Fourth of July Recipes Recipe

Great easy and healthier alternatives for the 4th celebration. I particularly like the Black Bean dish.

The guacamole sounds great, never tried with curry powder before. A nice twist! The best avocadoes I have ever eaten come home-grown on my sister's property in Israel. Bucketloads of them. Pure, creamy heaven and nothing more than a sprinkle of salt and pepper required. That's how food should be, simple, fresh and natural. That's also why we both enjoy your postings on your website. Great car shot, by the way! Truly American!

@Becks: Barbecued bananas go great with ice cream, frozen yogurt, or as a topping for pastries. Not sure what you're looking for, but that's been a family favorite since I was six and bullied my parents into doing it. You leave the bananas in their skins, and leave them near the coals till the skins are black and the bananas are mushy when you press on the skins. It's best if the bananas are already brown when you throw them on, because they're sweeter... but yellow ones work too. Serve hot!

We’re planning on grilling up a storm this weekend. I just posted a recipe share link on my site. Hope you’ll stop by and add a favorite: http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/07/friday-feasts.html

HI. I love your beautiful yummy blog! I have been meaning to write and let you know I added you to my new food blog sidebar recently & enjoy going to your blog as a daily read. Just wanted to stop by and introduce myself! Have a great day.

Hi Heidi! I've been following your blog for some time and I want to thank you for sharing your recipe ideas and food suggestions :) I was led to your Olive Oil Cracker recipe through the Hummus recipe linked here, and that led me to wonder if you've ever tried/made the Swedish knäckebröd (crispbreads). There seem to be a few different textures, and one of them, the very thin variety, is my favourite. I like them even more in the form of knäckesticks (cut into long narrower strips), as can be seen here: http://www.vilmas.se/products.php?lang=en&prod=knacke_rye With a little butter (or dip), they're perfect eaten as a snack :)

Love the photo of the car. Happy 4th!

I have to try the Lime & Peanut Coleslaw Recipe. I love the refreshing taste of citrus in most things, but particularly salads in the summer time. I recently found and posted another Citrus based cole slaw. Have a Happy 4th of July!

a happy 4th july!and many amazing recipes like these !

Your recipies are so nice!! , love the use of different ingredients & flavors!!!

To Frank in the U.K: Fresca here indicated raw vegetables, in contrast to the roasted and smoked ones used in the recipe Heidi posted. Chipotles are jalapeno peppers allowed to ripen until they are red, and then smoked. If you don't have a source for Mexican food and aren't inclined to improvise, you could probably mail order them. Muhamarra was explained in the recipe. Can't help you with walnut slather, but you can probably figure it out in context. Tempeh is a cake made from fermented soybeans. Although it's made at home in Southeast Asia, it is usually bought from health food stores or Asian stores here in the U.S. Baby arugula is not the infant version of some adorable furry or feathered creature; it's just the young leaves of the plant you call rocket. Orzo is a tiny, rice-shaped pasta. Before the days of imported pasta in supermarkets, I used to find it in Greek and Middle-Eastern stores. And finally, you are quite right, we call fresh coriander cilantro - although we call the dried spice version coriander! HS: Sara, thanks for jumping in here to respond. Much much appreciated.

I am definitely going to make your lime and peanut coleslaw next time I make grilled chicken satay!

The lime and peanut coleslaw sounds perfect...cool and refreshing with the peanuts adding a little girth. Nicely done. Cheers, Cherie http://cheriepicked.com

I’m having a lot of trouble with understanding many of your ingredients and am wondering whether there is any way you can give the equivalents that might be more understandable to a non-US audience. Your latest posting had these gems:- fresca, chipotles, muhammara, walnut slather, chipotle-marinated tempeh, baby arugula and orzo. From my basic Italian I would think that fresca meant fresh, but not in the context in which you used it. To get you started with the translation process, garbanzo beans are also called chickpeas or gram. In India they are besan, and we often find that name on the packets in the supermarket here in the UK. I’m relying on memory here, but I think cilantro is coriander. I hope this is not too onerous a task, because if it is I do have a fallback plan to pump an American friend or two for the info.

Love the kebab recipe -- here is another one that I love as well, for holiday weekend grilling: http://framed-mylifeonepictureatatime.blogspot.com/2009/06/scallop-orange-and-cucumber-kabobs.html Happy Fourth!

I have made the Lime Peanut Coleslaw numerous times since it was published here. Delicious! I used cashews once when I ran out of peanuts. I prefer the peanuts, but it was still good with cashews.

Thanks so much for the recipes, I really want to try the salsa and a couple of others, and I make the guacamole all of the time... Everyone who has had it loves it!

