With 4th of July less than a week away, we thought we would share our favorite 4th of July recipes. Because this was such a huge hit last year, we thought we would repost again for this American holiday!

Not only is this a patriotic holiday, it can also be one of the hottest holidays of the year. So, this year in 2022, we thought we would share a 4th of July smoothie for kids and adults.

This recipe makes 4 servings

1 cup fresh blackberries or blueberries or more, to taste

5 large strawberries, hulled and halved

1 large banana

⅓ cup orange juice

2 cups crushed ice

1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste

12 fresh blackberries

Place 1 cup blackberries or blueberries, strawberries, banana, orange juice, and ice into a blender in that order, and blend on high speed until smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Pour into 4 glasses and top each serving with 3 blackberries or blueberries for garnish.

We hope this holiday bring together lots of your favorites: kids, grandkids, friends, fun, fireworks and yummy food.

Stay safe everyone and God Bless America!

BBQ Ribs & BBQ Sauce (Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:

5 lbs Baby back ribs (4 racks) or St. Louis ribs (2 racks)

Kosher salt and ground pepper

1 recipe BC Barbeque Sauce (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Place the ribs on the sheet pan meat-side up and sprinkle them with 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Pour the BC barbeque sauce generously on each rack and cover the ribs loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 1/2 hours for baby backs and 1 3/4 hours for St. Louis ribs, until the meat is very tender when tested with a fork. As soon as the ribs are out of the oven, spread them generously with additional barbeque sauce. Grill right away or refrigerate to grill later.

About 40 minutes before you want to serve, heat a gas grill to medium high heat. Place the ribs on the grill ribs-side down, put the lid on top and grill for 5 minutes. Turn the ribs meat-side down, put the lid back on and grill for another 4-5 minutes. Place on a cutting board and cover tightly with aluminum foil and allow the ribs to rest for 10 minutes. Cut into ribs and serve hot with extra bbq sauce on the side.

BC Barbeque Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 cup (10 oz.) tomato paste

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup honey

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 cup (8 oz.) hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1/2 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onions and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not browned.

Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the tomato paste, vinegar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili powder, cumin and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Use immediately to pour into a container and refrigerate for several weeks.

4th of July Firecracker Hot Dogs

(from Handmade in the Heartland)

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated breadstick dough (I had a hard time finding this so I just got refrigerated bread dough and used my pizza cutter to cut strips)

2 pkgs. of hot dogs (16)

16 thick slices colby cheese

16 skewers

Cooking Directions:

First take your skewers and stick them all the way through your hot dogs leaving about an inch and a half exposed out of the top of each hot dog. Then take a piece of breadstick dough and carefully wrap it around the hot dog until you get to the top. Place the wrapped dogs on a silpat (non stick baking liner) or parchment paper and bake according to the package directions. It took about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the hot dogs are cooking, take out your cheese slices. The key to this step is to go to your grocers deli counter and ask for them to slice your pieces of cheese that are 1/4″-3/8″ thick. Then using a small cookie cutter, cut out your stars.

After your hot dogs have cooled for 2-3 minutes, stick the star through the skewer at the top.

You can put them into a pail with a styrofoam ball hidden by crinkly papers to display them or layer them on top of each other on a plate.

xoxoxoxoxo

Gigi Susie

Fourth of July Popsicles

The fourth of July brings memories of backyard bar-b-ques, swimming in the pool, and of course, fireworks. This year it is noticeably hot in the state of Arizona as it is elsewhere in the country. One way to cool off is with yummy, easy-to-make popsicles. They are so delicious the adults will be competing with the kids to grab this ice-cold treat.

To start, you will need popsicle molds. I recommend Miaowoof, I purchased mine on Amazon. I really like these molds; they are BPA-free, ensuring the health and safety of your family.

The popsicles are three layers, tri-colored, with lemonade as the base ingredient. You can purchase the lemonade premade or use my easy recipe.

LEMONADE

Six lemons freshly squeezed

simple syrup (1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water heated until sugar

dissolves

7 cups of water

Add all ingredients together for a simple, lovely lemonade.

TRI-COLORED POPSICLES

Red Layer:

1/3 cup of lemonade

1 1/4 cup sliced strawberries

1/3 cup of vanilla ice cream

red food coloring

White Layer:

1/3 cup of lemonade

1/3 cup of vanilla ice cream

Blue Layer:

1/3 cup of lemonade

1/3 cup of fresh blueberries

1/3 cup of ice cream

Blue food coloring

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a blender, combine the ingredients for the first layer, adding the food color last. Pour into molds one-third of the way full and freeze for one hour.

In a blender, combine the ingredients for the second layer and fill molds two-thirds full, and freeze for one hour.

In a blender, combine the ingredients for the last layer adding the food coloring last. Place a stick in the mold as it begins to firm. Freeze for five hours or overnight.

Proud To Be An American,

Gigi Lori

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Nelson Mandella

Creamy Coleslaw

This coleslaw is my family’s favorite summer side dish. I used to hate coleslaw because it was always watery and flavorless (think KFC). Well even people who normally don’t like coleslaw will like this! I found this recipe years ago in a low-carb cookbook and now have it memorized. It is Keto Friendly, gluten-free and sugar-free and yet, still tastes tangy and rich. It will go great with your Independence Day BBQ, burgers, and hotdogs.

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard (Don’t worry if you have mustard haters. They won’t taste it.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 packet artificial sweetener (like Splenda, Truvia, or Pyure)

1 bag (or more) shredded coleslaw mix (from the produce section by the bagged salads) OR you can shred your own cabbage.

Stir the first six ingredients together thoroughly and combine with the coleslaw mix or approximately one head of shredded cabbage. Stir in a little dressing at a time to get it to the desired consistency. Even though we like ours really wet, this recipe makes a little over a cup of dressing, so you may have some left if you only use one bag of coleslaw mix. You can always add more coleslaw mix and use all of the dressing.

Tip: I use a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup for mixing the dressing. That way, I can measure the mayo and sour cream right into the cup and use the spout for pouring the dressing into the coleslaw mix.

(Serves 6 to 12 depending how much coleslaw mix or cabbage you use)

Nana Alison

4th of July~ American Flag Fruit Platter

This is the perfect fruit platter to serve at your 4th of July get-together! Not only is it super easy to assemble, allowing the grandkids to help out, it’s festive and everyone will enjoy the fruit, making it perfect for both kids and adults!

· Strawberries cut into pieces or you can use Watermelon

· Blueberries

· Flipz White Chocolate Covered Pretzels or if you prefer Trader Joe’s Yogurt Covered Pretzels

Originally Published on https://www.gigiconnection.com/

Gigi Connection Grandparenting

With decades of friendship between us, we aim to empower and encourage women of all ages as we share, from our hearts, topics relating to health, beauty, fashion, reading, cooking, faith in God, travel and the joys of aging gracefully as we live life with our friends, family and adoring grandchildren.

Our greatest hope is that with almost 200 collective years of marriage wisdom, 20 grandchildren between us (newborn-12 years of age) and friendships lasting since 1989, our blog encourages you in some way in your friendships, your relationships, your faith, your self and in this wonderful journey called grandparenting.