Give me liberty or give me death

Tomorrow is the fourth of July. I am sure most of you know this. It's kind of hard to miss all of the firework stands by the side of the road and the sales on hamburgers and rolls and corn on the cob. I think our family was invited to 3 picnics for one holiday. Because of the hardships many in our country have faced during these last couple of months, picnics, holidays, all of these things mean so much more. For some they mean a meal. For others they mean seeing family and friends and realizing people still care about them. For still others it means laying aside the budgets and bills and enjoying simple pleasures like watermelon, corn on the cob, burnt hotdogs, and cheeseburgers.

The founding of our country was not an easy process. The Pilgrims came to this land and almost didn't survive the first winter. The colonists decided they were sick of British rule and taxes;they got together and Thomas Jefferson penned that beautiful piece of work called the Declaration of Independence, starting the revolution and the founding of our country. The patriots that helped start our country had true beliefs and feelings. They would rather die than give in. They would fight till they got what they wanted.

I know you are all reading this and saying, "Emily I thought this blog was about food. What in the world does all of this history have to do with anything?" You're right. That all had nothing to do with food. But I was raised to be thankful for every bite of food I was given to eat. I feel as if the picnics and meals on this fourth of July will be more appreciated than they have been in past years. At least I hope so. It is not often that our country faces a hardship and a recession like the one we are in the middle of right now, but these hard times normally bring us as a people closer to our family and friends. It is easy to see what is more important when one does not have much to begin with, and what better to share these feelings around than a pot of baked beans and chilidogs.

I hope tomorrow you have a full day planned and I hope that day involves a lot of good food, or even bad food if it also involves good company. If you have been asked to bring a dessert to a picnic tomorrow and are about to pull your hair out because you totally forgot until I brought it up, think about "cooking" up a trifle.

Summer Berry Trifle

The best thing about a trifle is that i never use a recipe. Buy(yes I said buy)a frozen pound cake. It'll save you time and, to be perfectly honest, frustration, in case the cake doesn't work out. Take the pound cake and cut it into slices horizontally and then cut each slice into nice sized squares. Grab that orange you have in your refrigerator, that you haven't eaten but bought because you really meant to eat fruit this summer; cut it in half and juice it. Buy a cup of heavy cream and 8 oz. cream cheese. Put about a tablespoon of honey and the cream cheese into the mixer. Mix the honey and cream cheese till smooth. Add the heavy cream and whip until the mixture is stiff. Taste it and make sure it is sweet enough for you.

Get a nice glass bowl and layer the bottom of it with cake. Pour some of the orange juice on it. (If you have no orange juice and there's some Juicy Juice in the fridge, use it. Just don't use too much, and make sure it is semi tart and not overly sweet.) Next scoop on some of the heavy cream mixture and spread over the cake. A lot of berries are in season now. You can make it one type of berry or a whole lot of different kinds of berries. If you're using strawberries I would cut each strawberry into 4. Blueberries and raspberries obviously don't need to be cut. Put a nice layer of fruit over the cream. Layer another layer of cake(pour the juice on it) and another layer of cream and most likely another layer of berries. The amount of layers will depend on how many ingredients you have and how deep the bowl is. You will probably have a lot of cream so make that layer thicker.

To add a nice touch to the dessert (remember it's always about presentation) zest a lemon or an orange and sprinkle the zest on top. Also top with some of the nicest fruit and possible whole strawberries. Remember this is not a tried and true recipe that you have to follow to a T. Have fun, throw in the kitchen sink, and TASTE IT!!! Only you will know if the cream is sweet enough or if the berries are sour.

Have a wonderful and safe fourth of July and remember all of the things we have to be thankful of on our countries birthday.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily