Seasons > American Independence Day > Activities for the Home > Red, White and Blue Food

Although there are some red foods (not as many as you would think,) there are not any naturally blue foods, other than blueberries,. That’s where food coloring can help.  I don’t try to make everything red, white and blue (I don’t dye the mashed potatoes colors,) but it is fun to have one or two foods that look patriotic. And cookie cutters can make all manner of foods join the festivities. Here is an idea to make things really pop--fireworks in the mouth!

Jello is probably one of the easiest ways to make red, white, and blue food. Here, chunks of jello have been layered with white star shaped marshmallows, since kids often like their jello plain. But grownups would probably prefer it with lots of fruit, nuts, and a cream cheese white layer. Whether it’s in a big bowl, or individual servings, make sure to put them in clear containers so you can see the layers. If you can’t get jello locally, make it with fruit juice, food coloring, and gelatin.

Star Jigglers--You can also half the water used to make jello to make an especially strong jello called “jigglers.” Once the jello has set, use cookie cutters to cut star shaped jello you can eat with your fingers. 

Rainbow cake--Another way to use jello is to poke holes in the top of a white cake layer or cupcakes while they are still warm, and pour warm red and blue jello over the top of the cake. Once it cools, and you cut the cake, or bite into the cupcake, you can see lines of red and blue where the jello ran into the holes. If you feel unsure about how to make these, go to the Jello website.

Strawberries and blueberries are the quintessential ingredients for red, white, and blue food. These are the foods you see in all the magazines, but do real people make them? I’m a sucker for them, so others must fall for it, too.

1. 1.Mini tarts--Buy frozen shells. Make instant vanilla pudding, and fold in whipped cream or whipped topping. top with a blueberry and slices of strawberry (that’s all that will fit in these one-bite treats!)
   

2. 2.Star shaped strawberry short cake--Make everything like the mini tarts, but instead of the frozen shells, make star shaped biscuits or scones. Split into layers and mound on the whipped cream and fruit.
   

3. 3.Trifle--layer cubes of cake (frozen pound cake makes it super simple) with strawberry jam, strawberries, and pudding mixed with whipped cream. Add blueberries for the blue color, if you wish. Traditionally Brits splash the cake layers with sherry. Make it in a deep clear glass bowl, or let everyone make their own in parfait glasses.
   

4. 4.Flag cake--Bake a sheet cake and ice it (with icing or whipped cream.) Alternate rows of strawberries (or fruit by the foot) with plain icing, and crowd rows of blueberries into the top left corner.

Put poprocks in the drinks, or sprinkle on top of cupcakes to make little explosions go off in everyone’s mouth. Don’t warn them--just let them be experience it, and wonder what in the world is happening to them. The first year you do this, everyone will be shocked. But your kids might like it so much that they insist it becomes part of the family tradition.

Star cookies--one of the few foods you can combine the star shape and the red, white, and blue colors. They can be a lot of work, so let the kids make them. Here are some ways to try to save time.

1. 1.Buy pre-made cookie dough, or make dough ahead and freeze it, or bake the cookies a couple of weeks before the holiday and freeze them. Then all you have to do is thaw and decorate them when you are busy with all the meal preparations.
   

2. 2.Ice by dipping them into warm icing and sprinkle on sprinkles (jimmies, hundreds and thousands) before the icing cools and hardens.       view recipe and link to Wilton website
   

3. 3.Put icing in a zip-lock bag and cut off the corner to form a small hole. Squeeze out icing onto the cookies, but just do dots, zig-zags, or outline the cookies.
   

4. 4.Skip the icing all together, and color a third of the dough red, and a third blue. Use different sizes of cookie cutters and swap pieces--fit them together like puzzles, or just stack different colors and sizes of stars.

Patriotic cupcakes

1. 1.Poke little flags on toothpicks into each cupcake
   

2. 2.Press a star cookie into the icing on each cupcake
   

3. 3.Ice a third white, a third red, and a third blue, and sprinkle with sprinkles (jimmies, hundreds and thousands)
   

4. 4.If you don’t mind going to a lot of work, make little flags on the top of each cupcake with red and blue icing, or fruit by the foot.
   

5. 5.Some dollar stores sell cardboard cupcake stands for birthdays. Cover it is red, white, or blue paper or contact paper, and stack the cupcakes on that for a centerpiece.
   

6. 6.Some people line their cupcakes up like a flag--rows of red and white, with a corner of blue. But you have to have a lot of cupcakes! You might want to bake mini ones for that.

A few more ideas

1. 1.Cut stars out of red peppers and add them to salads
   

2. 2.Make a pasta salad with Ranch dressing. Add red cherry tomatoes and red pepper stars. Black olives and eggplant (cubed, marinated in Italian dressing and fried) both give the impression of being dark blue. You could even cut the eggplant into star shapes.
   

3. 3.Use star cookie cutters to shape rice, mashed potatoes, potato salad, or sandwiches.
   

4. 4.Make Sprite or some other clear drink red or blue with food coloring--color the whole bottle, or put a drop in the bottom of glasses so the drink turns a color when it is filled. Of course, if you like the flavor, a natural way to make red drinks is to add cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, or frozen rasberries (my personal favorite.) According to Martha Stewart, if you pour the different colors in slowly down the edge of a tipped glass, you can get layers of red, white and blue drinks.
   

5. 5.Make red and blue star shaped ice cubes to put in drinks. (they sell star shaped ice cube trays at hundred yen stores and where ever you find silicone molds)
   

6. 6.Make red, white and blue shaved ice with red and blue syrup.
   

7. 7.Fill Parfait cups with red, white and blue candy for a treat that doubles as a centerpiece.

These decorations only cost $5 from the dollar store--2 buntings, a pack of balloons, napkins, and a centerpiece. For a few more dollars, I could have had a bunch of star-shaped red white and blue helium balloons anchored to the base (the centerpiece.

Seasons > American Independence Day > Activities for the Home > Red, White and Blue Food