From fun 4th Fruit Skewers to Chicken Fried Steak, have a great Independence Day!

It’s finally July! That means many are getting ready to celebrate the greatest country in the world’s birthday. It’s peach season, and cherries are now available from The Fruit Truck. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, order here: myfruittruck.com. These are perfect snacks for any family’s 4th of July celebrations, and we have some festive recipes for you below.

First though, Did you know The Fruit Truck delivers all over America?

Seriously, the number of cities this company makes stops in is remarkable. For instance, peaches and cherries will be in Grand Forks, N.D. July 3, Galesburg, Ill. July 6, Wichita, Kan., July 7, Amarillo, Texas, July 10…the list goes on. According to CEO and President, Irina Kleinsasser, The Fruit Truck has reached hundreds of thousands of customers in 25 states. If you have friends in other states, chances are, The Fruit Truck may make a stop in their town. Check out the schedule: https://www.myfruittruck.com/schedule.

Alright, now it’s time for some fun 4th Fruit Skewers. These are great for kids, and after I made them I realized I missed a key ingredient…BACON. Whoops. Add bacon if you’d like, it’s an odd combo but tastes ohhhh sooo good.

These are so simple and so patriotic.

Ingredients:

sliced cherries

blueberries

mozzarella pearls (or sliced mozzarella)

orange juice

BACON

fresh basil or mint if you’d like.

Instructions:

Stack them up and drizzle with OJ before serving. The OJ is optional too. Optimally you should toss them in the fridge for a little bit until ready to serve. Drizzle with orange juice when you are about to dig in.

Also, the cherries will bleed into the cheese, so if you want to keep it aesthetically pleasing, place a blueberry or some bacon in between the two.

Next, a simple recipe for the adults. How about some Peach & Cherry Sangria.

What you need:

Bottle of white wine of your choice

vodka

grenadine (I used cherry and pomegranate)

sugar

club soda

cherries

peaches

fresh basil

Instructions: Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup vodka in a pitcher; stir until sugar dissolves. Add cherries, peaches, basil and wine. Chill for 8 hours or overnight. Just before serving, stir in club soda and grenadine.

I grow basil in my garden, that’s why I use it in so many things. You can add or omit what you’d like in this drink, even the alcohol if kids want to give it a try.

My last recipe has nothing to do with fruit, but you can definitely serve up a side of peaches or cherries to this breakfast favorite! I made it yesterday, so I thought I would share it with you. It will be the purrfect breakfast after all you crazy cats and kittens get wild this weekend. You probably have most of these ingredients already at your home. All I had to buy was the steak. It’s so easy and so good.

Chicken Fried Steak (2 servings)

What you need:

1/3 cup of milk

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 tsp of salt

Pepper to taste

½ tsp of paprika

¼ tsp cayenne pepper (I use WAY more than this, if you like spice, use more)

Cube steak

1/2 cup oil

1 T butter

Gravy

Flour, milk, salt, pepper

Instructions:

Mix the milk with the egg.

Mix the flour with salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne.

Tenderize the meat. I don’t have a meat tenderizer, so I literally used my fists. It worked.

Salt and pepper the steak to taste, add any additional spices you’d like. I soaked in Worchester sauce for a bit.

Place the meat in the flour mixture, flip over. Then toss in the egg mixture, flip over. Put it BACK in the flour mixture. Set on clean plate. You should have two servings of meat, do each separately. You can alter the spices (cayenne) for each piece.

Heat oil (olive, canola, vegetable, whatever) in skillet over medium heat. Add butter (I actually didn’t use butter, and I didn’t miss it.) But if the butter browns right away, the oil is too hot.

Toss the meat in the oil. Cook on each side for roughly 2-3 minutes and turn over. I had to turn over a few times to get the nice brown-colored breading I was looking for. When I took the meat out of the oil I put the steaks on a paper towel and covered with another to soak up some of the grease.

Gravy time: Keep oil in skillet. Sprinkle ¼ of flour (I used leftover mixture from before) over the oil. Whisk the flour in with the oil. If it gets too clumpy, add more oil. Too runny, add more flour.

Keep whisking until you have a nice consistency, and it should be golden brown. Then pour in milk. Add some more salt and pepper. I like to be generous with the salt and pepper. Add more milk if it is still too thick.

Now you’re set. Pour over your meat, slice some peaches and toss into a small bowl for a side, enjoy!

Have a great Independence Day everyone! God Bless :)