Red white and blue desserts, flag cake, patriotic party foods for July 4

Looking for fun red white and blue desserts and patriotic party foods for Memorial Day? Here are recipes for flag cake, RWB party foods and snacks and kid-friendly Remembrance day snacks. 

* Remembrance Day cake. Bake any flavored cake and frost white. Let each guest write the name of a loved one who has passed away in red or blue frosting. Write "we remember" in the center. 

* Fruity Flag cake. Make red velvet cake. Frost with white frosting or whipped topping. Arrange sliced strawberries in rows to form stripes. Place blueberries in top left corner (with white frosting showing through) to create field of stars. * RWB candy flag cake. Make flag cake with red velvet and white frosting. Decorate with red and blue M & Ms.

* Star-spangled jigglers. Make blue and red finger Jell-O (use less water or add unflavored gelatin to make Jell-O Jigglers). Cut into star shapes. Mix with white mini marshmallows. 

* Patriotic stained glass cookies. Cut refrigerated sugar cookie dough into triangles. Arrange point side out to form star. Place clear blue or red Jolly Rancher candy in center. Bake cookies and melt candy to fill center. 

* RWB coolers. Mix Squirt and cranberry juice. Make blue raspberry Kool-Aid ice cubes or use blue popsicle as ice cube. 

* Flag kebobs. On large wooden skewer, alternate strawberry slices or raspberries, blueberries and white marshmallows. 

* Patriotic parfait. Layer in fluted parfait glasses: whipped topping or vanilla pudding, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. 

* RWB cheesecake. Make or buy a plain cheesecake. Make concentric circles of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Make "stars" with white decorators frosting. 

* Cut cheese slices and lunch meat in star shapes. Or cut sandwiches in star shapes. 

* Letter and number pretzels. Have children make Memorial Day themed words: American, freedom, stars, flag, 13, USA. 

* Red and purple pepper slices with ranch dip. Or hollow out red peppers and fill with blue corn chips and dip. 

* RWB dogs. Serve hot dogs on white buns. Garnish with mayonnaise dyed blue. For vegetarians, use white Mozzarella cheese sticks, blue mayo and ketchup. For more party recipes, visit my blogs Great Food 4U and DIY Party Planner.

Graduation open house appetizer recipes: Easy, cheap open house hors d'oeurves

Oh, oh! You put off planning that graduation open house until the last minute. Here 25-plus graduation open house appetizer recipes. Use these easy cheap open house hors d'oeuvres and finger foods for weddings, bridal showers, first Communion receptions and other open houses. Don't feel the need to make a full meal. Appetizers, snacks and finger food are much easier and cheaper than full buffets. 

Fresh Fruit Kebabs: Make ahead or let guests DIY. Set out a fruit tray with kebab spears, toothpicks or plastic restaurant cocktail swords. Use a variety of color: green grapes, yellow pineapple chunks, strawberries, blueberries, canned mandarin orange segments. Guest DIY fruit kebabs mean less waste of fruit and saves you work. 

Holiday Hedgehogs. These were a Christmas appetizer staple in the UK and I think they're adorable. You cover a potato in foil and poke appetizers on toothpicks to make the quills. YouTube channel "Dear Old Blighty" shows lots of creativity in making the eyes, nose and mouths. Personal favorite is a pear for the body with a cranberry stick on the stem for the nose. I'd probably use raisins or sliced olives for eyes. Put anything you like on toothpick appetizers. A suggestion would be to go with school colors or a rainbow, with pineapple cubes, mandarin orange slices or cheese, watermelon cubes, green grapes and blueberries. I guess cocktail wieners and cheese were popular too.  I would give the hedgehog a tiny scarf with school colors too! 

Savory hors d'oeuvres: Make a variety of colorful appetizers; here are several popular kinds.

--Spread cream cheese on both sweet and dill pickles. Wrap each pickle in a slice of lunch meat (ham or turkey breast). Slice width-wise.

--Place potato salad in a line along the middle of a slice of luncheon meat. Form meat into a roll. Secure with toothpick. 

--Checkerboard finger sandwiches: Make triple-layer sandwiches of white, wheat and dark pumpernickel bread. Spread filling of choice (see suggestions below) on two slices of bread. (none on outside). Slice sandwich into 1/2 inch sandwich strips. Arrange on platter with alternating colors. Garnish with olives and grape tomato. 

