Fourth of July Goodies

I was looking forward to this July 4th because we were planning on doing fireworks for the first time.  We live outside the city limits and are normally allowed to do fireworks in our neighborhood.  However, Texas is in an extreme drought so there was no buying or setting off fireworks at all and for good reason.  Almost all of the towns in the area cancelled their fireworks shows too because of the extreme wildfire conditions.  Instead we had a pool party with our neighborhoods with kiddie pools, water balloons, water guns and yummy goodies.

For our party I made some Red, White and Blue cupcakes and a delicious white wine sangria to help me cool down in this 100 degree heat.

For the Red, White and Blue cupcakes, I used the Rainbow Cupcakes method but instead of doing rainbow colors I dyed the cake batter red and blue (and left some white batter alone).  I layered the White Almond Sour Cream cake batter into cupcake wrappers, baked them and topped with buttercream and some patriotic sprinkles I found at the grocery store.  The result is super cute and yummy cupcakes.

They were a huge hit at the party and with my son who kept trying to pull them down from the counter.  I eventually threw a towel over the container so he wouldn't see them and keep asking to have cupcakes all day long.


The other item I made for our July 4th get together was a White Wine Sangria.  The weekend before July 4th I searched the internet for recipes but eventually came up with my own mixed based on what I had on hand.  I didn't measure anything and tasted as I went so if you try to make this you probably will need to taste test at least a few times to get the drink how you like it.

 
White Wine Sangria
1 large bottle white wine (I used Ste. Genevieve White)
1 bottle Club Soda
~1/4 cup Peach Schnapps
~1/2 cup sugar
~1 pint strawberries sliced in half
~1 cup frozen blueberries

Mix everything together in a pitcher and let set at least 4 fours or longer to allow the berries to penetrate the mix.  Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary.



This is great over ice and a perfect adult beverage for a hot day.  When you finish the pitcher of Sangria, throw the leftover blueberries and strawberries in the blender, add some ice and some more Peach Schnapps and have an adult smoothie.