Delicious Dishes by Debbie: Fourth of July Extravaganza

Delicious Dishes by Debbie: Fourth of July Extravaganza

Fourth of July Extravaganza

One of my very favorite holidays is the 4th of July.  It's so much fun to have friends and family together to celebrate the birthday of our precious country.  

Today, I wanted to share with you a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration that we had here at our home in Ft. Myers, FL.   I am so sad that the old fashioned way we used to celebrate when I was a child is not happening as much in the lives of our children, so I decided to try to relive that experience as well as creating new memories and traditions today.  The Fourth of July means so much to me because of what it represents...a free Country.  Our forefathers wanted us to appreciate and celebrate our freedom, our roots and our country.  Thank God we are free and that we live in the greatest place in the world.  

Thanks to some of our great friends for sharing the vision with us to have this amazing party on the fourth.  It was a great day!

There were prizes for the best dessert and the best side dish.
First place for dessert went to Jeremy Dearinger for a Red, White and Blue Cake
decorated by his lovely wife, Teresa.  First place for side dish was Andrea Kinney
for her famous Pasta Salad.

Yep, it's the Fabre Home 4th of July Celebration, 2013.

These Red, White and Blue Deviled Eggs were heavenly.
I boiled two dozen eggs and when they were cool, peeled them
and soaked them for 15 minutes in cold water that had red food
coloring and blue food coloring.  (Separate of course)  Cut them
into two pieces with a zig zag cutter that I again got from Pampered
Chef.  Scoop out the center and I add mayonaise, salt, pepper,
garlic powder, onion powder, sweet pickle relish and a tad of
yellow mustard.  Then I put my mixture in a pastry bag with a
wide tip and fill my eggs.  I sprinkled them with Red and Blue
sugar crystals.  They were so pretty.  

Goody bags for the kids.  

These Strawberry and Berry Blue Jello Jigglers were delicious
and so easy to make.  Just use 4 packages of Jello and 2 1/2 cups
of boiling water and put in a 9 x 13 pan.  When  jelled, cut with
a small heart cookie cutter.  I got mine from Pampered Chef.

I adore my Cricut Machine.  It's so easy to make banners
and signs.  This one for my "Cold Drink" station was so
colorful and festive.  Everyone loved it.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries...the best this season.

We had the sweetest watermellon...oh my!

Secora was a doll.

Neveah, Bekka and Krysta flying the
R, W & B.

Yummy Pretzel!  It's Swim Time.

Krysta in her Tye Dye!!
First Place Adult in Best Patriotic Outfit.

Teresa, First place for Best Hat.  She was all decked
out from head to toe.

Grandma Shirley and Pastor Bob enjoying the day.

Time for the horseshoe tourney.

Jeremy, and Andrea and Brian Kinney having
a cold drink.

Red, White and Blue Rice Krispies Treats.  Just make the treats
and cut them with a star cookie cutter.  Before you cut them and
while they are still hot, sprinkle rows of color on them.  Put a
stick in them and wrap them individually.  They will be loved.

These wreaths are so easy to make and make
a wonderful front door welcome.  You can easily
get directions on line to use the mesh-net.

Teresa, Andrea & Krysta...all first place winners.

My front yard.  Stars and Stripes forever.  

My vintage blue Ball Jars make great holders
for flags, flowers or whatever you want to
decorate your tables with.

My dinning room table.

These are Dollar Tree Lanterns.  Yep, $1.00 each.

The Cricut machine makes great rosettes and
shapes and I just added a stick wrapped in
patriotic ribbon and a center cupcake topper that
I purchased at Hobby Lobby.

It's not a holiday at our house without chocolate dipped and
decorated pretzel rods.  they are displayed in a simple clay pot
with cut out decorations.

The Winning Cake by the Dearingers

Becky and Teresa

You can see that we had a wonderful day of fun, food and lots of good fellowship.  Decorations are simple and inexpensive.  It's great to have a potluck so everyone helps out.  It also gives you a great variety of food and flavors.  I think one of the most fun things we did was the fashion show of patriotic outfits and hats.  Can't wait for next year to celebrate once again.

Family Movie Night Fun and Giveaway

My family and I Love to go and see a good movie!  We also love to eat General Mills Cereals.  My little grandson, Jack, especially loves his Cheerios and lovingly refers to them as simply "O's".  

Delicious Dishes by Debbie and General Mills wants you to have the opportunity to go to the movies for FREE.  Yes, I said FREE.  How many times do you hear that?  All you have to do is make a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite General Mills Cereal is and I will randomly choose one winner who will receive two movie tickets and a box of General Mills Cereal.  It's just that simple.  If you do not win your movie tickets here there is good news.  You can still get a FREE movie ticket by purchasing two specially marked packages of participating General Mills Cereal.

