4th of July

Happy belated 4th of July!

My family and I had an amazing time shooting off fireworks, playing with balloon swords, and eating yummy treats! This holiday is almost as big as Christmas to my family. We had almost 40 people celebrating and enjoying each others company. I used this opportunity to try a few new recipes!

Patriotic Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This is an idea I've seen all over the internet and since one of my favourite treats is chocolate covered strawberries, I had to give these a try! I purchased white melting chocolate and blue sprinkles from Michael's and got strawberries from Sprouts. It was really easy to follow the directions on the package for the the white chocolate (just be careful not to overheat!) I made an assembly line, used a toothpick to easily swirl the strawberries in chocolate, placed the finished strawberries on parchment paper, and refrigerated them. They were quite delicious!

Citrus Curry Quinoa

Quinoa is one of my new favourite grains to cook with. There are so many things you can do with it! I thought that citrus and curry would be good summer flavours to share with everyone. I found the recipe on allrecipes and tripled it for the number of people attending.When I took the pictures, I hadn't added the almonds yet. Also, I thought golden raisins would be a sweeter touch than normal ones.

1 cup quinoa
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1/2 cup raisins
sea salt to taste
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

1. Bring the quinoa, vegetable broth, and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
2. While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the dressing by whisking together the orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, honey, and curry powder in a mixing bowl. Stir in the cooked quinoa, red onion, and raisins; season to taste with sea salt. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator several hours until cold.
3. Stir in half of the toasted almonds immediately before serving. Sprinkle the remaining almonds over top to serve.  

I also attempted cute 4th of July nails! I'm not very good at painting my own nails but I thought these turned out pretty decent. 

I hope you and your families had a wonderful 4th of July!

"Love is not always fireworks and shooting stars; sometimes it's a simple understanding and trust between two people." ~ Unknown