Build-Your-Own Patriotic Parfait

Happy Independence Day! 

I think I've mentioned before that I LOVE the 4th of July. Every single aspect of it. And I am so thankful that we live in the land of the free. I hope you're celebrating our freedom with family and friends on this HOT summer day. We're enjoying some family and friend time with our dear friend Ian! 

And what better way to start the day than with a Patriotic Parfait! (love the rhyme there, don't you?) 

The Recipe: Patriotic Parfait

What you need:

1/3 c homemade granola

1/3 c plain yogurt

1/3 c blueberries

1/3 c strawberries 

sprinkle (or 2) of almonds

Combine the ingredients however you'd like and enjoy! 

And just for fun here's a random bit for you. My most memorable July 4th actually occurred on July 5th. It rained on July 4th that year so we saved the fireworks for the next day. I was 16 (turning 17 soon) and we were setting off fireworks in our cul-de-sac. My dad let me hold a roman candle and it backfired, exploding in my hand. Little bits of debris landed on my arm and my ears were ringing. My mom freaked out and ran into the house forgetting the number to 911, while my dad tried to console me. I was screaming I'M DEAF! I'M DEAF! when my dad said, "Can you hear me?" I said, "YES!, but I'm deaf!" 

As it turns out my hearing was fine, 911 wasn't needed and I had some burns on my arm (and the scars to prove it). Lesson learned: don't hold roman candles!

Have a blessed day!

Patriotic Candy Bark

Let me just be real for a second when I say I do NOT know how to work with meltable chocolate of any kind. Almond bark, candy wafers, chocolate chips (unless they are in cookies), you name it -- I don't know how to use it. So it came as no surprise that I didn't know how to work with the white almond bark I picked up to use in my Patriotic Candy Bark.

Luckily, with the help of some coconut oil, I got it figured out and my 12 year-old cousin and I successfully made a batch of the yummy deliciousness that is candy bark.

Inspired by this recipe, I set out to recreate my own.

We were out of Joe Joe's (Trader Joe's version of Oreo's) and I have to admit I wasn't sure how I liked the idea of them in the bark, so we left those out and added peanuts. I also left out sprinkles because I'm not a fan (and to be honest we don't own any!). The result was AH-mazing.

The Recipe: Patriotic Candy Bark

What you need:
1 pkg of white almond bark (or white chocolate wafers)
1.5 cups Red, White and Blue M&M's
3 cups pretzel sticks
1/2 c peanuts (halved)

Crunch pretzel sticks by hand and sprinkle on a cookie sheet along with the peanuts and 1 cup of M&M's.

Heat chocolate according to directions.

*If for some reason you happen to heat the chocolate bark longer than necessary, you'll get chocolate that is unpourable and think "Hmm, what did I do wrong?" Then you'll try to figure out how to thin it because it'd end up clumpy otherwise. You'll have an aha! moment when you realize coconut oil will do the trick and run to find it. Add 1 tbsp. and stir, stir, stir. Success!

I did this with the first 1/2 of the bark, but we had a better outcome with the 2nd half by heating it for less time.

Pour chocolate evenly on top of peanuts, pretzels and M&M's. Sprinkle remaining M&M's on top.

Place in the freezer until hardened. Break into pieces and store in a freezer safe container in the freezer until ready to eat. (Or eat it right away!)

The perfect snack or dessert for a Patriotic Party!

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Memorial Day Flag Craft

This craft can be done for any patriotic holiday (July 4th, Flag Day, etc.), but I set it up for Sweet P to do for Memorial Day.

We talked a little about Memorial Day and I explained that it was a day to remember those who fought in the military to protect the USA. She kept asking me when it was so I'm not sure what she's expecting on Monday!

dancing around with our flag

We live very close to a cemetery and the community places American flags on many of the graves on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It is an awesome sight to see. We watched people place the flags on the graves on Saturday morning and I sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs (Baby Blue was the only one impressed).

Here is the flag craft Sweet P made:

The Craft: American Flag

What you need:

• Blue cardstock
• Red and white construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Star hole punch (or regular hole punch)

Cut strips out of the red and white construction paper for the stripes. Leave a small space of blue fro the blue portion of the flag. Hole punch stars out of white construction paper. Glue all pieces to resemble the American flag. 

I cut out the strips for Sweet P and explained that some were shorter than others while showing her our flag. After showing her the flag she started with the longer strips and began gluing them to the blue cardstock. 

We talked about patterning and I'd ask "Which color comes next?" and she'd say "Red!" or "White!" She counted the long stripes and short stripes while she was gluing and then counted all 13 when she was finished.

She hole punched the stars out of white construction paper and then glued them to the blue portion (she obviously didn't do 50). 

love that look of determination!

When she was finished we compared it to our flag and then she wanted to hang it up! 

Did you do any activities to celebrate Memorial Day?