One of my Japanese language partners actually lives in Philadelphia. Over 4th of July weekend, she and her husband visited me and my parents at our family Lake House. We all had a wonderful time!

USA Theme Individual Appetizer Plate

• Palm Leaf Plates
• Ranch Dip in Flag Muffin Liner – Hidden Valley Ranch Dip packet with sour cream
• Radish
• Cauliflower
• Homemade blue potato chips
• Statue of Liberty salted tortilla chip –  tortilla cut with a cookie cutter, brush with olive oil, sprinkled with salt – bake in 375 over for about 10 minutes
• Cheesecake Strawberry
• Red and Blue Mini M&M’s
• Cherry tomato, star cucumber (cut with a cookie cutter) black olive on a wooden skewer
• Freeze dried strawberries and blueberries

Caprese Pizza with Balsamic Drizzle

USA Red White Blue Dessert

• USA Cookie – sugar cookie with red, white, blue sanding sugar
• Strawberry Ice Cream

My critique of the meal: I really enjoyed designing and creating the individual vegetarian charcuterie boards. We all enjoyed eating the appetizers. The pizza and dessert were easy and delicious. I made and froze the cookies a week before the party.