Celebrating the 4th Fun and Recipes

     We celebrated the 4th on Sunday the 3rd. It worked out to be the best day for a light ranch work day for Nikki's hubby. Turn out was pretty good. Nikki , her hubby, mother in law and 2 kids, Nikki's grandparents then hubby and I. It has been a long time since I had a gathering in this house that wasn't a sit down dinner at the table. It was way way too hot with 90*+ and a heat index even worse. So we had a inside cook out picnic! Son in Law cooked the burgers for us thank goodness. It was 75* in the house which was good for everyone over 50 which was about 6 of us. LOL Allexcia and family didn't attend they had too many things going on in Arkansas. They missed some good fun!
       We did brave the heat about 7p? with watching the kiddy fireworks in chairs out in the yard. It was so fun the watch the kids. SIL would light a fountain off and the boy would run as fast as he could to his chair maybe 10? feet away hop in and watch. Then they would do some snakes and he and his little/ big sister would get up close and watch. They had some roman candles and it was still way too much light to see good and enjoy but the kids didn't know that. So funny, it took a few tries to get them to realize they had to put their head back and look straight up into the air to actually SEE the fireworks! Then you saw the grandson looking head back, straight up trying to keep his balance walking around.  All was good except the occasional trip toward the barn after the little granddaughter who spotted the cat and went on the prowl for the cat! SIL brought the cat and her back up to the group and that worked a few minutes. She was carrying the cat around anyway she could by the tummy, around the neck, one arm.... he had to rescue the good natured cat. LOL
So Ok!  I cooked / fixed all day Saturday after making a walmart run. Lot's of veggie prep work and recipe gathering.
    I had a new chocolate cupcake recipe to try.... It wasn't what I was looking for so NEXT recipe to try. ( I would love a nice pretty hostess cupcake recipe) It was funny I wanted to put marshmallow cream in the middle. So I poked a hole in it and piped in some Marshmallow. I filled like I do anything else.... except the marshmallow didn't act like anything else. LOL It kept growing and expanding! Out the hole and onto the top of the cupcake! So ok ... that's when you dip the back of a spoon in water pipe a dab more marshmallow on top and spread it like a frosting. Wasn't pretty, for sure sticky but it worked good enough. I learned not to do it like that again. LOL
   We had some Angus burgers from Walmart. Preshaped and ready to go. I looked at the picture online I saw 4 patties. So I ordered 2 packages. I thought man these are expensive at about almost $20 a package. I get them home and there were 12 patties in each package! So hubby is going to be enjoying some good hamburgers for a little while! I made me a turkey burger and had it ready to go on it's own in a package for the grill. Naturally the burgers were a hit. The peach cobbler didn't make it since I ran out of time and energy. Watermelon was on ice but it didn't get cut either.
    Nikki got lots of left over precut veggies I didn't put in recipes and a bunch of other left overs hubby isn't about to even think about eating!

Love
Ranchmama

  I made 2 different potato salads. I don't have any favorite recipes. Nikki said she liked chunky recipes so I picked a chunky one out. The other was supposed to be a prize winning recipe with good reviews it was creamy.
       This is the chunky version picture. Mine had more green showing up in it compared to the recipe picture.

    Old Fashioned Potato Salad
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16729/old-fashioned-potato-salad/


Ingredients
    5 potatoes
    3 eggs
    1 cup chopped celery
    ½ cup chopped onion
    ½ cup sweet pickle relish
    ¼ cup mayonnaise
    1 tablespoon prepared mustard
    ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
    ¼ teaspoon celery salt
    ground black pepper to taste

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Grandma’s Contest-Winning Potato Salad
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/contest-winning-grandma-s-potato-salad
Now this one I made because it just had some weird to me ingredients. Brown sugar and radishes! This was a ultra creamy recipe with a little too much creamy in general for me. So I would cut down on the sauce or add more potatoes maybe. I was surprised. I cut the radishes very thin so it may not overwhelm the flavors. Turned out surprisingly good flavor! The radish you could taste just a hint enough for a little zing.
**** I cut this recipe in half and STILL had a gallon of salad!***

Ingredients 10 lbs. potatoes, cooked, peeled, cubed 12 hard-boiled large eggs, chopped 4 celery ribs, chopped 5 radishes, sliced 1 medium onion, chopped 1/3 cup chopped green pepper ( I used red for more color it needed it! ) Salt and pepper to taste

6 cups mayonnaise 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 Tbsp. sugar 1-1/2 tsps. vanilla extract 1/2 tsp.prepared mustard 1/2 cup milk Leaf lettuce Paprika Minced fresh parsley

    We also had cowboy caviar I left out the avocado's because they turn brown to quick. I used 1/2 to 3/4 Cup Zesty Italian Dressing for the dressing. I guess you could also use your favorite salsa. This is another large recipe.

Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients
    FOR THE SALSA:
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
15 oz. Can Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
1 Can shoe peg corn drained and rinsed  Or 2 ears Corn,
4 -5 Roma tomatoes,seeds removed and diced  
2-3 diced Avocado ripe but still firm
4 green onions,sliced thin or 1/2 thinly sliced onion
½ bunch cilantro
1-2 Limes
½ whole Green Pepper, Diced
½ whole Red Pepper, Diced
2 cloves Garlic, Minced

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Now this looks like a mess but believe me it is worth it! So easy and it was a real hit with folks! I wasn't supposed to eat any but I had a few bites anyway it was sooo good! Here it is 4 am and I am still itching and wheezing. LOL
( marshmallow and strawberry's and cream cheese are all on the no no allergy list for me)

**** You could use any fruit but this a good combo. Only problem I had was the strawberries made it juicy overnight. I would have everything cold and ready in the fridge and mix it all together the next day for better flavor. ******

Grape Salad with Strawberries
http://cookinglifetothefullest.com/grape-salad-with-strawberries/

 

Ingredients
    2 lb grapes , washed and de-stemmed
    1 pint strawberries , washed and stem removed
    1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
    1 (8 oz) package cream cheese , softened
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This is similar to what I had except I had a big red strawberry on top. They looked good but for some reason the strawberry jello I had on the bottom didn't jell. Nikki said she has been having a problem with Jello brand not gelling also. So nice to know it wasn't my mistake. I have been hearing through all this food shortages etc. that a lot of products are either to old or not in good shape when bought at the store. Maybe this is another one of those.
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The biggest hit with the kids was the frozen banana pops with chocolate crackle topping covering it. Funny... I walked outside to watch some kiddy fireworks and I could see the grand kids covered, in what looked like dirt! Then I looked at Nikki and she had her fair share of dirt on her white T shirt she was wearing.... She said no more chocolate covered frozen banana pops! They were too messy! LOL Turns out I sent home the rest of them in a bag to put in her freezer. She said they can eat them outside and hose off when done.