Love 4th Of July

Love love love the 4th of July... It's my very favorite time to gather with family and friends for good food, good wine, and good fun!

Here is a fun recipe from myrecipes.com. Soo festive and very yummy, although mine didn't look exactly like the photo (wink wink).

Old Glory Cherry-Blueberry Pie

Ingredients

• 5 cups fresh sweet, dark cherries, rinsed and pitted, or frozen pitted cherries (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained, or frozen blueberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 Pie pastries
  
• 2 teaspoons butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, mix cherries with 2 tablespoons lemon juice. In a smaller bowl, mix blueberries with remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Combine sugar and cornstarch; gently stir 1 cup of the mixture into cherries and 1/4 cup into blueberries.

2. Spoon cherry mixture over 3/4 of the pastry in pan, leaving 1 quadrant free. Spoon blueberry mixture into unfilled area. Scatter butter evenly over fruit.

3. Top filling with stars and stripes for flag pastry. Set pie in a foil-lined 13- by 17-inch baking pan.

4. Bake on the bottom rack of a 400° regular or convection oven until fruit is bubbling in the center and pastry is well browned, about 1 hour. If pastry edges brown too quickly (check after 40 minutes), cover loosely with foil.

5. Let pie cool on a rack at least 3 hours; let stand at room temperature up to 8 hours. Cut into wedges and serve with ice cream, if desired.

The best wine for summer time is always Sangria (That's American, right?!). Here's another great recipe from myrecipes.com.

Red Wine Sangria


Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 (750-milliliter) bottles dry red wine
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup peach nectar*
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur
• 2 to 3 cups club soda, chilled
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 lime, thinly sliced
• 1 orange, thinly sliced
• 1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced

Preparation

1. Bring sugar and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let stand 10 minutes.

2. Combine sugar mixture, red wine, and next 3 ingredients in a large container; cover and chill 4 hours. Stir in club soda and next 4 ingredients just before serving. Serve over ice, if desired.

*1/2 cup orange juice may be substituted.

Try them out and let me know what you think.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!