Finger sandwich fillings: 

--cream cheese and jelly

--egg salad and green pepper

--cream cheese and cucumber 

--cream cheese and ham

--cream cheese and tomato

--roast beef, Swiss cheese and spicy brown mustard

--turkey, avocado

--ham and cranberry sauce

--PBJ

 Very veggie tray: set out an assortment of sliced and chopped cucumbers, colored peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, raw green beans, zucchini, summer squash, green onions, carrots and celery. Place salad dressings out for dip. 

"Sushi" sandwiches: Take one slice of deli cheese and one slice of deli meat. Roll them together around a green scallion and cucumber spear and cover with cream cheese. Roll in crushed walnuts and parsley. Slice in rolls.

Pretzel dogs: Spread cream cheese on half of long pretzel rod. Dip in honey mustard. Wrap some with meat and some with cheese. Place in a bowl and guests can grab and munch. 

Pinwheels rollups: Spread spinach or red pepper tortilla with cream cheese, spicy brown mustard or wasabi. Layer two large romaine lettuce leaves, several slices of deli cheese and tomato. Roll tortilla into tight log. Seal opening with cream cheese. Place seam side down and slice into pinwheels. 

Frosted sandwiches: Layer six slices of bread with alternating fillings. Frost with cream cheese colored in school colore, over outside of sandwich stack. Slice vertically through layers and then cut each piece into finger sized pieces. Filing suggestions: egg salad and tuna salad. Ham sandwich spread and chicken salad. Deli ham and deli cheese. 

Serve with iced sun tea and lemonade garnished with raspberries. Just a bit of trivia: I found some of these recipes in my mother's Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, circa 1971. I will spare you the recipes for tomato aspic and molded salads, though. 

Mexican recipes for Cinco de Mayo: Healthy, budget Latino party foods

Cinco de Mayo, May 5 celebrates the victory of Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It's not

the Mexican Independence Day and not celebrated much in Mexico, but it's a favorite Hispanic

American holiday. Here are Mexican recipes for Cinco de Mayo. Whip up these healthy, budget 4

ingredient, Latino-inspired foods to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. These Mexican dishes serve hungry

folks economically.

Cinco de Mayo Burritos (serves 4-6)

32-oz package frozen burritos or chimichangas (chicken and rice work well) 

24 oz. jar of salsa (Walmart is cheapest) 

8 oz. shredded cheese 

head of leaf or romaine lettuce

Coat 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange frozen burritos in single layer. Season with ground

cumin and hot pepper. Pour salsa over burritos. Rinse jar and add half of rinse water. Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted. Top with

lettuce, sour cream, fresh cilantro, lime wedges and black olives if desired.

Speedy Gonzales Spanish Rice

6 cups cooked rice (1 cup dry equals three cups cooked) 

25-oz jar of mango pineapple salsa 

chicken broth or cooked chicken with broth 

4 Cheese Mexican shredded cheese

Cook rice in broth. Blend salsa, rice and cheese. Top with more shredded cheese.

Tortilla Soup (serves 4-6)

baked tortilla chips or corn tortillas 

canned or cooked chicken breast (12 oz. can or two chicken breasts) 

16-oz jar lime cilantro 

shredded cheese 

Optional: green or black olives, can of corn, fresh chopped colored peppers, onions)

Combine cooked chicken, salsa (rinse water from jar and add to soup), any of the optional items and

simmer until heated. Season with cumin and garlic. Crumble chips in bowl; pour soup over top and

sprinkle shredded cheese over the top. Top with fresh tomatoes or cilantro if desired.

Chili Verde (serves 4-6)

one can chopped green chilies 

1 cup salsa or canned tomatoes with onions and celery 

chicken broth 

can of cheese soup or shredded cheese and cream cheese.  

Optional: cooked chicken

Combine all ingredients (rinsing all jars and cans and adding water). Simmer until blended and

heated. Top with sour cream if desired.

Mexican vegetarian 7-layer dip

Layer in glass baking dish: crushed tortilla chips, refried beans, chopped lettuce, guacamole,

chopped tomatoes and onions, shredded cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream. Top with black

olives. Serve with chips.

