Happy 4th of July, Americans! And happy July 4th, rest of the world! Whether you're celebrating or not, it's always a good day for potato salad, cole slaw, pasta salad and hamburgers. So join us for a summertime picnic, complete with punch for all ages and alllllll of our many opinions on picnic foods.

Picnic Punch (You in the Face)

1 small watermelon cut into small chunks 1 English cucumber 3 1/2 cups water 1 cup sugar 1 small bunch fresh mint  1 cup lemon juice Vodka

Juice the watermelon and cucumber separately in a juicer or blend in a blender and strain out the pulp. Keep separate. 

Combine water, sugar and mint in a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Let sit until cool. Remove mint.

Combine watermelon juice in a pitcher with sugar water and lemon juice. Chill along with cucumber juice in fridge until cold.

To serve, pour watermelon mixture in a glass over ice (add vodka for grown ups!) then add about an ounce of cucumber juice, pouring slowly so the cucumber juice floats on top.

Liz Harvatine's Strongly Held Pasta Salad Opinions

Cook one lb short cut pasta (preferably something curly with a lot of ridges. I like to use multicolor pasta) in very salty water until al dente, about a minute shy of the recommended cooking time on the package. As soon as it’s cooked, strain it and run cold water over until it’s cool.

Chop up your veggies, meat and cheese into bite sized pieces and put them in a very large bowl. The key to this recipe is to add A LOT of stuff. There should be more stuff than pasta. This is what I like to use:

• One persian cucumber
• One bell pepper
• One can of black olives
• A lot of tomatoes, preferably grape or cherry halved but a couple big tomatoes diced is good too
• 4 scallions
• One 8 oz salami, like the kind you would serve with cheese
• Cheese! Prob 8 oz - a pound. Little balls of fresh mozzarella or big balls cut up, feta is good, mild cheddar cubed. Whatever you like!
• Handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

You can’t go wrong with more veggies so add as much as you want!

Add the pasta and mix in a couple spoonfuls of mayonnaise, some kosher salt and black pepper. Start with just a little salt and add more if you need it. As for the mayo, you don’t need much. You want everything to be coated but not dripping. Start with two spoonfuls, mix it well and taste it. Add more if you think it needs it. You can also add a splash of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar but really mayo is all you need.

I will serve it without chilling if it’s dinner time but I have never given a second thought to eating it cold right out of the fridge. It’s really good that way! I hate leftovers but I will eat this for breakfast.

Liz's Favorite Cole Slaw

Well Done Burgers that aren't Terrible

Theme song:

The Show Must Be Go Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/