Buttermilk Coleslaw

You probably already know that buttermilk is an ingredient in a lot of Southern food. Since I've been iving in the South for my entire life, I've used gallons and gallons of the stuff in my recipes. It adds a great “twang” to biscuits, pancakes, cornbread, and fried chicken, and it’s also great in coleslaw! Try this coleslaw recipe for your Memorial Day, July 4, or Labor Day cookout.

Holle’s Buttermilk Coleslaw

What you’ll need:

10 cups chopped or shredded cabbage

¼ cup chopped green onion

¼ cup thinly sliced celery

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Mix together cabbage, onions, and celery in a large bowl.

In another bowl, stir together mayo, buttermilk, vinegar, and sugar. Pour dressing over cabbage and toss with salt and pepper.

Cover and keep in fridge for several hours before serving.

July 4 Party Activities

If you’re hosting a July 4 party, chances are that it will be held outdoors. Maybe you’d like a few holiday ideas for keeping everyone entertained? This is especially important if you have kids at the event. I’ll tell you what we did for one of our big Fourth of July cookouts. We had a two-acre grassy area to work with, so all of these might not be feasible for you.

We had a lot of kids of all ages at our July 4 party, and this was before we had a swimming pool. We bought plastic wading pools and water guns and set them on the outskirts of the party area, and the kids had a blast! If you don’t want wet kids, you could fill the pools with small plastic balls or sand and sand pails. If you’re really adventurous, you could fill a wading pool with red jello!

We took bales of hay from the horse barn and made tunnels with them. All the kids loved crawling through the tunnels, and the older kids rearranged the hay bales to create rooms and caverns.

Something else the kids absolutely loved were the water balloon wars. All you need is a good supply of balloons, a water hose, and some towels. This is a great way for the kids to cool off!

We bought a cheap badminton set at the dollar store and set it up, too. We also made sure we had a good supply of Frisbees on hand.

We made a horseshoe pit and had several spirited rounds of horseshoe games. I think the men enjoyed this even more than the kids.

With all the above activities, the kids can move from station to station and play at their own pace. Little supervision or involvement is required from adults – at least, with the bigger kids.

If you prefer more organized activities, you could include some old-fashioned July 4 games:

Sack races – use pillowcases

Foot races – use age categories

3-legged races – use Velcro to join the legs together

Wheelbarrow races – the adult can be the driver and the kid can be the “wheelbarrow”

Tug o’ war – have a good mix of kids and adults on each team

To make the games even more fun, provide blue ribbons for the winners. You can find these at most dollar stores for a buck each.

July 4 Recipes: Firecracker Potato Salad

If you’re throwing a July 4 party and feeding folks, you’ll need some great July 4 recipes. Well, have I got a recipe for you! This is a super recipe for spicy potato salad. It’s a little bit sweet, and it has a kick. It’s not “fiery,” but it does have some heat. Of course, you can adjust the seasonings and make the salad milder or even hotter.

Holle’s Firecracker Potato Salad recipe

What you’ll need:

5 pounds potatoes

1 large red onion, chopped

8 boiled eggs, chopped

¼ cup sweet pickle relish

¼ cup diced celery

¼ cup diced pickled jalapenos1/4 cup diced red pepper

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons ground red pepper

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 ½ -2 cups mayonnaise

Directions: Peel and cube the potatoes. Cook in salted water until tender but not soft. Drain well and refrigerate until cool.

Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and chill.

If you wish to garnish the potato salad, cut out star shapes from red bell peppers and place on top.

July 4 Party Ideas - Drinks

Obviously, for a July 4 party, you’ll want most things to be red, white, and/or blue, right? If you’re having a meal, getting white, red, and blue tablecloths, napkins, plates, and cups is easy.  You can find them just about anywhere. Have you thought, however, about including some patriotic beverages?

An easy way to do this is to make red and blue ice cubes. Just buy some red soft drink, like Hawaiian Punch, along with some blue soft drink. Hawaiian Punch makes a blue raspberry, and I think Hi-C has a blue drink, too. Fill some plastic ice trays with the drinks and freeze – some blue and some red. Fill clear plastic cups with half red ice cubes and half blue ice cubes, and cover them with Sprite, 7UP, or ginger ale. Not only is this attractive, it also serves a functional purpose. In most parts of the United States, the weather is hot in July. Since most July 4 events are held outdoors, the ice cubes in drinks are going to melt rather quickly. If the ice cubes are the traditional kind made of water, they’ll dilute the drinks. But you won’t have to worry about this with the colored ice cubes because they’re also flavored!

You can do this the other way around, too. Use red or blue punch for the beverage, and make your ice cubes out of a clear soft drink. Freeze blueberries or raspberries inside the ice cubes for a whimsical effect.

Another way to add some colors to drinks is with fruit garnishes. Top the drinks with strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries, or use a partially split large strawberry on the rim of the cup of glass. Or pass a straw through the strawberry before placing it in the glass. For a really neat star-shape garnish, slice some star fruit and use them on the rims of glasses.

July 4 Party - BBQ Cooking

Okay, so you're thinking about having a crowd over to celebrate July 4, and you're searching for July 4 party ideas.Of course, just about any July 4 events will have to include food, right? A great way to feed everyone on the Fourth of July is with BBQ cooking. Why is that? Because BBQ cooking is done outdoors, where everyone will probably want to be if the weather's nice. If the cooking is done outdoors, it can be part of the festivites in itself. Also, the one doing the BBQ cooking won't be stuck inside while all the other July 4 party guests are having fun in the sun!

Another good reason to consider BBQ cooking for July 4 events that involve food is because a large amount of meat can be cooked at one time, especially if you use a large grill or smoker. The price per pound is usually much less for such cuts of meat, also. If you place the meat on a smoker, you won't have to attend to it much, so you can enjoy the party instead of working on the food.

Some good choices of meats for BBQ cooking on a smoker include fresh pork hams, pork spare ribs, baby back ribs, pork loins, beef briskets, and pork shoulders, also called "Boston butts." If you're expecting a large group of people, you might want to consider cooking a whole pig or a half pig and have a pig pickin', as we call it in the South! If you have a family member or friend who's into survival hunting - hunting for meat - you might be able to talk him into giving you a venison ham for the grill or smoker. Vension is excellent for BBQ cooking! If you need some recipes and info for BBQ cooking, just click the BBQ cooking link above!