Food on the Fourth

 If we'd chosen our 4th Menu from my 1935 Children's Party book, our menu would have been as follows:

Cannon Cracker Sandwiches (cream cheese & jelly on white bread); Chicken & Lettuce Sandwiches; Celery & Radishes; Stuffed Eggs; Party Ice cream (homemade old school recipe); Fire Cracker Cakes (Birthday cupcakes w/ red frosting and a peppermint stick-hmmm....); and Red Lemonade, all in picnic boxes, which "if possible, should be in red, white and blue."

 Acutally, I wish I would have read this before the fourth, it has some fun ideas, maybe next year.  My mom however had a seriously delish spread and I picked a few ideas from Pinterest and magazines and of my own design.  The watermelon cut out stars and blueberries came from Pinterest, and with a little encouragement from Mark, I made my first watermelon bowl. 

 Using my garage sale find mini cupcake pan and mini cupcake holders I baked stars and used the bigger cupcakes for stripes. I used the Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix this time. It takes a whole small bottle of red food coloring to make red frosting by the way.  I used Pillsbury (dairy free) whipped frosting for the stripes and my frosting tool; and Betty Crocker cookie cream pouch with a mini attachment to frost the stars. 

 A sprinkle of red, white and blue and I had a hit on my hands!

 This is my mom's brilliant dessert: cut up white cake, blueberry pie filing, cut strawberries and freshly whipped cream in a jar.

 Some of us may have eaten the boys extras.  That would be me.

 Speaking of eating, this is the amazing mini formica vintage table my mom had for the boys table, and she found the super cute red children's folding chairs at The Farm Chicks this year.

 Another dessert perfect for the fourth; strawberry shortcake~served in my Martha Stewart vintage inspired hobnail dessert glasses.

 Since I was making it for the boys, it had to be gluten (wheat) free, as well as dairy and egg free. (My oldest son has a laundry list of severe food allergies).  I went back to The Food Allergy News Cookbook that I've had since he was a baby and used the shortcake recipe. 

 This cookbook has been my security blanket and was the only way I was able to make desserts and meals and snacks for Haden for years, until new brands and mixes began appearing on the shelves.  I have also decided it's time to expand my skills and invest in a new gluten-free baking cookbook this summer.

 In the meantime, it was fun to use my vintage biscuit cutters and my indispensable roller tool I found at Williams Sonoma.  My mom recommended it and I have had much better experiences rolling out gluten free doughs ever since.  The smaller size allows me to exert the pressure needed to manipulate the much less elastic (gluten-less) dough around.

 Ahh, sweet.  I didn't have my soy-whip on hand since previously Haden said he didn't like it.  But the night I made it he said that he wanted to have the whip back in his life.

 I still got a thumbs up from him.

 For the fourth I had apparently said I would make a blueberry pie.  So, using my favorite Gluten Free Pantry perfect pie crust mix, I did just that.  I sub. in Ener-g brand Egg Replacer, and patched much of the bottom crust dough by hand.  Using the scalloped pastry dough cutter cleverly stored on the back of my roller tool, I cut stripes and used my vintage star cutter to complete my blueberry vision.  For the yummy filling I used 6 cups of defrosted blueberries, a cup (and a half) of sugar and Tapioca.  This amazing pie received rave reviews from wheat eaters as well as my sweet boy.

 Our fourth wouldn't be complete without smore's~the boys got Ener-g brand cinnamon-sugar crackers, dairy free Enjoy Life chocolate and a choice of flat, star and huge size marshmallows alike.

 Yea for the fourth of July!!

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of yumminess.

~Hollie Joy