Red, White, & Blue Pizzas

Happy 4th of July!  I know it's kind of last-minute, but I wanted to share the fun patriotic pizzas we had for dinner tonight.  I decided to try making red, white, and blue pizzas.  I think they turned out pretty well!  These aren't so much recipes as they are ideas.

My patriotic mise en place.

Red, White, and Blue Pizza #1

Ingredients:

Purple potatoes

Pizza dough

Jarred alfredo sauce

Pizza seasoning

Grape tomatoes, sliced

Mozzarella pearls

Shredded mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.  Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Boil until tender.  Drain.

Meanwhile, spread pizza dough out on pizza pan.  Bake for 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown.  Remove from oven and spread with alfredo sauce.  Sprinkle with pizza seasoning.  Run potatoes under cold water to cool them down a bit, then slice.  Season with salt and put them on the pizza.  Place tomato slices and mozzarella pearls on pizza.  Top with a small amount of shredded mozzarella.

Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.  Slice and serve.

Red, White, and Blue Pizza #2

Ingredients:
Purple potatoes
Pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Pepperoni slices
Mozzarella pearls
Shredded mozzarella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.  Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Boil until tender.  Drain.

Meanwhile, spread pizza dough out on pizza pan.  Bake for 10 minutes or until just beginning to brown.  Remove from oven and spread with pizza sauce.  Run potatoes under cold water to cool them down a bit, then slice.  Season with salt and put them on the pizza.  Place pepperoni and mozzrella pearls on pizza.  Top with small amount of shredded mozzarella.

Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.  Slice and serve.

Yes, technically the potatoes are purple, but they are a really blue kind of purple and they look pretty blue next to the red and the white.  And they are the closest thing to blue you will find that will go on a pizza!

My kids don't really like potatoes, but they still liked these pizzas.  They loved how patriotic they were.

I hope you have a safe and fun Fourth of July!

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Red, White, and Blue Floats

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I hope you all have fun celebrating today.  Here's a great little treat that would be super fun to make today.  It's nothing complicated; just a little twist on an old classic.  Make an ice cream float with blue soda, white ice cream, and red strawberry syrup.

Red, White, and Blue Floats

Ingredients:
Vanilla ice cream
Mountain Dew Voltage soda (the blue one)
Strawberry or raspberry ice cream topping

Directions:
Put ice cream in glass.  Fill up glass with blue Mountain Dew.  Drizzle strawberry syrup on top.  Serve immediately.

Makes as much as you want.

Not really a recipe, but I thought it was a cute idea for the Fourth, or any other patriotic holiday.  The blue color didn't show up as much as I was expecting, and I think it's because the ice cream was soft.  It kind of mixed together with the soda when I poured it in.  So make sure your ice cream is frozen really hard for this. It was still yummy though!

Special thanks to my dad who suggested using his vintage bicentennial glass for this festive float! "200 years of people feelin' free" Gotta love it!

Enjoy the holiday!

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Patriotic Poke Cake

Happy Fourth of July!! I hope you all get to enjoy the day, celebrating in your favorite way.  If you have been invited to a cook-out or get-together of some type, and haven't yet figured out what to bring, this cake is a great choice.  I saw a patriotic poke cake over at Love Bakes Good Cakes, and I thought it was a great idea.  I love poke cakes, but it had been a while since I had a good ol' jello one.  That recipe called for blue frosting, but I care for regular frosting on a light and fruity poke cake like this.  The only topping I ever had on a jello poke cake was Cool Whip, so I thought, "Why not do blue Cool Whip?"  It was perfect.


Patriotic Poke Cake

Ingredients:
1 box (18 oz.) white cake mix 
Eggs, oil, and water called for on cake mix box
2 cups boiling water
2 (3 oz.) boxes cherry jello
1 container Cool Whip
Blue food coloring

Directions:
Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using a 9x13” cake pan. Let cool. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, pokes holes in the cake every ½” to 1”. 

Combine the jello and the boiling water. Stir briskly for 2 minutes or until the jello is dissolved. Pour over the cake evenly. Cover and refrigerate cake for 2-4 hours or until jello is set.

Stir blue food coloring into the Cool Whip until you get the desired shade of blue.  Spread Cool Whip on top of cake.  Cut and serve.

Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Makes 16 servings.

You could probably use raspberry or strawberry jello, but I thought cherry would be the reddest red.  I used Wilton's Royal Blue gel food coloring for the topping.  The Cool Whip really is a great topping for this cake.  It keeps it light and airy, which makes it a perfect summertime dessert.

Happy Fourth of July!!

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Red, White, and Blueberry Muffins

Happy Fourth of July weekend!  Here is a festive muffin recipe for you!  I got it from Betty Crocker.


Red, White, and Blueberry Muffins


1 box Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix
¾ cup milk (I use soy)
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
¾ cup dried cherries or cranberries
Raw sugar


Directions:
Heat oven to 425º. Place paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or grease bottoms only of muffin cups.


Drain blueberries (from muffin mix); rinse and set aside. In medium bowl, stir muffin mix, milk, oil, eggs, and cherries just until blended. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter among muffin cups (each about three-fourths full).  Sprinkle tops with raw sugar.


Bake 17 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool 3 to 4 minutes; remove from pan. 


Makes 12 muffins.

These are super easy muffins to make since they use a mix.  I had never seen canned blueberries before; but it makes them nice and moist inside the muffins.  Make sure you rinse and drain them really well, or you will have muffins with purple streaks running through them.  In fact, after I added the blueberries, I didn't really stir them in.  I dumped them in then went straight to scooping the batter into the muffin tins.  They'll distribute okay that way.

The original recipe called for dried cranberries but I used cherries instead.  Since I live in Michigan, I figured why not support the local industry? :)  It also called for making a glaze to drizzle over the top, but I'm not a big fan of glazes or icings on muffins; it makes them too much like cupcakes to me.  So I just did my traditional raw sugar topping on these.

I tried one of these, but probably won't be eating any of the rest because, unfortunately, I don't like blueberries.  :(  I know, everyone loves them and they are super healthy, but I just don't like the flavor.  Luckily, my mom is visiting this weekend so that will help them go faster!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

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