Fourth of July Food

Happy Fourth of July!!! I know we're not there yet, but I thought I'd post a couple of recipes that I've done just recently I thought everyone would enjoy.  And they're totally non-fussing recipes. And since it's hotter than HADES, these are cool recipes that won't heat up your house.

I love to marinate everything so I use pineapple juice to marinate meat a lot and to cook with. I keep the little 6 oz can's on hand.

My marinade is:
1 6oz. can pineapple juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
Pour about 1/4 cup of this marinade into a small bowl and reserve it for your vegetables

I love to fancy up food and make it look pretty and kebabs are pretty to look at.

 I cut either pork or chicken in 1 inch cubes and let it sit in the marinade over night.
Save it you're going to need it.

Now using wooden skewers or metal ones, it's up to you. Put the cubed meat onto the skewers and rest them back into the marinade. If you leave tiny spaces between the cubes the meat cooks more quickly.

I like to use fresh yellow and zucchini squash, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and any other vegetable you can think of you can put on a stick.  You can even put asparagus in a tin foil package to put on the grill as well and use the same marinade.  I do rest my vegetable kebabs on aluminum foil because sometimes as the veggies get done they become so tender they'll fall off the skewer.   Now I brush olive oil very sparingly over my veggie kebabs with a pastry brush then  drizzle the marinade I saved over them as well. I'm very generous with it because I love the sweetness of the taste blending with the veggies.

Pop your meat kebabs on first and let them cook about 5 minutes.  Using the marinade they've rested in brush plenty of marinade over the meat. Then pop your vegetable kebabs on for the next 10 minutes until your meat is well done and the vegetables are tender. I keep brushing the marinade on every three minutes until they're done.  If you feel your meat needs a few more minutes take the veggies off and leave the meat on a few more minutes.

Take them off the grill put them on a platter and serve.

You can fix rice to go with your kebabs but my family seems thrilled with just the vegetables and some cheese and fruit for the entire meal.

Home made  Bruschetta 

I love Bruschetta because it is cool and fresh in the heat. I fix it a lot for lunch because I don't like to eat anything real heavy during the day.  This recipe is good for several days lunches or you can invite your friends and serve it.

You will need french or Italian bread. I LOVE SWEET ITALIAN bread so that's what I usually get but the long skinny french bread actually works better for Bruschetta because it's already crunchy. Pick out what you like.

6-8  Roma tomatoes. (They don't have a lot of seeds in them and juice so they're perfect for this.)

8-10 Basile leaves chopped up fine  ( today you can buy basile in a tube if you can't find it fresh in the produce department. I prefer the fresh basile because it gives the dish color and texture.

I tablespoon olive oil.

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic minced ( this too can be purchased in the produce section in a tube already minced and all you have to do is squeeze it out like toothpaste. It's just fine for my purposes purchased like that.   But since we grow our own garlic I very rarely have to buy garlic at the store. If you want to attempt growing your own, be sure to place it in an area you don't mind it spreading in because otherwise you will find your flower beds and yard taken over.)

Garlic Salt
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese


Put your tomatoes in a colander and pour boiling water over them. This will make it very easy to peal their skin off. 
Peal the tomatoes and take out the little round dimple where the stem would be. Dice up the tomatoes very fine and put them in a bowl. Chop up the Basile and add it. Add the minced garlic, olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper to suit you and set it aside to allow the flavors to combine.

Turn on the boiler.  Cut your bread into 1 inch thick slices, place them on a cookie sheet. Brush olive oil sparingly over the top of the slices. Put under the broiler and toast the bread. Take out flip it over and do the same on the other side but this time sprinkle with a tiny bit of garlic salt. ( I don't usually use the garlic salt but on one side.) Traditionally you would rub a clove of garlic on the bread but I'm all for expedience.

Leave the boiler on.

If you're not going to fix the whole loaf of bread for your family and you're only doing lunch you can store the bread you don't use  in a zip lock bag. Be sure to sqeeze out the air so it will stay nice.

 On each slice of bread. Put the tomato mixture, I use a slotted spoon so the extra juice will stay in the bowl.  Sprinkle with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese and pop back under the broiler just long enough for the cheese to melt. Take out and serve.

I recently fixed this for my mother and I for lunch and we each ate 3 slices of bread.  I had enough left over to have some for several days and even my husband and daughter came in and fixed some.

It's refreshing and light and most of all cool.

In honor of the holiday I'll be participating in a Indie-pendence day Blog Fest that will run from July 2 through the 4th. 

On Monday I'll be posting a review of Dance With Me by Hayden Rayburn.   
IF YOU'D LIKE TO GO CHECK OUT OTHER INDIE AUTHORS BEING RECOGNIZED IN THIS BLOG FEST HERE'S THE LINK:  INDIE-PENDENCE DAY BLOG BASH

Be sure to check back Monday for the review.

I hope you have a wonder 4th Of July. Eat healthy and be safe!!!
Teresa Reasor