Fourth of July!

Well my favorite time of year is upon us and it's my favorite for a couple of reasons. The first is celebrating our great nation - I mean who doesn't like family, food, and sparkles! The second is that

it means my birthday is soon to follow, and I get a day to tell the kids it's all about me! This year I decided that I needed to switch up our normal routine of burgers, dogs, and the usual sides but wanted to keep it all American still. If we aren't grilling burgers, we are grilling steaks and we haven't had steak in a while, so my problem of wanting something different was soon solved. We used to be able to get a really great garlic peppercorn steak marinade but sadly all the grocery stores stopped carrying it, so wanting these flavors I decided to make my own. If you've never had garlic herb butter melted over a steak, you've been missing out! Top you steak off with this and there is no need for the A1. After a bit thought and going back and forth, the hubby helped me decide that homemade mac-n-cheese would be a classic American side to go with our steak - not the normal for grilling, but hey we are celebrating America! To finish off, I had to make my fruit flag cake - I've done it for quite a few years now that if I don't, the kids wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Make this for your Fourth of July menu and the family will be sure to ask again and again! Happy Fourth!

What's cooking in my kitchen this week:
Garlic pepper steak with garlic herb butter, homemade mac-n-cheese, and fruit flag cake

What you'll need:

Steak and marinade

Ribeye* steak for everyone

1 shallot

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1.2 tsp salt

8.5 oz Golden Balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup oil

*You can substitute for whatever type of steak you like best. Ribeye is my hubby's favorite, so that's usually what we have when we do steaks. Also helps that they are on sale at King's Soopers for $5.47/ lb right now!

Garlic herb butter

1 stick unsalted butter

1 clove garlic, finely minced

fresh thyme

fresh rosemary

wax paper

Mac-n-cheese

3 cups milk

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese

8 oz colby cheese

8 oz monterey jack cheese

1 box elbow macaroni noodles

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Fruit flag cake

3 (10 oz) package fresh blueberries

2 (16 oz) package fresh strawberries

1 Angel food loaf

bamboo skewers

cookie sheet

small square container

How to make it:

First get the steaks marinading. To do this, finely chop up the shallot and mince the garlic. Place in large container to marinade steaks in.

To the large container, add the Golden Balsamic vinegar (this adds a slight sweet flavor), oil, ground black pepper, and salt. Stir with whisk until vinegar and oil are mixed together.

Places steaks in marinade and let sit for at least 30 minutes - I like to marinade mine for about an hour or so.

Next get the butter going so it has time to set up. Take stick of butter and, if not room temperature and easy to stir, put in microwave 5-10 seconds at a time until butter has softened. Place in small bowl. Take fresh the rosemary and thyme and remove leaves from stems.

Finely chop rosemary and thyme and finely mince clove of garlic. Place in bowl with softened butter. Stir until well mixed in butter.

Get a piece of wax paper and place on counter. Place garlic herb butter in middle and remake rectangle shape with butter. Place in fridge to harden.

Now you can start on the cake. The hardest thing about this, is the set up. First, you'll need to take your cookie sheet and place the small square container in the upper left corner and then place bamboo skewers to see how many can fit.

Next, you'll need to cut the skewers overlapping the container to fit. To do this, I raided my hubby's tool box and got a pair of pliers with wire cutters in the middle and then just cut them down to size. I've learned over the years that kitchen scissors are just not strong enough to do this.

Now that this set up is done, you can prep the cake and fruit. For the blueberries, just wash and dry them off and place in the small square container and place in top left of cookie sheet. After washing and drying the strawberries, take tops off and place in bowl.

Take angel food loaf and cut into inch pieces and set aside.

You are now ready to start making the stripes for the flag. The American flag is supposed to have seven red stripes and six white stripes, but there just isn't enough space to make that many stripes, so just make sure to start and end with the strawberries to have the red stripe on top and bottom of the flag. I take each skewer and work left to right, one stripe at a time.

Continue until you run out of space and have the entire flag made.

Onto the mac-n-cheese. Grate the cheddar, colby, and monterey jack cheese and place in large bowl - I have found that the best mac-n-cheeses all have more than one kind of cheese.

Boil water and cook macaroni noodles for about 10-11 minutes. Heat milk in microwave safe bowl for 4 minutes. Make roux with butter and flour over medium heat. Let cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, continuously stirring with whisk.

Pour in warm milk and cook for about 5 minutes, again stirring continuously until starts to get thick. Add ground black pepper and cheese, a little at a time, and stir until cheese is melted.

By this time, the macaroni should be done boiling, drain and place back in pot. Pour cheese sauce over noodles and don't panic that it looks very "soupy". Stir sauce and noodles until they are all cover and let sit for about 10 minutes. Stir again and you will see that the sauce has incorporated into the noodles and you no longer have a soupy mess, but the "most amazing mac-n-cheese", according to my kids.