Fiesta Stuffed Avocados

Whole avocado 

Chili powder, cumin and garlic 

Mango salsa 

Low fat cream cheese or cottage cheese

Slice avocado lengthwise. Use spoon to carefully remove pit. Blend last three ingredients until

smooth. Scoop filling into center of avocado. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Citrus Cinco de Mayo Slush

Oranges, limes, lemons and limes are native to Mexico. Celebrate with this refreshing punch. Blend

one can lemonade (plus one can water), one can limeade (plus one can water), one can orange juice

(plus one can water), soda water or Squirt and ice made of soda. Partially freeze to slush. Serve from

ice bucket or cooler to stay slushy. Layer with sliced oranges, lemons and limes. Garnish with

maraschino cherries.

!Bienvenidoes! Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

Egg recipes to use up leftover Easter eggs: Raw and hard-boiled egg recipes

With the Easter holiday blowout over, are you are stuck with several dozen Easter eggs threatening to go bad? Whether raw or hard-cooked, eggs spoil fast. Here are healthy recipes to use up leftover Easter eggs. These recipes cover hard-boiled and raw eggs. Note: don't use eat hard-boiled eggs that sit at room temperature longer than three hours. Throw them out. Even cooked, unrefrigerated eggs cause illness.  

Raw Easter egg use-up recipes.

Easter Brunch Frittata or Omelet: Click here for my gluten-free quiche, frittata and omelet recipes. I've got a lot of helpful vegetarian and glute-free tips. 

Easter Brunch French Toast: This is a great leftover stale bread use-up recipe too. You can use any kind of sweet bread or regular. Whip eggs until smooth and add a little milk, about one per two slices of bread. Blend in one teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Melt ghee or butter in frying pan. Dip bread into egg mixture. Fry on both sides until browned but still tender and moist. Top with cream cheese and fresh or frozen berries and powdered sugar or maple syrup.

Easter Eggy Bread. This is similar to French toast except that you will use regular or savory bread and substitute savory herbs like garlic, oregano, dill, sage and/ore rosemary. Dip bread slices in whipped eggs and milk. Fry in ghee or bacon grease. Top with cheese and melt a bit. Make an Eggy Bread sandwich with bacon, leftover ham or sausage. Add in vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers, cilantro, onions if you like. Another great stale bread use-up recipe! 

Hard-boiled Easter egg use-up recipes.

Angel Eggs (otherwise known as deviled eggs and renamed by my children): Peel and rinse eggs. Using a sharp knife slice eggs lengthwise and remove yolk (egg pits, my son Jake called them). Mash yolk, mayonnaise, dill pickle relish and mustard into a smooth paste. Using a melon baller or small scoop, fill egg whites. Garnish with dill and paprika. These make tasty, keto diet high-protein snacks!

Power Tuna Salad; Cook, drain and chill Barilla Protein Plus noodles, any shape. Add avocado mayonnaise (or just avocado), diced hard boiled eggs, finely diced onion and celery, canned tuna, celery salt, pepper, and dill weed. Blend and top with sliced hard cooked eggs, fresh cilantro and smoked paprika. These diet food swaps are high in protein and complex carbs, low in fat and sugar. 

Shrimp Divine: This was my Grandmother's recipe. I don't know where she found it but it was served

at family get-togethers when I was a child. I developed a craving for it. Blend in saucepan over low

heat: 2 jars Kraft Old English cheese spread (in tiny jars in the refrigerated section), one can diced

tomatoes, 1 # 50/60 count or salad shrimp, 4 diced hard-cooked eggs, dash of Worcestershire sauce.

When heated and cooked, pour over rice or chow mien noodles. 

Easter Bunny crafts, edible Easter bunny recipes: homemade rabbit-themed treats

Spring is in the air! Time for Easter baskets, candy, baby animals and best of all, the Easter bunny! Did I mention Easter bunnies? If you're looking for cute edible Easter Bunny recipes and rabbit crafts to make? Here are three easy, edible, eco-friendly and uber-cute Easter Bunny crafts for ages 2 to 102 

