Monday, July 8, 2013

Fourth of July Extravaganza

One of my very favorite holidays is the 4th of July.  It's so much fun to have friends and family together to celebrate the birthday of our precious country.  

Today, I wanted to share with you a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration that we had here at our home in Ft. Myers, FL.   I am so sad that the old fashioned way we used to celebrate when I was a child is not happening as much in the lives of our children, so I decided to try to relive that experience as well as creating new memories and traditions today.  The Fourth of July means so much to me because of what it represents...a free Country.  Our forefathers wanted us to appreciate and celebrate our freedom, our roots and our country.  Thank God we are free and that we live in the greatest place in the world.  

Thanks to some of our great friends for sharing the vision with us to have this amazing party on the fourth.  It was a great day!
There were prizes for the best dessert and the best side dish.
First place for dessert went to Jeremy Dearinger for a Red, White and Blue Cake
decorated by his lovely wife, Teresa.  First place for side dish was Andrea Kinney
for her famous Pasta Salad.
Yep, it's the Fabre Home 4th of July Celebration, 2013.


These Red, White and Blue Deviled Eggs were heavenly.
I boiled two dozen eggs and when they were cool, peeled them
and soaked them for 15 minutes in cold water that had red food
coloring and blue food coloring.  (Separate of course)  Cut them
into two pieces with a zig zag cutter that I again got from Pampered
Chef.  Scoop out the center and I add mayonaise, salt, pepper,
garlic powder, onion powder, sweet pickle relish and a tad of
yellow mustard.  Then I put my mixture in a pastry bag with a
wide tip and fill my eggs.  I sprinkled them with Red and Blue
sugar crystals.  They were so pretty.  

Goody bags for the kids.  
These Strawberry and Berry Blue Jello Jigglers were delicious
and so easy to make.  Just use 4 packages of Jello and 2 1/2 cups
of boiling water and put in a 9 x 13 pan.  When  jelled, cut with
a small heart cookie cutter.  I got mine from Pampered Chef.
I adore my Cricut Machine.  It's so easy to make banners
and signs.  This one for my "Cold Drink" station was so
colorful and festive.  Everyone loved it.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries...the best this season.

We had the sweetest watermellon...oh my!
Secora was a doll.
Neveah, Bekka and Krysta flying the
R, W & B.
Yummy Pretzel!  It's Swim Time.
Krysta in her Tye Dye!!
First Place Adult in Best Patriotic Outfit.
Teresa, First place for Best Hat.  She was all decked
out from head to toe.
Grandma Shirley and Pastor Bob enjoying the day.
Time for the horseshoe tourney.
Jeremy, and Andrea and Brian Kinney having
a cold drink.
Red, White and Blue Rice Krispies Treats.  Just make the treats
and cut them with a star cookie cutter.  Before you cut them and
while they are still hot, sprinkle rows of color on them.  Put a
stick in them and wrap them individually.  They will be loved.
These wreaths are so easy to make and make
a wonderful front door welcome.  You can easily
get directions on line to use the mesh-net.
Teresa, Andrea & Krysta...all first place winners.

My front yard.  Stars and Stripes forever.  
My vintage blue Ball Jars make great holders
for flags, flowers or whatever you want to
decorate your tables with.
My dinning room table.
These are Dollar Tree Lanterns.  Yep, $1.00 each.
The Cricut machine makes great rosettes and
shapes and I just added a stick wrapped in
patriotic ribbon and a center cupcake topper that
I purchased at Hobby Lobby.

It's not a holiday at our house without chocolate dipped and
decorated pretzel rods.  they are displayed in a simple clay pot
with cut out decorations.
The Winning Cake by the Dearingers
Becky and Teresa
You can see that we had a wonderful day of fun, food and lots of good fellowship.  Decorations are simple and inexpensive.  It's great to have a potluck so everyone helps out.  It also gives you a great variety of food and flavors.  I think one of the most fun things we did was the fashion show of patriotic outfits and hats.  Can't wait for next year to celebrate once again.

4 comments:

  1. You throw the most fantastic celebrations! Everything looks so festive fun, and beautiful, the only thing missing is me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now THAT'S a party! Wow wow wow! You always do things so beautifully Debbie and the food looks delish. Those deviled eggs blew me away. I know everyone who attended had the time of their life!! Your photos are delightful!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Debbie,
    I'm Ellie, one of the editors of Taste of Home magazine. We're trying to get in touch with you about your Turkey and Stuffing Lasagna -- we love it! Please email me as soon as you have a moment at ellie.martincliffe [at] rd [dot] com.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was the funnest party! I was so glad to be a part of it!!

    ReplyDelete

Strawberry Heaven

“The “Debbie” recipe – the recipe that is authentically me.
My absolute favorite dessert recipe.”
All I ever talk about loving is strawberries. I am to strawberries as Paula Deen is to potatoes and butter.
When thinking about my absolute favorite dessert, it had to combine cheesecake, strawberries, and chocolate. Chocolate covered strawberries to be exact!!! So I developed a pie that features all my weaknesses. I love a regular pie crust instead of graham cracker so I have used pie crust, topped with a luscious layer of Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Cheesecake Filling, followed by 1 pound of ripe, juicy strawberries enveloped in strawberry glaze topped with creamy, dreamy Cool Whip, and followed by 6 GIANT chocolate covered strawberries. This pie would be a strawberry lovers’ most decadent dream. It is mine…now you know what I dream about.

Strawberry Heaven
Prep time: 50 minutes Cook time: 9 minutes
Serves 6 - 8
1 refrigerated pie crust
1 ½ c. Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Cheesecake Filling
2 lbs. of strawberries
14 oz. strawberry pie glaze
8 oz Cool Whip
¾ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place pie crust in pie pan and flute edges. Bake at 450 degrees for 9 minutes.
3. Cool pie crust at room temperature for 10 minutes and follow in freezer for 10 minutes to cool quickly.
4. While pie crust is cooking and cooling, prepare other ingredients beginning with strawberries. Wash strawberries, core, and slice in half. Save 6 LARGE strawberries for top of pie. Eat a few and enjoy them while you are working so hard. Save enough for the pie.
5. Melt chocolate chips in microwave for approximately 1 minute stirring every 20 seconds. Dip 6 large strawberries in chocolate about ¾ of the way up the strawberry. Place a piece of parchment paper on a plate and cool the strawberries on the paper in the freezer.
6. After the pie crust comes out of the freezer, spread the cheesecake filling directly on top of crust.
7. Place strawberries directly on top of cheesecake and pour strawberry glaze over strawberries.
8. Pipe Cool Whip over strawberries and glaze and top with chocolate covered strawberries. Place in freezer for approximately 15 minutes and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Strawberry Heaven

Strawberry Heaven
This pie is for the true Strawbery ADDICT and lover.

Mounds of Joy Whipped Pie

Using My Blog

This blog is intended to show you some wonderful recipes and highlight what is happening in the food world. In order to see the recipe demonstrated that is pictured. Click on the photo and you will get to see just how you can make this in your own kitchen.

Cinco de Mayo Layered Black Bean Dip