Independence Day

 

God Bless America!

 

American Flag Cheese Tray

 

Credit

Meat

• • 1 Pepperoni meat stick, Large
• • 1 Bag Pre-sliced pepperoni

Produce

• • 1 Carton Blueberries
• • 1 Carton Cherry tomatoes
• • 1 Carton Raspberries (you could use strawberries)
• • 3 Red bell peppers

Nuts & Seeds

• • 1 Bag Almonds
• • 1 Bag Macadamia nuts (you could use peanuts or cashews)

Dairy

• • 1 Package Pre-sliced havarti cheese (any cheese that's white)
• • 1 Pre-sliced mozzarella
• • 1 Package Pre-sliced white cheddar cheese

I saw this on Pinterest and it is beautiful! It is easy too!

you can make so many substitutions to tweak it to your liking.

Gluten Free, Keto Friendly! yummy and cute!

And Patriotic to boot! Great for the upcoming July 4th!

Credit

No Bake Summer Berry Icebox Cake

I ran across this brilliant idea while visiting cakescottage.com and thought it was a lovely idea with July 4th coming up soon!

No Bake Summer Berry Icebox Cake

 

CREDIT

This is a beautiful cake that would grace any table for a Patriotic holiday!

Author: CakesCottage

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• 19 oz graham crackers
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 (3.4 oz) packages Vanilla Instant Pudding
• 2-1/2 cups cold milk
• 12 oz Cool whip (or homemade whipped cream)
• 3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 oz white chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Beat cream cheese and dry pudding mixes in large bowl with mixer until blended.
2. Gradually beat in milk.
3. Gently stir in Cool Whip or homemade whipped cream, reserving ½ cup.
4. Spread a thin layer of cool whip in a 9x13 pan just to coat the bottom.
5. Layer 5 graham crackers across the center of the pan, then 2 more, breaking them as needed to fit around the top and bottom edges.
6. Spread a layer of pudding mixture over grahams and top with a layer of blueberries and sliced strawberries.
7. Place graham crackers on top of berries, then pudding mixture, then layer of berries again.
8. Repeat the graham-pudding-berries layers 1 more time (3 times total) and you should reach the top of the pan.
9. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight until the graham crackers have softened completely.
10. When ready to serve, melt white chocolate chips in a bowl as directed on package and drizzle over dessert.
11. You can use a spoon to drizzle it over the tops of the berries or you can put it into a small zip-top bag and snip of the corner for an easy "piping bag."

You could easily make this gluten free by using gluten free graham crackers, and making sure your white chocolate chips are gluten free!

Summer is Upon Us!

Credit

Description

No Bake Summer Berry Lasagna is EASY SUMMER DESSERT RECIPE for refreshing sweet treat. This is perfect idea for Memorial Day and 4th of July dessert.

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Ingredients

For Whipped Cream:

• 1 and 2/3 cup heavy cream-chilled
• about 1/3 cup powdered sugar (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Red Velvet Crust:

• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• ¼ cup strawberry jam
• ½ cup+ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter-melted
• Red gel food coloring

For Cheesecake Layer:

• ½ cup unsalted butter-softened
• 8 oz. cream cheese-softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup diced fresh strawberries
• 1 cup of whipped cream

For Blueberry Jello Salad Layer:

• 2 (3 oz.pckg) berry blue Jello (or other flavor to your taste)
• 1 and 1/4 cup boiling water
• 2 cups blueberry pie filling
• 1 cup of canned crushed pineapple-drained from juice (if use pineapple chunks, pulse it in a food processor to get fine crushed pieces)

Topping:

• 2 ½ cups whipped cream
• Fresh strawberries halved
• Fresh blueberries
• ¼ cup chocolate chips

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Instructions

To make the crust:

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, strawberry jam, melted butter and red food coloring( drop the color directly in melted butter or jam, it will dissolve better).
2. Mix until evenly moistened. Press the mixture in the bottom of 13 x 9 x 2 inch dish. Place the crust in the freezer to firm.

