Red, White, & Pretzel

Happy 4th of July! [although, by the time I publish this I'm pretty sure it'll be the 5th... oh well, puppies to play with, food to grill, papers to write (ick!)]

So this will be a post of mostly pictures and few words.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad  
Adapted from: Meemaw

• 2 c. pretzels, crushed
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 2 t. sugar
• 8 oz. whipped topping (I used lite)
• 8 oz. cream cheese (again, light), softened
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 6 oz. strawberry jello mix
• 2 c. water, boiling
• 1 lb strawberries, chopped

Meemaw's suggestion - If you start with the jello mix, it'll give it a little extra time to set.  So of course, I followed my grandmother's advice.

Pour in the 2 c. boiling water, stir.

Add strawberries.  Stir again.  Let sit in fridge while you get going on all the other deliciousness. :o)

Beat cream cheese and sugar until it's nice and smooth.  Fold in whipped topping, then set aside.  It's pretty tasty, so I'd recommend licking the beaters.  It's a good idea, trust me.  :o)

Crush 2 cups of pretzels (probbbbably more crushed that what I did...) and mix until coated with melted butter.

Now, normally this goes into a 9x12" pan.  I wanted to try something a bit different, so I put them in cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.  Press the pretzel mixture down.  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 400*F.

Next, spoon on some of the whipped topping mix.

Last, spoon on a bit of the strawberry mix.  You may want to eat one right away, but it's not a good idea.  You should stick them in the fridge and wait a bit.  :o)

That way they can set instead of becoming a goopey puddle of red, white, & pretzel.  :op

So, like any good 4th of July, we grilled out for dinner.  While making dinner, I enjoyed one of these guys.

A rhubarb mojito.  Yum yum yum!  I found the recipe on Not Without Salt and sorta kinda followed it.  I don't normally like mix drinks because they're too sweet, but this was pretty awesome.  It's kind of nice that you can control the amount of sugar you put into the rhubarb syrup.

 Grill Master Dad.

The spread.  Strawberry jello salad, blue cheese and red potato salad, grilled zucchini, and a black n blue buffalo burger with roasted red pepper.

Let's look at it from above shall we.

Surprise!  I put some blue cheese in the middle of the burger!  Nummmmm!

Don't have blackening seasoning?  Neither did I.  BUT I bet you have the stuff in your spice cabinet/shelf/nook to make it too!  Ingredients in the picture below.  It's mostly equal parts paprika (plus a pinch or two more), onion powder, and garlic powder, then about half the amount of the rest of the ingredients.

Augie inhaled (seriously, imagine the strongest vacuum cleaner and times that by 1000) my jello cupcake liner.

I love this one, because Sawyer and Rudder look uber jealous.  Nobody beats out Augie for food, nobody.

The day was ended with roasting marshmallows over a fire on the deck (in a fire pit of course) to make s'mores!  Gosh, I don't remember the last time I had s'mores...  I do remember the last time I had them at my parents house...  New Year's Eve 2005.  Probably -20*F outside.  Nice idea mom, but gosh, that was way way way too cold!

Hope you had a good 4th! :o)