We were so blessed with a beautiful day last Sunday. We had people from all corners of the state, as well as our local friends and neighbors here at our home for our annual Ice Cream Social. We enjoyed listening to Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers. We loved the bluegrass Ohio song.
The kids were fascinated by the horses of the mounted patrol in the field. The pies all got baked and served. Young’s ice cream was delicious, and the kids loved the vanilla and chocolate ice cream cones. We were lucky to have Dave Williamson in town to do the magic show. And the kids loved all the games — especially the pie eating contest.
My 4-year-old grandson kept thinking all week about the tiny dinosaur prizes for games and he was happy because he went home with four! The flowers were beautiful — especially the sunflowers on stage — signifying Ohio’s rising sun from the state seal. And the new cookbooks were delivered Friday so everyone went home with one!
Our thanks to Fred Luttenberger and all the volunteers — close to 300 — who just pitch right in and know what to do. Fred has been chairman of our event since we started so many years ago. Fred says there must have been close to 3,000 people because we ran out of our 2,400 name tags and people kept coming!
Today I’d like to share a couple of the recipes from our cookbooks that would be great for the 4th of July. The first one is Tina Husted’s baby back ribs. These are good because they bake very slowly in the oven — so you can go to a parade while they are cooking.
The next two recipes are from previous cookbooks. The potato salad recipe from my daughter Alice tastes so fresh and it can be made the night before. And of course the 4th of July fruit salad is frozen, then refrigerated. You can make it ahead, then decorate with the fresh berries to look like a flag close to serving time. Enjoy the 4th with your family!
Tina’s #1 Baby Back Ribs
Combine in a shaker for rub:
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
3 tablespoons kosher salt
4-5 pounds ribs — baby back preferred
Rub ribs with above mixture and set overnight in Ziploc bags in refrigerator.
Place ribs, meat side down, in a greased dutch oven. Add 1/4 cup water.
Bake in oven at 250° for 6-8 hours. Remove, baste with favorite BBQ sauce and place meat side up on parchment trays under broiler for 5-8 minutes.
Alice’s Potato Salad
3 pounds new potatoes
1 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped green mint
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
sliced black olives, optional
paprika
Wash, then chop potatoes into bite-size pieces. Boil potatoes in salted water until just tender. Combine remaining ingredients except paprika. Mix well, then add potatoes. Chill. Sprinkle with paprika before serving.
4th of July Fruit Salad
Combine and set aside:
1 cup blueberries, crushed
2 tablespoons sugar
Combine and set aside:
1 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
Fold together:
1 – 9 ounce container cool whip
2 – 8 ounce containers vanilla yogurt
Spread 1/3 of topping mixture into 9 inch square pan. Add a layer of strawberries, another layer of topping, and a layer of blueberries. Top with remaining topping mixture. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving and store in refrigerator. Cut into squares. Serves 9.
