The Fourth of July is not just an evening of celebration. Family, neighbors and friends gather together for a full day enjoying pleasant weather, fantastic food and a surplus of beverages to relax the tired working soul. Since this is an all day event, it is the duty of those providing food to have appetizers to sustain their crowds until the barbeques are fired up. There are several ways in which people celebrate fourth of July. Barbecues and picnic are the main ones. There are two fantastic fourth of July appetizers that are not only crowd pleasers, but are also exceedingly simple to make and budget friendly for large crowd.

American Flag Appetizer

Luckily the season of summer provides two of the three colors that are part of this holiday: red and blue. Depending on the preference of the crowd, there is a choice of strawberries, raspberries or cherries for this appetizer, or all three can used if desired. Blueberries will provide the blue for this appetizer.

Choose a 9” x 13” pan and with aluminum foil create a 1” tall right angle border that is 4”x2”.

Place this in the upper left hand corner. This area will house all of the blueberries and keep them from spilling into the rest of the pan. This is the blue portion of the American flag.

Create the same 1” tall border for the stripes of the flag. How many stripes are created is up to the designer of this flag. These borders will separate the red fruits used from the white of the flag. T

he white of the flag is a simply a jar of marshmallow fluff with a package of cream cheese.

Blend this in a bowl until creamy. More cream cheese can be added for additional smoothness.

Fill in the separated borders alternating between dip and fruits. Since this fruit is available in the summer, it can be purchased inexpensively at a farmers’ market or can be purchased in bulk in the frozen food section of a grocery store.

The dip is rich and filing and keep guests coming back for more.

Graham crackers can also be provided on the side for additional variety.

Jell-O patriotic recipe

Another simple appetizer is a Jell-O patriotic recipe for Fourth of July. This involves a bit more effort, but is equally as inexpensive as the previous appetizer. This involves strawberry Jell-O, strawberries, pretzels, cream cheese and whipped cream.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Use a 9” x 13” pan and crush 2 cups of pretzels.

Mix in with ¾ cup of butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Spread this on the bottom of the pan and put into the oven for 5-8 minutes to cook and melt together.

Once this cools, mix a package of cream cheese, 8 ounces of whipped cream and a cup of sugar in a bowl. Once blended, spread on top of the pretzels.

The final step involves making strawberry Jell-O. Follow the package instructions and add strawberries once removed from the stove. Put into the fridge to cool and once jelled but not completely solid (about an hour) and pour over the cream cheese layer.

Chill until ready to serve. This is easy to make the night before or on the day and several dishes can be made inexpensively to please large, hungry groups.

Fourth of July is a holiday to be celebrated and enjoyed by all, including those hosting the party. Keep guests happy and full until the main course with simple, delicious, and easy 4th of July appetizer recipes.

It is always a patriotic celebration on a national scale, complete with picnics, music, and, of course, fireworks. The 4th of July for Americans is Independence Day, but independence from what? What is the meaning of the fourth of July?

Originally, America was a colony, eventually a group of 13 colonies, of Great Britain, which meant that the governmental authority for the colonies was located in London, England. On a local level there were Royal Governors appointed by England to directly rule each colony. This lack of a voice in the government became a serious grievance for the colonists. At least in England the population elected the Members of Parliament to be their representatives, but there was no such privilege in America.

This lack of representation and the levying of taxes on the colonies, such as the Stamp Act and the Tea Act, led to a growing movement in favor of separation from England. It was inevitable that this separation was not going to be achieved in a peaceful manner. The beginning of the American Revolution is generally traced to the battles at Concord and Lexington in the colony of Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 where the Massachusetts militia, known as the Minutemen defeated the British Regulars who were known as the Redcoats for their bright red tunics. This battle was immortalized by Ralph Waldo Emerson as the”shot heard ‘round the world” due to its historic implications.

Eventually, the representatives of the colonies meeting in the Continental Congress were forced to consider the necessity of independence. It was not universally favored. Some colonists did not want to separate from the British Empire. Debate in the Continental Congress grew quite heated a times. Generally, the northern colonies of New England were in favor of independence and the southern colonies were not. However, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia put the resolution that America should declare its independence forth, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia wrote the Declaration of Independence, in which the reasons for the separation were stated. Jefferson was later elected as the third President of the United States.

After much debate and compromise, Virginia’s resolution on independence was adopted on July 2nd, 1776. After further debate on the actual language of the Declaration, the final version was approved on July 4th, 1776. Contrary to popular imagery, only John Hancock and Secretary Charles Thompson signed the Declaration at this time. The additional signatures were added over the next several weeks.

So, why do we celebrate the forth of July? We celebrate it to honor our history as a nation, and to honor the courage can convictions of all of the people who were instrumental in securing our independence – Minutemen, Founding Fathers AND Mothers, politicians, and representatives.

John Adams, representative from the colony of Massachusetts to the Second Continental Congress, member of the Declaration of Independence Committee along with Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and later the second President of the United States, in a prophetic moment suggested that this day would be celebrated with “pomp and parade” by succeeding generations of Americans.

Therefore, we do and here is how do people celebrate fourth of July