Thank you SO MUCH for the Lime & Peanut coleslaw recipe...as someone who can't stand mayo or many salad dressings there are not many slaws that I like. But this one sounds PERFECT and I have a bunch of napa to use up that I think will work wonderfully for this!!

Heidi, I am your biggest fan... What could be better than spending a 4th eating all of these amazing (and healthy) dishes. FYI, my very good friend Michael Mina was down here in Newport Beach last week. I turned him onto 101 cookbooks and he flipped. You not know this, but Michael now offers each of his specialized menus in vegetarian options. Check it out...

I can't wait to introduce the super-orzo salad to my friends this weekend. Last time my husband and I downed it a bit too quickly to share, but I know it's going to be a hit on the 4th!

Heidi is an absolute GODDESS. This has saved my life, I am not vegetarian, but have friends on both sides, and as I'm hosting a huge BBQ this year, Was in a pickle, but as always Heidi saves the day! Thank you Thank You Thank You, Heidi... forever in your debt

During the Fourth of July people end up gaining tons of weight from eating tons of junk food. It just adds to their health problems, with these great recipes, they won't have that problem and they can eat as much as they want. I am definitely putting a link up to this post on my blog. Great post!

Tasty~ Healthy~ Amazing~ Recipes~ Happy Fourth~ http://foodcreate.com

Your light lime & peanut coleslaw recipe looks wonderful. I seem to have a growing intolerance toward peanuts, so I wonder if cashews or even walnuts might be worthy substitutes (walnuts might be too flavorful for a light coleslaw, so maybe not).. Your Guacamole recipe with walnuts sounds fabulous. Oh, too much here that sounds good to know where to start!

Sounds great Heidi, although I'm curious why you chose a lot of ethnic dishes for an American holiday? Anyway, I will definitely try some of these guys soon!

your recipies are so different GREAT , love the use of different ingredients & flavors.lots of veggies and dinners w/no meat. the orzo salad will be on my 7/4 table . the lasagna tart also looks yummy/ thank you from those of us who cant eat a lot of regular recipies,& have to redo them. sally

What a great list of recipes! Perfect for the 4th of July weekend. I am going to make the orzo salad for sure, and the lime & peanut coleslaw is intriguing to me.

Hello Heidi and thanks for the lovely recipes. I make Quinoa Taboule for my DD as she has Celiac and can't have any wheat. Everyone loves it. Just make it your normal way only use Quinoa instead of bulgar wheat. I cook the Quinoa in organic roasted vegetable broth with a tiny bit of salt and then proceed with one whole juice of lemon. Veggies added of your choice, of course. God bless you all and have a happy 4th. too Heidi.

Love the salsa recipe especially--may have to try today! BTW, I made your garlic-yogurt-cumin slathered tofu last night. Wow. I put in a fun springroll with jicama, lettuce, arugula and basil. Amazing! As we were devouring the springrolls, I was already thinking about all the ways I could use that recipe again, perhaps in lasagna. When you're thinking of how to make it again asap, it struck me that it's that kind of response to a recipe that is a great measure of it's brilliance!

thanks for the amazing recipes. i have lots of yummy veggies i hope to try out this weekend.

Great healthy recipes!

I see this car parked in the neighborhood all the time and I just think it's the coolest thing in the world.

I love the picture, it's so calm and serene. I hadn't seen that quinoa skillet recipe before, I'll have to try it!

Great photo and wonderful recipe selection.

I'm going to tweet this bc healthy eating on 4th of July is something everyone can benefit from! Here in Boston we'll be lucky if the rain stops long enough for BBQing anything, but orzo will save the day! HS: Thanks Michelle!

thanks for these recipes! it's similar in DC, except really i live in the suburbs so there's a big more green, red, white & blue. can't wait to be inspired by your recipes!

Get up to the top of Mt. Tam for the fireworks, and stay at the inn. You'll be well above the fogline, and able to see the 'works in three or four different cities, depending on the weather. The incredible setting makes up for the distance and sound delay. This was my 4th tradition for several years there.

I spent the last 6 years on the Central Coast of California, and the majority of those years, it was too foggy to see fireworks. It's always a little disappointing!

Good times! That salsa recipe looks especially delicious. I was wondering, do you have any desserts you would recommend for a BBQ? I'm assigned to bring a dessert this year, and I want to bring something different.

Just made the orzo salad tonight. It only took a couple of minutes more than it took to cook the orzo. I didn't have sprouts, so I threw in shredded carrots. Dill would be delish in place of cilantro. The lemon dressing was awesome!!! I love all the mods people have suggested in the comments....hoping to try the splash of cream. Thanks so much Heidi for all of the recipes.