Filling:

1. First, make the whipped cream. In a bowl beat chilled heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and continue mixing until really STIFF peaks form. Measure out 1 cup of beaten whipped cream for cheesecake layer. Cover remaining whipped cream and reserve for topping.
2. To make cheesecake layer cream together softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and softened butter. Mix in 1 cup of whipped cream(do not use soft whipped cream, cheesecake filling have to be thick or it won’t hold dense blueberry jello salad layer on top)
3. Gently fold in diced strawberries and spread over the crust. Place in the fridge to set.
4. To make the blueberry jello salad layer in a large bowl place 6 oz. berry blue Jello gelatin mixture. Pour 1 ¼ cup boiling water and stir for a few minutes until the gelatin dissolved completely. Set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes, then stir in crushed pineapple and blueberry pie filling. Wait until it’s cooled to room temperature and soft set, or place in the fridge to speed the process but stir from time to time.
5. Spread blueberry jello layer over chilled cheesecake layer. Do not pour warm blueberry jello over cheesecake layer, it will melt it.
6. Place in the fridge to chill until jello layer is set completely .
7. Top with remaining whipped cream. Before serving arrange fresh berries on top. Melt white chocolate chips, transfer melted chocolate to a ziplock bag, cut off the corner and drizzle over the top of lasagna.
8. Store in the fridge.
9. https://omgchocolatedesserts.com/no-bake-summer-berry-lasagna/

Memorial Day...

I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day...we owe so much to so many who

have fought to preserve our freedom!

We had a nice dinner at our house-Bri made these special potatoes...

We saw a blimp go by :)

We spent a little family time playing Rummikube

(the kids had recently played with friends and were happy to hear

that we had the game)

Bri won alot

Brad really did a great job buying and decorating for the day

(He also put flags on the light poles in our neighborhood)

It's something he does every year.

Isn't there just something about seeing our flag flying that just "gets you"!?

Thanks Brad for decorating, and many, many thanks to those

that I owe my freedom to!

Long may she wave!

Memorial Day

Can you believe it's been a week since Memorial Day already!?

We had a nice dinner with my Mom and Phil's Dad...

(I was too busy to get pics of them though!)

We did snag some of the table and punch before they came...and after :)

Thought I'd share a few lines from a lovely Memorial Day Poem:

Thank God,

For the citizens,

Of the USA!

Who sacrifice,

Their life long stay,

To cut it short,

At any day,

For the Peace,

And the Freedom,

Of us,

Who in,

Homeland stay.

Thank God,

For the citizens,

Of the USA!

D.Alsup

What Does It Mean?

July 4th....is it about fireworks, picnics, swimming, parties, bbq?

Oh, it's so much more than that. And I know that in the past, I barely stopped to think about it much. But I think of it ever so much more now that the political climate in our country has changed and deteriorated.
Isn't that typical? You don't appreciate what you have until it's gone...
hopefully ours isn't gone forever. Maybe Americans will wake up and take back what this country was founded on!?
I thought this definition of what the Declaration of Independence means from wiki was good:

It says that all people naturally and equally have certain basic rights which come from God, including Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It says that the most important function of government is to protect these rights. That government has to have the consent of the people being governed and that those people have the right to set up their government in whatever form they think will best protect their rights. That the king of Great Britain and his government were nopt protecting the colonists rights but were taking them away. It then gives a long list of things the British had done to take away the colonists rights, including taxing them without their consent, closing down the colonial governments and sending the army to govern instead, taking away the right to trial by jury, waging war against the colonies and many other things.

Bottom line...America needs to turn back to God.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chron. 7:14
I leave you today with words from the Star Spangle Banner...

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
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Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Our founding fathers knew that worshiping God was crucial to America. May our current leaders find this truth as well.
May American bless God--so that God can bless America!

The above statement is true...but for how much longer?

There are those in this country that tell the world that we, the U S of A, are not a Christian nation. But just because someone says something, doesn't make it so.

We are indeed a Christian nation, and no matter how loud he shouts, he cannot change it!

He cannot change us!

They can change the history books, but they cannot change the truth.

And so, today, I am reminded that we should cherish our freedom.

It seems to slowly be slipping away...

Let's be united in standing firm in our faith.

In protecting our freedom, and the freedom of our children to worship the One True God, in this Christian Nation!

John Adams and John Hancock: We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]

John Adams:“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

Benjamin Franklin: “ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel”

–Constitutional Convention of 1787 original manuscript of this speech

Samuel Adams: “ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.”

[ "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]

John Quincy Adams:• “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

And, was this prophecy?

Samuel Johnston:• “It is apprehended that ... Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected to high offices under the government of the United States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to the office of President or other high office, [unless] first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves.

[Elliot’s Debates, Vol. IV, pp 198-199, Governor Samuel Johnston, July 30, 1788 at the North Carolina Ratifying Convention]

Wake up America, if there is still time!