Move over busy schedule – It's Movie Time, brought to you by General Mills. Now we know that a family night out might feel impossible right now. Whether it's going to work every day or managing the kid's busy schedules, it can be difficult to find time to get out of the house for some family fun. Well, General Mills is willing to make it easier to catch the latest blockbuster just by eating their delicious cereal! For a limited time enjoying a night out at the movies is as simple as enjoying your favorite cereals from General Mills. With the recent releases of Breaking Dawn – Part II and Wreck-It-Ralph, it's time to spread the word that you can all go to the movies for free. Here's how it works: For a limited time (11/08/2012 – 12/06/2013) you can receive a free movie ticket when you purchase two specially marked packages of General Mills cereals including Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, and Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. After purchasing two participating cereals, visit www.generalmills.com/moviecash to enter the unique code found inside each box of cereal and print-off your free Movie Cash certificate (good for one admission of up to a $12 value at participating theaters). To find a participating movie theater in your area log onto:www.emoviecash.com/dis_locator/ The Drawing will be held on February 29th, so get your comments in early.  You can receive extra entries by doing the following:  Be sure to  make a comment for each one that you do so you can have more chances to win. 1.  Post what your favorite General Mills Cereal is. 2.  Post a photo of you or a family member eating General Mills Cereal. 3.  Follow me on this blog. 4.  Follow me on FB.  Delicious Dishes By Debbie and share this giveaway. 5.  Follow me on Twitter.  RealWomanofPhil  and post this giveaway using hash tag #MyBlogSpark  6.  Follow me on Pinterest.  Debbie Fabre Don't forget to tell your family and friends on Facebook and Twitter to spread the word on this great deal! "Disclosure: The information, products and General Mills gift pack were provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark."

Fox 4 Morning Blend Fun for Halloween

Once again the WONDERFUL staff at the Fox 4 Morning Blend welcomed me into their "home" for a fun segment on their awesome morning show.  Wild Bill Wood is the perfect host and always makes me feel at home and I know that when I go there we will have a great time.  This visit was no exception, but what was different was that I was blessed to have my awesome friend, Shannon Imlay, with me.  To see the show, click on Fox 4 Morning Blend.

Shannon and I prepared some delicious holiday goodies for the Morning Blend crew to enjoy on this fun Halloween Day.  We began with the Triple Chocolate Boo Goo Apples.  This is one of Shannon's specialties.  She recently appeared on the Food Network's show, The Perfect Three, making this recipe. 

Each Granny Smith Apple is dipped in caramel, then milk chocolate.  The ghost is made of an Oreo Truffle dipped in white chocolate.  The final touch is mini chocolate chips for their eyes and a regular size chocolate chip for their mouths.  If you make the large apples, I promise you, it will be enough for 3 or 4 people.  

The little bottles of "potions" were made from plain bottles which were purchased at the craft store and filled with colored drinks and embellished with fun labels and ribbons.

We found some Spinning Candy Corn suckers which we embellished with a pumpkin face and ribbons and made a cute arrangement in this fun wagon filled with candy pumpkins.  These were our Kreepy Kandy Korn Pops.  

Who wouldn't want some Milk Chocolate Mummys and some Mulled Apple Cider?  We did and that's exactly what we served.  The mummys were made of Hershey Bars, wrapped with crepe paper that had been cut in half.  Then we put two sticky goofy eyes on each one to finish them off.  The Cider was served in a pumpkin punch bowl and served with a cinnamon stick.

What is so much fun is being able to take an ordinary dish you have at home and embellish it to fit the occasion or holiday that you are planning.  That's exactly what we did with this stemmed dish that we filled with Candy Corn and Candy Pumpkins and we called it Monster Mix.  The big beautiful ribbon and the jeweled sculls and crossbones were just the fun touches this dish needed to make it fit right in on our table.

Shannon and I had so much fun putting these things together and what I really want to emphasize with you is how easy it all is.  We try to create things that anyone would be comfortable doing as well.  

Being on the Fox 4 Morning Blend here in South West Florida is such an honor and pleasure.  I am fully aware that there are many people who would love to be the guest of this wonderful cast and crew.  I am so thankful that they allowed Shannon and I to join them for a fun celebration of Fall.  

The real stars of the show are the hosts.  You only see Wild Bill Wood in this interview but he has a wonderful co-host who is out for maternity leave and an acting co-host that is also wonderful.  The producers, camera operators, sound crew, receptionist and all of the people who work so hard to put this show together should be commended for their hard work and success.  Thank you to Jennifer Fairfield-Williams, Executive Producer and Melissa Migliore, Producer for taking such good care of us and treating us so well.   A special thanks to Wild Bill.  You are an extra special person who is completely adorable.  Thanks Bill.

Fall, Crisp Air, Warm Food, and Big News.

It's Fall in Florida!

Fall is here and I am so excited.  Even here in Florida, the weather starts cooling down and the decorations go up.  I always decorate for fall and try to get that "fall feeling."  Both inside and outside are decorated and ready to celebrate fall events and Thanksgiving.  I begin to burn those fall scented candles and air sprays.  There are also foods that I pretty much reserve for fall...don't really know why I do that...but, there are dishes I only make in the fall.  

Gammy's Apple Tart

Exciting things are happening this year.  I will have a very special announcement to make very soon and I am so excited.  So stay tuned and keep checking in to learn what that is.  Also, next Monday, I will be doing a guest appearance on the local Morning Television Show, The Morning Blend.  So excited about that.