Edi-bun-ables What's more fun than cute Easter Bunny crafts? Cute, edible Easter bunnies, that's what! Here are Easter Bunny recipes and homemade rabbit crafts you can eat! You'll need:--Hostess Twinkies or Sno Balls (coconut covered marshmallow cakes) or Dolly Madison Zingers or unfrosted cupcakes (one for each of the rabbit crafts)--Handi-Snacks Oreos Dunk'Ems (one pack for each of the Easter Bunny recipes) or oval cookies (Nutter Butter Peanut Butter sandwich cookies). ladyfingers, graham cracker sticks, or pretzels. You'll need white frosting too.--pink frosting--red jellybeans--coconut--square gum pellets like Chiklets.--miniature marshmallows To make Easter Bunny recipes open Handi-Snacks and use cookies to frost cupcake or Twinkie. Or use knife and plain frosting. If using pre-frosted Zingers or Sno Balls for Easter bunny recipes, skip to step three. Sprinkle frosted cake immediately with shredded coconut. Spread pink frosting on cookies or crackers for ears. If using pretzels, dip in pink frosting. Insert cookie "ears" in cake. Insert two jellybeans for eyes. Insert two gum pellets for teeth. Attach marshmallows with frosting for tail. 

Funny Bunny Clip Here are Easter Bunny crafts that put the "fun" in functional. These rabbits crafts make great gifts, too. too. For each of the Easter bunnies, you'll need: spring-loaded clothespins, small white pom-poms or cotton balls, tiny pink pom-poms, googly-eyes, three pipe cleaners and hot glue (or Tacky Glue) Glue three pink pom-poms to front of both pinchable "handles" of clothespin. Cover the remainder of both handles with white pom-poms or cotton balls. These are the ears. Glue two eyes to front above spring. Twist three pipe cleaners around center of clothespin. Leave equal amounts on both sides for whiskers. Glue pink pom-pom under eyes for nose. Voila, wearable rabbit crafts! "Fuzzy" 

Easter Bunny Mask or Easter bunnies greeting card Here are Easter Bunny crafts from the recycle bin You'll need: cereal boxes, square 1-inch white tissue paper scraps, red crayon or marker, rubber bands or string, scissors, pencils and glue. For Easter Bunny crafts, draw a rabbit face pattern: circle head, two protruding ovals for ears, two eye holes, mouth. Cut cereal box apart and trace bunny face on plain inside. Cut out bunny face. Color ear centers red. Fold tissue paper squares around pencil end, dip in glue. Affix to bunny face and around pink part on ears. This makes 3D "fuzzy" rabbit crafts. Glue two white paper squares for bunny buck teeth. Poke holes on side and tie string or rubber band on to hold mask in place. Or attach pencils or dowels for hand-held mask. Or attach to greeting card for pop-up Easter bunnies! 

Pizza recipes to teach math lessons teach geometry, fractions, decimals, percents for Pi Day

March 14 is Pi Day. It's not a spelling error for pie day. Pi is a Greek term denoting the mathematical portion 3.14 (or 22/7 in fraction form) used in geometry. That's why it's celebrated on 3/14. And Pi Day 2015 has math nerds especially geeked because it's pi to the 4th place value: 3.1415, reported WBEZ on March 13. Pi Day celebrates geometry and math. Take a bite out of math anxiety with these hands-on pizza "pie" math lessons for Pi Day. 

Teach shapes, numbers and colors with pizza. Cut differently-shaped and colored pizza toppings: mushrooms (white or brown discs or cylinders), onions (white cubes), sausage (brown spheres) pepperoni (red circles), colored peppers (cut in triangles) pineapple (yellow rectangles), cheese (cut as trapezoid, rhombus). Describe and discuss topping colors and shapes. Give each student a plate of pizza toppings and a small crust (or tortilla shell). Teach with food. Tell students to put five circles, two red things, three green rectangles, etc., on their pizza.

Teach sorting and classifying with pizza: Have students sort pizza toppings into categories. Tell them to place things that are orange in a pile. Sort by food group: dairy, vegetables and meat. Make a graph or pie chart of food groups

Teach adding and subtracting with pizza. Tell kids to put two of a certain topping on their pizza. Then add three more and count total. Begin with larger amounts and take away. Count to see how many are left. Teach skip counting adding by 2s, 3s, 5s and so on.

Teach fractions with pizza. Show students how to divide pizza in halves, thirds, quarters, eighths, etc. Demonstrate how two sixths equals one third, four eighths equals one half. Demonstrate how to reduce, find common denominators, add and subtract unlike fractions using pie shapes. Have each student divide his pizza into a different number of parts. Use clean string or yarn to temporarily section off pizza, so students can reuse. Or use a classroom set of pre-divided pizzas to demonstrate.

