4th of july recipes - easy to do patriotic dessert & drink

Happy 4th of July! Here's my last minute, easy-to-do dessert or drink recipes for holiday picnic or bbq.

Dessert: 4th of July Trifle

Ingredients:

• 1 Cool Whip (8 oz.)
• 1 vanilla pudding (or powder substitute)
• 1 Angle food cake, cubed
• 3 cups of blueberries
• 3 cups of strawberries, sliced (or whole raspberries)  

Directions:

• Fold in pudding into Cool Whip in a bowl
• In a large trifle bowl (or individual clear cups), evenly layer each ingredient: cubed angel food cake, Cool Whip mixture, strawberries, and blueberries
• Repeat layers as desired
• Garnish with mix of blueberries and strawberries
• Chill until ready serve; approximately 10 servings

Sidenote- The difference between a parfait and a trifle is the former contains ice cream and latter cake.

cooking with mom #2: taiwanese green scallion pancakes

For the second installment of the cooking with mom series, my mom is showing me how she makes her green scallion pancakes.  This is a simpler (and healthier) version to make at home.  Traditionally these are done with LOTS of oil and in lots of layers, but for obvious reasons, we don't do that at home.  But no worries - they are still delicious!

The ingredients for about 5 to 6 large pancakes:

cooking with mom #1: taiwanese pork chop dinner (with recipe)

My mom is a phenomenal cook.  I'm not just saying that because she's my mom but simply because it's true.  If my friends could come over to eat everyday, they would.  I'd like to think some of her skills have rubbed off on me, but alas, I know that is simply wishful thinking on my part.

My mom cooks by natural instinct, feel and taste.  She doesn't really follow recipes so it has been a challenge trying to learn to cook from her.  I realized long ago when she tells me to add a "pinch" of something, that it could mean anywhere from a literal pinch, or a cup or a handful....  I live in constant fear that I will never be able to replicate her delicious dishes, so I've decided to try to capture some of her best taiwanese dishes in a new series "cooking with mom".

To kick this off, my mom will be making one of my FAVORITE DISHES OF ALL TIME - Taiwanese Deep Fried Pork Chops.  My mom always tells me this is a super simple dish and she can't understand why all my friends clamor for an invitation on pork chop night. But I totally get it.  My mom's pork chops are damn good.