Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday America! As we all celebrate America’s Independence with fireworks, family and get-togethers, we hope you can enjoy some fantastic tasting REAL food meals! Leave the hot dogs for the Coney Island contestants (can Joey Chestnut repeat from his “69 dogs in 10 minutes” performance last year?)! Instead, enjoy the hot dog eating contest on TV while you are grilling the Beer Can Chicken – we promise, the chicken is 100 times better! In honor of the holiday, we made ours with America’s blue ribbon beer…PBR! The chicken tastes amazing!
To keep up the red, white and blue theme, we have included a Blueberry Corn Salad, Pork Chops with Blueberry Ginger Relish, Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Mint Vinaigrette, and of course the holiday wouldn’t be complete without a REAL dessert…the Berry Raw Brownie Parfait! Any of these would be excellent choices to serve your family or friends!
We have also included a bonus recipe this week to help celebrate the 4th…a Red, White and Blueberry Spritzer! You can find it at https://eatrealamerica.com/recipes/red-white-blueberry-spritzer/.
The other meal ideas this week are great-tasting ways to take advantage of fresh farmer’s market ingredients – the Cod and Pasta Ratatouille is one of our favorites and is a great way to enjoy fresh, local produce from the farmer’s market!
A holiday wouldn’t be complete without wine pairings for your meal ideas! Thank you Beyond Napa!
PBR Beer Can Chicken: Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir from Australia
Pork Chops with Blueberry Ginger Relish: Barons de Rothschild White Bordeaux from France
Cod and Pasta Ratatouille: Radio Bocca Tempranillo from Spain
Farmer’s Market Hash with Kale and Bacon: Innocent Bystander Moscato from Australia
Summer Squash and White Bean Saute: Kris Pinot Grigio from Italy
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Entrée 1
PBR Beer Can Chicken
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Entrée 2Pork Chops with Blueberry Ginger Relish
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Entrée 3Cod and Pasta Ratatouille
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Side 1Sweet Surprise Corn Salad
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Side 2Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Mint Vinaigrette
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Side 3Berry and Raw Brownie Parfait
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Quick & Easy 1Farmers' Market Hash with Kale and Bacon
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Quick & Easy 2Summer Squash and White Bean Saute
- Like What You See?
THE REAL DEALS!
Get REAL Wichita will be doing the Chef’s Table at the Old Town Farmer’s Market this Saturday at 9 AM – stop by and see us! One of our partners – Graze the Prairie – will also be participating. There will be samples!
We received a request to expand Get REAL Wichita into Southwest Kansas — so we’ve added Prairie Oasis Learning Center’s CSA Program to our Get REAL Wichita partners! If you know someone in Southwest Kansas that would like to take advantage of their free choice CSA and their special offer for Get REAL Wichita members, please spread the word!
This is the last weekend in June to take advantage of your June Special Farmer’s Market coupons!
- Visit Phil and Lucy with Phil’s Farm for three of the meal ideas this week! Pick up a whole chicken for the Beer Can Chicken, pork chops for the Pork Chops with Blueberry Ginger Relish and bacon for the Farmer’s Market Hash!
- Southwest Corner Farm and Natural to the Corr will have tomatoes you can use in the Cod and Pasta Ratatouille and Farmer’s Market Hash!
- Leland Farms will have spinach for the Strawberry Spinach Salad!
- Elm Lane Farm will have kale to use in the Farmer’s Market Hash!
- Steve’s Jams & Jellies has introduced some new flavors…there are some great flavors to add to your ice cream this Summer!
Remember our other Get REAL Wichita partners for those ingredients you can’t get at the Farmer’s Market!
- The Seafood Shop has fresh cod for the Cod and Pasta Ratatouille!
- Use your Green Acres coupon for the rest of your ingredients for this week’s meal ideas!
After you have grilled out, celebrated with friends and family, or just want to sit back, relax and enjoy a delicious meal away from home – don’t forget about the discounts available from other Get REAL Wichita partners! Cow & Sow Deli, Garden Grill Cafe, Lotus Leaf Cafe, Avivo, Harvest Kitchen, Ciao, and Public at the Brickyard are just a few!
Enjoy your holiday!
A few bits of trivia about the 4th of July:
- Most believe that America declared its independence from the British monarchy on July 4, 1776. The official vote declaring America’s independence actually took place on July 2, but was published in the papers on July 4th.
- The first few Independence Day celebrations were celebrated with greenery instead of red, white and blue. And, artillery and cannons were used to celebrate until they deteriorated over time and were replaced with fireworks.
- The original hot dogs were sausages imported from Germany and there are many people who claim they “invented” the hot dog. One claim is a New York Evening Journal cartoonist who drew up a cartoon of a vendor at a New York Giants game who was calling them “red hots.” The cartoonist drew a dachshund sitting on a long bun and, since he couldn’t spell “dachshund,” he called them “hot dogs.” Hamburgers are the same way…there are many hot dog and hamburger claim-to-fame stories out there!
- America’s apple pie did not originate in America! Early European settlers brought the fruit and the original recipe with them!
- The modern U.S. flag was designed by a high-school student as part of a class project. The student added two extra stars for Alaska and Hawaii and did his own design. His grade…a “B minus.” He sent his project to President Eisenhower and the new flag was officially adopted in 1960.