My Mom, Dad, 18 year old niece, and I enjoyed a Red, White, and Blue themed meal at my parents Lake House on the 4th of July. Each of us contributed to the meal in some way. My Mom made the tomato sauce and decorated the table. My Dad cooked on the grill. My niece made the breadsticks. I made the white pesto and ice cream sundae’s.

Red, White & Blue Platter  – tomato, fresh Mozzarella, grilled eggplant

White Pesto – without the pasta

Breadsticks – with tomato sauce to dip

Red, White & Blue Sundae – raspberry sauce, vanilla ice cream, blueberry sauce, fresh whipped cream, red and blue sanding sugar (berry sauce – frozen blueberries and raspberries each cooked with a little simple syrup – cornstarch to thicken)

My critique of the meal:

My Mom had paper American flags and as a last minute idea I stuck them in radishes. They were easy and looked cute. After the meal my Dad ate all of the radishes. It is already well-known that my Dad loves radishes. My Mom decorated the rest of the table. I would not make the white pesto again. It was not special enough for me. My 18 year old niece’s breadsticks were amazing. I shaped them (since I love working with bread dough) but she did everything else, including making and applying the delicious topping. It was my first time making a fruit sauce sundae. My Mom, Dad, and I loved it. The niece had chocolate which is her favorite.

In full disclosure, I am the only one that ate the meal as pictured. The others also had grilled hot dogs.