4th of July Treats

Red, White and Blue Strawberries

• desired number of strawberries, washed and dried (completely)
• melted white chocolate
• blue sprinkles

Dip strawberries two-thirds of the way into chocolate. Then dip the bottom one-third into the sprinkles. I found it helpful to dip and roll gently, in order to get clean lines.

Red, White and Blue Drinks

• cranberry juice
• blue gatorade
• diet 7-Up
• ice cubes

Put a few ice cubes into a see-through glass. Pour 1/3 glass cranberry juice. Pour the blue gatorade next, being careful to pour onto an ice cube, instead of into the juice. Next, pour the diet 7-up, again on top of an ice cube.

*Note: This works because of the varying amounts of sugar in each of the liquids, which creates varying densities. I mistakenly asked for regular Sprite, instead of diet 7-Up, and had to pour "white" as the middle layer. This worked, except it would have been slightly better if the densities were more diverse. Also, you can do this with ANY JUICES/SODAS you want. Check the sugar content, and pour the one with the greatest amount of sugar on the bottom.

Pretzel Jello

• 2 cups crushed pretzel rods
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 TB sugar

• 8oz cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 (small) tub cool whip

• 1 large package of strawberry Jello
• 1 small package of frozen strawberries, chopped

Mix crushed pretzels, butter and sugar. Flatten into a baking dish and bake for 8 min at 400 degrees. Let cool. Mix Jello with water according to package directions, add strawberries. Set aside. Blend cream cheese and sugar, then add cool whip. Spread over crust, making sure to spread all the way to the edges on all sides, sealing in the crust. When the jello is completely cool and slightly set, pour over cool whip layer. Refrigerate until completely set.