Berry Delicious in Red, White and Blue

Fourth of July barbecues wouldn’t be complete without food in colors of red, white, and blue. If you are looking for food to go along with your patriotic décor, recipes for Deep Dish Strawberry Pie and Patriotic Salad may be just what you are looking for when it comes to filling out your holiday menu.  

Deep Dish Strawberry Pie is my favorite Fourth of July dessert. For those strawberry lovers in your family, this pie is made with four pounds of fresh strawberries. When filled to the brim and piled up high with strawberries, this pie is a tasty addition to any Fourth of July menu.

For the freshest and cheapest strawberries, there is nothing quite like picking them fresh from plants growing in your yard. However, if you decide to grow your own strawberry plants, make sure you protect them from and toddlers. Believe me, this is not a good combination. Not only have the deer been snacking on some of my plants, my 4-year old son recently decided that two of the plants were getting too long and needed a “trim.”  Unfortunately, that little “trim” turned into a full-blown buzz cut from which those plants have never quite recovered.

Although any size of strawberries will do, I used strawberries from Costco for creating the pie shown in the photo to the left. Like most things purchased at Costco, even the strawberries come in giant-sized quantities and sizes. If you don’t have time to shop around for the best prices on strawberries, a wholesale store like Costco is a sure bet for finding 4-pound containers priced at just $6.99 each. With the combined cost of the other ingredients at under a dollar, this deep-dish dessert will give you a lot of pie for your money.

For celebrating the red, white, and blue with a showy side, the Patriotic Salad in the photo on the left is a sure bet for giving your holiday table eye-popping appeal. With a cream cheese gelatin layer sandwiched between flavors of blueberry and strawberry, this salad will go along with just about any summer menu and is packed with delicious taste. Contrary to creating a triple-high bunk bed, this easy salad doesn’t require any hard labor. In fact, the hardest part of this salad is the thirty minutes of waiting time required for each layer to set.

Since the recipe for this Patriotic Salad calls for measurements that will feed a crowd, a large 4-quart glass bowl is needed for holding almost four and a half cups of berries and 11 cups of flavored gelatin. If you don’t have a big enough glass bowl and are looking to find one cheap, good places for finding large glass bowls at an economical price are discount stores like Marc’s. In fact, the heavy-duty glass bowl used for the Patriotic Salad recipe below was found in a clearance isle at Marc’s this past weekend for just over $3.

For smaller meals without the crowd, the Patriotic Salad below can be scaled down to create a much smaller salad.  Both the top and the bottom layer can be made in equal proportions using just one package of gelatin. By also cutting the cream cheese gelatin layer in half, you’ll have salad proportions perfect for most standard-sized salad molds or bundt pans.

With fresh taste resulting from seasonal berries, the Fourth of July recipes below are two of my favorites for creating tasty food with colorful texture and patriotic appeal. Not only will these recipes create food that will compliment your red, white, and blue décor, both are guaranteed to taste berry delicious.

 Deep Dish Strawberry Pie

4 lb. fresh strawberries, divided

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

½ cup water

One 9 in. baked pastry shell

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1. 1)    In a large bowl, mash enough berries to equal 3 cups.
2. 2)    In a saucepan, mix mashed berries, sugar, cornstarch, and water. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until mixture thickens and begins to gel. Remove from heat. Pour into a medium size bowl. Chill for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture is lukewarm.
3. 3)    Fold remaining berries into strawberry mixture. Pile into pastry shell. Chill for 3 hours.
4. 4)    Beat whipping cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Garnish pie with whipped cream.

Patriotic Salad for a Crowd

2 packages (3 oz. each) berry blue gelatin

3 cups boiling water, divided

4 cups cold water, divided

1 ½ cups fresh blueberries

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sugar

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 packages (3 oz. each) strawberry gelatin

3 cups sliced fresh strawberries

•  1)    In a large bowl, dissolve berry blue gelatin in 1 cup boiling water. Stir in 1 cup cold water. Add blueberries. Pour into large 4-quart glass bowl. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• 2)    Meanwhile, in a saucepan, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over 1 cup cold water. Let stand for 1 minute. Add cream and sugar. Cook and stir over low heat until gelatin and sugar are completely dissolved. Transfer to mixing bowl and cool to room temperature. Beat in cream cheese and vanilla. Spoon over the blue layer. Refrigerate until firm.
• 3)    In a large bowl, dissolve strawberry gelatin in remaining 2 cups hot water. Stir in remaining 2 cups cold water. Add sliced strawberries. Pour over cream cheese layer. Chill until set.