There are a few classics that most of us expect at a Fourth of July cookout. Why not try them with a new twist?

Appetizers:
Chili & Cheese dip
2 cans Hormel chili (bean or no bean)
1 pkg. cream cheese
½ bag shredded taco cheese

• Put everything in a small casserole dish and microwave for a minute at a time, stirring in between.
• Serve with tortilla chips.
• P.S. This takes literally 5 minutes and everyone loves it!

Dilly-Crab Dip
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup light sour cream
1 cup flaked cooked crabmeat or crab flavored flake fish (surimi)
1 tsp. dried dill weed
2 tsp. shredded lime peel
1 tsp. lime juice
A dash of: hot pepper sauce & ground red pepper
4 cups fresh veggie dippers

• Stir everything together except veggie dippers and refrigerate overnight
• Serve in a halved artichoke for pizzazz!

Side Dishes:
Ham & Cheese Pasta Salad
1 cup dry elbow macaroni
1 ½ cups cubed, cooked ham
4 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 tbsp. diced pimiento
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sweet pickle relish or chopped sweet pickles
1 tbsp. milk
Dash pepper
8 cherry tomatoes, halved

• Cook pasta according to package, drain, rinse and then drain.
• In a large bowl combine pasta, ham, cheese, peas, celery, onion and pimiento.
• In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, pickles, milk and pepper.
• Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.
• Chill for 4 or more hours; add more milk before serving if necessary. Arrange tomatoes on top.

New Potato Salad
3 lbs. tiny new potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. lemon-pepper seasoning
2 tsp. dried dill weed
4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2-6oz. jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
¾ cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. chopped dill pickles

• Boil potatoes until tender, drain, cool and cut into bite size pieces.
• In a large bowl, stir together mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon-pepper seasoning and dill.
• Fold potatoes, eggs, artichokes, onion and pickle. Cover and chill for 4 or more hours.

Dinner:
Cut up kielbasa and put on platter with cold hotdogs; let guest roast them on stick around an open fire.

Dessert:
Make sugar cookie dough, divide in half, color one with red icing coloring and one with blue. Using a large star cookie cutter and a small one, make star cookies and stars with the center punched out. Alternate colors, and cook the star “middles” as bite size cookies. When cookies have cooled, ice the full star with white icing and top it with the center-less star, to make a sandwich, with a window.

Strawberry Shortcake

• Make biscuits from Bisquik, following the directions on the box, except add a dash more milk and ¼ cup of sugar.
• Chop 1 cup Merkens white chocolate. Mix half into the biscuit mix, Form biscuits and roll then in sugar. Bake as directed.
• In a bowl, beat a pint of whipping cream, once soft peaks form, beat in one package of Marcapine (or cream cheese) and 1 cup powdered sugar.
• When building shortcakes, halve biscuit, layer on a scoop of whipped mixture and some berries, and whipped mixture. Sprinkle leftover white chocolate, garnish with chocolate dipped strawberry if desired.

Activities:
It’s good to have some games to keep kids occupied and help adults to loosen up!

Dueling Nozzles (or wet soccer)
Each team gets a hose and tries to push the ball across its goal line with the spray. The hotter the game gets the more creative the defensive strategies. A well-timed body block can be a cool trick. And keep an eye on that back line for hose interference!

Try a new twist on the Three-legged race by binding partners together through sharing a pair of sweat pants or pantyhose.

Water Balloon Baseball
Blow up tons of water balloons and put them in laundry baskets or other safe containers. Get a baseball bat or whiffle ball bat, find a large enough area for the game, and set up bases. The two teams take turns batting and fielding as usual, but the batter has to hit, and break the water balloon, once they do, they try to run the bases without getting tagged by the fielders. Each player scores a point for breaking the balloon, and another for making it around the bases.

Décor:
Fill jars with red, white and blue candies for centerpieces; stick a small flag out the top. Set tables with traditional red and white table covers, add accents with blue plates and cups. Setting up white pillar candles around the space can do wonders for the ambience. Consider floating candles in old canning jars. Fill the bottom with blue marbles and tie a red bow around the neck.

Make sure to have some red, white and blue balloons, try accenting the latex with silver-star mylars.