It is that time of year again – both for those delicious fresh strawberries and time to express your patriotism by celebrating all things red, white and blue for 4th of July and Memorial Day. Here is a simple way to dress your strawberries up and it will make your next get together more festive. Simple dip strawberries into melted white chocolate or melting chocolate and dip end in a mix of red and blue sprinkles. They even have sprinkle with little stars that come as blue and red.
Cut 3″ squares out of black poster board and use a sharpie marker and mark the edges. Use a gold or silver paint pen and trace a square on top of each square as seen in the picture. Take a six inch length of ribbon (this can be color co-ordinated to work with the schools color just as the black poster board can be changed) and glue it to the top of the black poster board. Hot glue the black square with the square you made on it facing up to the small end of a mini Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup. Top with a small black sequin or bead to cover the glued ends of the ribbon to make a finished look. These would make great party favors or would make a great gift with several placed with tissue paper in a gift box.
First place the bacon in a fry pan filled with water with just enough water to cover the bacon. Then place the pan on the burner (at high temperature) and let it cook. Cook it till it snaps and hisses at you and then reduce the burner to medium. The water cooking allows it to be fully cooked without browning so there will be no burnt outside and it will still be chewy inside.
On a side note after you see the bacon shrink a bit you can wash the pan and bacon and then put bacon back in the pan to continue to cook. This way you will loose some of the grease and bacon will be a little healthier to eat. You can also do this with ground hamburger that will be seasoned.
This works really well -Slice a large onion in 1/2 inch wedges. Pick the largest outer rings of the onion and set aside the rest of the onion in a zip-lock bag to use for a later time. Put spray/oil/butter in pan and melt. Place the onion ring down in pan so that the widest part is facing up. Crack and drop egg into ring. Let cook until ready to flip (if that is your desired way to have your egg and then flip. If you want no runny egg once flipped poke the egg yolk and let cook and then flip again and cook to get desired egg type. You can also oil a baking pan – place onion slices down into pan and crack open eggs and place withing onion edges. Bake 350 for five to 8 minutes until desired egg type is achieved.
What a completely elegant way to serve strawberries or some other goodies to a special someone or at an elegant party. Take a solid bowl (glass or metal because plastic bowls will tend to shift and can crack chocolate) and use thin foil to cover the outside of the bowl. Melt chocolate or candy melt/almond bark and keep drizzling over foil to create a nesting look. Make sure to get enough so it will be strong and don’t forget to get the ridges of the bowl and the bottom.You can do a two-tone effect of white chocolate/dark chocolate or three if you added a medium colored chocolate. DO NOT FREEZE as this will make the chocolate very brittle. Air dry the chocolate at least eight hours. Gently turn bottom of your new bowl so it is sitting on its bottom. Pull foil away from glass/metal bowl and then remove glass/metal bowl. Then gently pull away from your chocolate bowl. Slight breaks can be fixed with some patching (melt chocolate and hold a piece of foil on the underside of your chocolate bowl and drizzle to repair and hold for a few minutes. Let dry completely before you pull foil away. Your new bowl is ready – would make a great way to serve Mom or Dad a breakfast of fresh strawberries for Mother’s / Father’s Day. For Diabetic’s use sugar free chocolate and if you want to lower calories the rule of the darker the chocolate is the better.
Country & Victorian Times 