Teach multiplication and division with pizza. Divide pizzas into temporary sections or fractions as you did above. Pass out toppings. Show students how to count out one per topping per section until all are used. For example, divide pizza into eight sections and pass out 64 pepperoni pieces. For multiplication, do it the other way. Put equal number of toppings on each pizza section and count how many in all. Teach remainders by giving out uneven number of toppings and having kids divide.

Teach decimals with pizza. Explain that decimals are just fractions with base-ten denominators. The number of place values after the decimal point determines the denominator: one is tenths, two is hundredths, three is thousandths and so on. For this lesson, divide pizza into tenths. Teach basic fraction and decimal equivalencies.

Teach percent with pizzas. Demonstrate pizza as a pie graph. A whole pizza is 100 percent and any portion of it is a percent of 100. Half equals 50 percent; one quarter equals 25 percent and so on. Teach the relationship between fractions, decimals and percent (percents are fractions with denominators of 100. Decimals are percents without the decimal point: 37 percent is .37 or 37/100).

Teach ratios and proportions with pizza. Show students that proportions are actually fractions: A proportion of 3 to 10 is three parts out of ten parts total. Ratios are also comparisons. A classroom boy-girl ratio of 5:6 means five boys for every six girls. Use pizza toppings to teach proportions. Make pizzas with 3:10 pepperoni (three of every 10 toppings are pepperoni). For ratios, have students add a 2:3 ratio of green peppers to mushrooms.

When lessons are done let kids make pizzas to taste (removing what they don't like). Enjoy a Pi Day pizza party! Special education teachers make content approachable by teaching interactive, multisensory (smell, touch, taste) lessons. This is important for LD (learning disabled), ADHD (attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder) and CI (cognitively impaired) students. Indeed, hands-on lessons work better for all students. Activities with food are ideal. They're real-life, practical and fun! Plus, kids act up when they're hungry and behave better after they've eaten a healthy snack. Teaching with food makes content easier to visualize and improves receptivity to learning.

Fat burning oatmeal cleanse recipe, superfood antioxidants melt pounds

Was that New Year's resolution to lose weight? How's that going? Are you still following that diet or did your good intentions go out with the Christmas tree? What you need is a fresh start. Here's a yummy diet oatmeal cleanse recipe that features low calorie, lowfat, omega fatty acids, fat-burning foods, high protein, high fiber, superfood antioxidant goodness. Whew! One little meal sure accomplishes a lot! Purge those post-holiday pounds. I've lost over 100 pounds and I eat this daily. It's packed with protein to keep you going, plus it's super-fast to make in the microwave. Superfood Oatmeal Antioxidant Cleanse breakfast 1/4 cup oats (steel cut are supposed to be better for you, but they're twice the calories. You decide if it's worth it). 70 calories 1 teas. chia seeds (20 calories) 1 half small apple diced, cored unpeeled apple (25 calories) 1 tbsp. milled flax seed (35 calories) 1 teas. maca powder (10 calories) 1 tbsp. crushed almonds. (30 calories) 1/2 teas. coconut oil (20 calories) 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk. (10 calories) Splenda or Skinny Girl monkfruit sweetener (0 calories) 1/2 cup blueberries (35 calories) 1/4 cup. plain nonfat Greek yogurt (40 calories) kale (optional) 1/4 California avocado (optional, 80 calories) Cook oats and apple in water in the microwave. Sprinkle on other ingredients. Top oatmeal with blended blueberries and yogurt (add kale and avocado if you can stand it). Eat half a grapefruit 10 minutes before consuming (this cleanses impurities from your system and helps food digest better). Drink water with a lemon wedge with your breakfast. Grand total calories are 335 (more with avocado). For that, you get lots of protein, vitamins, fat burners, fiber, MUFAs (mono-unsaturated fatty acids aka linolenic acids: ALA, GLA, CLA). There are no transfats, refined or bleached flours or sugar. Warning, it is a cleanse. It will purge. You'll be going to the bathroom a few hours later, and you feel be a bit gassy as it flushes the yuck out. But this oatmeal recipe will fill you up and melt those pounds if you follow a healthy meal plan. If you want to follow my weight loss story, here's My Diet Digest blog and there are more diet recipes at Great Food 4U