Happy Fourth of July

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, we thought we would share some interesting ideas to help make the holiday festive. The following recipes are easy to make and are great treats to take to a neighborhood or family party. Enjoy.

POP ROCK MARSHMALLOW

         

   What you will need: Marshmallows, straws/lollipop sticks, light corn syrup, paint brush, Pop Rocks, and a Styrofoam block.

What to do:  Use the straw or lollipop stick to hold the marshmallow so it looks like a sucker. Then paint a thin layer of the light corn syrup on the marshmallow. Use the Pop Rocks to coat the marshmallow and then place it in the Styrofoam box for it to dry.

FIRECRACKER POPCORN

            What you will need: 1 bag of popcorn, 1 bag of Red, White and Blue M&Ms, 4 packets Pop Rocks,  ½ cup butter, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1 cup mini marshmallows.

What to do:  Pop the popcorn and set it aside in a large bowl. In a medium-sized sauce pan, melt butter, marshmallows and brown sugar over medium-high heat. Be sure to stir the entire time to prevent it from burning. Once melted, the concoction will turn into a thick sauce. Immediately pour over popcorn and gently stir until the popcorn is completely covered. Finally add the M&Ms and the packets of Pop Rocks and continue to stir them in until everything is evenly distributed. It is best served once it has sat a few hours.

PATRIOT BARK

            What you will need: Oreo cookies, pretzels, white chocolate, Red, White and Blue M&Ms and sprinkles, a cookie sheet, and parchment paper.

What to do:  Crush roughly 12 Oreo cookies and about 3-4 handfuls of pretzels and spread the crumbs across the cookies sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate and pour over the cookies and pretzels. Before the chocolate sets, add red, white, and blue sprinkles and M&Ms. Let it harden for a few hours, break into pieces, and enjoy.

LAYERED DRINK

Looking for a festive way to wash down all these great snacks? You can layer drinks in red, white, and blue by utilizing different sugar contents to ensure that the liquids do not mix. For example, Ocean Spray Cran-Apple juice has 40g of sugar so make this the bottom layer. For the white layer, you can use SoBe Pina Colada which has 26g of sugar. Finally, top off your drink with the blue layer by using blue Gatorade with only 5g of sugar. Add ice and your beverage is ready to serve.