish their lives - and often don't even have the resources to seek out resale shop bargains - is a fabulous way to remember the true reason for the season.

Santa sold out

Santa Claus is out in full force - and his marketing buddies aren't far behind.

While somehow I've yet to see Kris Kringle pimping products on a commercial, he was already seeing anxious kids at the mall yesterday afternoon. Pushing Christmas in November isn't the surprise.

It was that among the holiday decor in Santa Land were two strategically placed Wii boxes.

Come on. It's bad enough these kids are blasted with commercials left and right. But when they sit on Santa's lap, and that reminder that they don't have a Wii yet (gasp!) is right there? It's cause for many a fight the next six weeks.

Sorry. I just have a problem with that.

Don't get me wrong. I was raised on Santa's day job of schlepping toys on TV. In Wichita, growing up, we always watched "Santa's Workshop" every year, more for the bizarre humor of seeing Toy Boy (who unfortunately lost his head while "zooming around the world" one year). We also got a daily dose of what the latest and greatest toys were. But I don't recall it affecting our wish lists much.

But that last blast of marketing during that pivotal moment of seeing Santa and the product of the month? I think it's a bit much.

Thank goodness when I asked my daughter yesterday if she wanted to write a letter this year to Santa, she replied, "Who's Santa?" Perhaps I have a reprieve for one more year!

Most wonderful time of the year?

A quick errand to the store yesterday just made me feel overwhelmed. Right now, retailers are jumbling the holidays together and barfing them up like the aftermath of a bad party. A little Halloween here. A little Christmas there. And a teeny bit of Thanksgiving and fall flourishes crammed in just in case.

It’s no wonder my daughter was thoroughly confused when we were at the store the other day. Is it Halloween time? Christmas time? For a kid with little sense of time, it’s visual chaos. And for me, I’d just like to take a breather.

I realize my plea to let the holidays stand for themselves will fall on the deaf ears of retailers, who are quickly ripping down Halloween costumes to make room for Christmas lights, only by Dec. 24 to start ushering in Valentine’s Day. As a former retail widow, I fully understand it’s all about making the next buck.

But when does it stop? Can we ever enjoy the season for what it is?

Thanks for listening to me vent (and putting up with my horribly bad writing!) today!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! We wish you a safe and happy holiday weekend.

If your family is like ours, you're likely having a picnic this weekend as part of your celebrations. My mother-in-law was famous for bringing homemade ice cream, which we all had to take turns cranking.

So, in honor of Grandma Merle, here are some homemade ice cream recipes - many of which don't require an ice-cream maker!

• Ginger Lemon Ice
• Strawberry Ice Cream
• Rasberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream*
• Non-Dairy Ice Cream *

* requires an ice cream maker, but I think you could probably make it work without it.

Enjoy!

A cracked idea

I realize that every major holiday has been commercialized beyond recognition, but I’m really drawing the line and saying that we’ve fallen into stupidity. I was at the store the other day and not only saw branded Easter treats, but also things like "Hannah Montana" egg decorating kits and "High School Musical" Easter grass.

Are you kidding me? Do people really buy this?

Nothing says 'I love you' like grilled cheese

When you’re 3, loving is easy. You give your friends hugs to say hello, to wish goodbye, just because the wind is blowing east.

Love flows freely when you’re a kid. And love is simple to give, and simpler to share.

Fast-forward 20, 30, 40 years, and love is a lot more complicated. You worry about dates, and cards, and whether you’re gift is too much or too little or too gooey or just right. You lose love – or at least the expression of it – in the details.

The other day, I asked my 3 year old the other day what we should do to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We decided to have an “I love you” party with her dad and baby brother.

On the menu? Her suggestions: Cupcakes. And grilled cheese.

Because when you’re 3, grilled cheese is one of the greatest culinary creations on the planet (no matter how much of a foodie you are). And who better to share it than with someone you love?