Independence Day

   Whew, what a day we had!  Surrounded by great friends and fabulous food!  

Be prepared for lots of fun pictures and enough information to throw your own hot dog party if you ever wanted too!

Because this post is so full of info and pictures, thought you would like a little music of two of my favorite 4th of July songs, listen or don't, totally up to you!

Alright, when you throw a party, planning is key!  So, in preparation for our hot dog bar party, we needed something to hold the hot dogs in.  I searched the internet (too late to buy anything) and craft stores, even Costco and Target for hot dog holders.  I found a few hamburger holders for 60% off at Michaels, but there weren't enough left to make it work and I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that they needed to be hot dogs, not hamburgers!  As soon as I found a hot dog tray template via the Aesthetic Nest I knew I could totally make my own!  So off I went, back to the craft store to get the festive paper!  My poor husband was subject to watching yet another movie with the lights on, while I cut, folded, and taped away!  The end product was so worth it (and so easy to do)!  I was so teased over the trays (I think my friends thought I went nuts), but I didn't care, I loved them and took all of the teasing with a smile on my face!

I don't decorate the house for every holiday and the 4th of July is one that tends to be overlooked here.  I had nothing that was red, white, or blue.  I needed to make something quick and easy, so I bought an extra-large scalloped paper punch (I found it at Michaels) and punched away on the left over paper from the hot dog trays.  Two more holes and a little string and wah-laaaaa!  A little decor for the front entrance, inviting our guests in and a little hanging over the TV!  A little touch that I thought went a long way!

 

I bought fresh flowers and filled my mason jars (that I scored for free at the neighbors garage sale) with red, white, purple (a few) and green flowers!  I have two large pictures of pears from Ikea in the dining room, so I threw in the green to make it all go together!

Last thing that I made was the stars and stripes banner that hung over the food and I am so bummed that I didn't get a picture of just it by itself (but it is a good way to lead into the yummy food I guess).  While searching for the hot dog trays, I came across this post from A Bit of Sunshine.  Who knew paint samples could be so cute?!  Oh yeah, and that Pledge Picture, totally downloadable from the girls over at Eighteen25!  It is 16x20, I had it printed at Costco and put it in a frame from Ikea (a frame that was supposed to be used for a photo collage one day, but has been just sitting upstairs in a pile forever)!

 

HOT DOG TIME!!!

For the hot dog bar, we served up three main kinds of dogs:  chili, so-cal, and chicago dogs!

 

These are pretty self explanatory really.  Cook up your favorite chili, add a little cheese, and if you are brave, add a little onion slaw!

Onion Slaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup Creole mustard (couldn't find, had to make my own)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1/2 tablespoon red pepper flakes

2 and 1/2 cups green cabbage, grated

1/2 cup onion, grated

Salt to taste

Whisk mayonnaise, parsley, mustard, sugar, vinegar, and pepper flakes together in a large bowl.  Add cabbage and onion, season with salt, and toss to coat.  Chill until ready to serve.

Hands down the best hot dog I have ever tasted!  I am a plain jane, just eat the burnt hot dog by itself kinda girl, so I surprised myself with this one!  I am so happy that we put it on the menu, as it almost didn't make the cut!  In fact, I loved it so much, I had a left over one for dinner and have enough for one for lunch tomorrow too!

Alright, so for this kinda dog, you need three parts: mango pico de gallo, avocado mash, and cilantro-lime mayonnaise.  Ugh, it is seriously heaven in your mouth!

Mango Pico de Gallo

1 cup mango, diced

1/3 cup red onion, minced

2 Tablespoons jalapeno, seeded, minced

1 Tablespoon honey

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Combine mango, onion, jalapeno, honey, and lime juice in a bowl.

Avocado Mash

2 avocados, diced

Juice of a lime

Salt to taste

Mash avocado with lime juice and salt with a potato masher or fork until chunky.

Cilantro-Lime Mayonnaise

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup minced fresh cilantro

Juice of a lime

Whisk mayonnaise, cilantro, and lime juice together in a bowl until combined.

 Last, but not least, the Chicago hot dog!  This one has the most layers: yellow mustard, dill pickle spears, small pickled peppers, neon relish or sweet pickle relish, diced onions, tomato slices, and the topper; celery salt. 

Neon Relish

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

2 drops each green and yellow food coloring

Stir relish and food coloring together.  (This produces the Chicago dog's traditional bright green relish.  Regular relish is fine too).

Hungry for a hot dog yet?  The fun part about having a hot dog bar is that with all of the toppings, you could totally create your own kinda dog!  We had a few more items associated with hot dogs out for those that wanted to create whatever they wanted, or even stick with the old ketchup and mustard approach!  A hot dog party is something I so want to do again and I better, because I did tear up and frame pictures of the three mentioned hot dogs above (while I did ruin the magazine, I thought that it would be fun to have the pictures there for people to see how they should look if they wanted to try and make a certain kind of hot dog) from our favorite grilling magazine, Cuisine Tonight Grilling Volume 2.  That is where all of the recipes shown above are from!  You can even purchase the magazine too if you wanted, click here (although you will have to keep checking back, as they are currently sold out right now)!

The rest of the food was amazing too!

Poppy seed hot dog buns, plain hot dog buns, potato salad, summer chicken pasta salad, chips and dips!  Delicious!

Poppy Seed Buns

Unsliced hot dog buns

Egg white, beaten

Poppy Seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice buns lenghwise through the top, leaving the baseintact.  Brush tops with egg white and sprinkle generously with poppy seeds.  Bake until lightly toasted, 5 minutes.

Before the food, during the food, after the food we swam and hung out with friends from all part of the valley!  This was the first party that we hosted where so many of Chad's friends from work came and it was fun to listen to him talk work, despite the fact that he can't stand it when us girls do!

Kyan was in the pool pretty much the entire time, by the end of the night, his little eye balls were so red and according to him, blurry to look out of!  He is a swimmin' machine!

 

And talk about a swimmin' machine!?  Lola loves the water and begs to go in from the second she wakes up in the morning.

Me and the hubs!  Oh, how I love him!  He was such a good sport as I went a little crazy decorating and getting ready for this party!  I couldn't help it, I was so excited!

And just a few more of my super cute kiddos, in their 4th of July swimsuits!

 

I really BIG love them!

When the sun started to go down, it was time for a little bit of firework action!  We did have a bit of a scare when Kyan and Gianni were lighting off a firework.  Kyan got excited and turned to run, his punk hit his friend Gianni on the outside of his eye.  It was scary and everyone was emotional.  Kyan felt horrible that he hurt his friend and he cried and cried.  There is a really sweet picture of Gianni holding Kyan's arm, comforting him, assuring him that he was okay (and he will be, talked to his mama today)!  It did scare the boys a lot, so they let Chad take over the reins from that point on!

 

This is how the three muskateers watched the firework show!  They didn't like the noise so much!

The sparklers were a hit as well with everyone, including Lola!  This was one she could definitely handle (I was shocked)!

FIREBOY

FIREGIRL

It was an amazing day!  Surround by wonderful friends and delicious food. 

I am so grateful to those that serve our country and sacrifice so much every day, so that we can be free.

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th!