Mississippi Mud

Hope you enjoy fall as much as I do.  The posts will start coming more often to share ideas with you for fall and then the most exciting time of the year, Christmas!

Fall Decor

What do you love best about fall?  I would love to hear from you to find out.  Please leave a comment below telling me what your favorite thing about fall.

My Front Porch

Follow me on Pinterest!!!  Loving posting new ideas and photos.  

Happy Fall,

Debbie

Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes

What would you say if I told you that I have a new favorite cookbook?  Well, I do.  Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes arrived at my house about 2 weeks ago.  I haven't put it down since.  This cookbook has 1,485 favorite recipes from the world's #1 Food and Entertaining Magazine.  

One of the things I love most about Taste of Home is that they compile their recipes from home cooks from all across America.  These home cooks are willing to part with and share their most treasured and asked for recipes.  It's a real privilege to have someone's very best recipe. This cookbook has sensational entrees, indulgent desserts, fantastic appetizers, and hundreds more delectable recipes to round out meals.  

Quick Ghost Cookies and were submitted 

by Denise Smith, Lusk, Wyoming.  

Not only does the cookbook have wonderful recipes, but it is a sturdy hard bound book with it's very own book-marker. I love that because it helps me keep my place if I'm looking through for something else or just want to close it up for the day and remember where I stopped.  Taste of Home's Editor-in-Chief, Catherine Cassidy has made sure that this cookbook is first class, just like every other product that Taste of Home produces.  

This beautiful cookbook also has great stories in it.  Cassidy says, "..we will always share with you the name of the special home cook who has been generous and proud enough to share a best loved recipe, a personal story, a moment in time with us."  It makes it so much more personal than just having a recipe without any explanation.  Each recipe has a very personal story of what it has meant to those who submitted it and their families.   

Another thing I love about this cookbook is the way the recipes are categorized.  There are 26 chapters, but many more sub-chapters that will help you decide what would be good for when.  From appetizers, to breakfast, celebrations & and holidays to your favorite potluck picks.  And never forget the desserts, cookies, pies and cakes.  This cookbook has everything in it a new cook could need to get started with learning wonderful recipes.  

Chapters also include some of the most cherished magazine features including:  Mom Made it Best, Our Favorite Contributor's Meals, Mealtime Express, Cooking for One or Two, Grand Prize Winners, and more.

Swamp Juice A La Slime 

by Melissa Ann Beier, Howel, Michigan

Since fall and Halloween are coming up, I decided to preview the Halloween section of Celebrations and Holidays.  I took a page right out of the book and created the three recipes on that page.  Swamp Juice A La-Slime, Trick-Or-Treat Turnovers and Quick Ghost Cookies.  All three are delicious and fun to make.  It would be great fun to make these with your children or grandchildren as well.  Plus, there is practical, proven tips, storage charts, how-to photo's, and at-a-glance prep and cook times.

I made these mummy wrap hot dogs as well from crescent rolls and hot dogs.  This recipe is not in the book, but went well with the others.

Trick-Or-Treat Turnovers

by Marge Free, Brandon, Mississippi

We had a wonderful day trying out these recipes.  When doing a blog posting, it's always difficult to keep the food snatchers away until we are finished.  However, as soon as we were done...wow, that food went fast.

Taste of Home: Best Loved Recipes
1485 Favorites from the World's #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine
By Taste of Home
Published by Reader's Digest
Hardcover: 928 pages
September 13, 2012; $34.99 US/$39.95 CAN; 9780898219913

Description

What is Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes?

• Taste of Home is America's connection to the personal recipes of people who cook at home as a way to bring family and friends together, particularly at the holidays.
• This special collection includes more than 1,400 of the most requested, most beloved dishes, all submitted by Taste of Home readers
• Each recipe has been evaluated and selected by Taste of Home, which ensures that it can be prepared with affordable everyday ingredients. 
• Practical and proven tips to help every kind of cook enjoy perfect results every time 
• Personal stories and memories from contributors are sprinkled throughout

Features

• Prep/Cook Times
• Top 100 favorite recipes marked with an icon
• Everyday ingredients
• Easy-to-follow directions
• How-to photos and cooking tips
• Personal stories
• Ribbon marker

Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes at a Glance
26 chapters inspired by the most popular magazine feature

About Taste of Home
Taste of Home is America's connection to the personal recipes of people who cook at home as a way to bring family and friends together, particularly at the holidays. Each year, thousands of people from across the United States and Canada submit more than 40,000 recipes, of which 3,000 are published. Every recipe that is published is carefully evaluated and selected by the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, which ensures that it can be prepared with affordable, everyday ingredients. Taste of Home content is available in print; online at Tasteofhome.comhttp:/Tasteofhome.com; in books; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and Kindle; and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Obtain a subscription www.TasteofHome.com or on your favorite digital download device.

For more information please visit http://www.TasteofHome.com, and follow on Facebook and Twitter

I was provided this cookbook to review for free, but was not compensated for my opinion.  The opinions are my own.