Kid-Friendly Recipes for July 4th

Many families are staying home on July 4th due to outrageous gas prices. Have fun at home with these kid-friendly, July 4th recipes:

B.L.T. Hot Dogs (Emeril's There's a Chef in my World! by Emeril Lagasse, click here to reserve this item)
Ingredients: 4 hot dogs, 4 thin-cut bacon slices, 4 lettuce leaves, 4 hot dog buns, 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, mustard, mayonnaise

1) Position rack in the center of your toaster oven and preheat to 375 degrees
2) Wrap each hot dog with a slice of bacon, tucking both edges under so the bacon does not come unwrapped during baking.

3) Place the hot dogs on a small baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the bacon is crispy and well browned. Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the baking sheet from the oven.

4) Stack the lettuce leaves on top of each other and roll up tightly. Thinly slice into ribbonlike strips.

5) Place one hot dog in each bun and top with diced tomatoes and lettuce.

6) Serve with mustard and mayonnaise or other desired condiments.

B'Namich (The Mash & Smash Cookbook by Marian Buck-Murray, click here to reserve this item)

Ingredients: 1 Banana, Peanut Butter, Raisins

1) Peel the banana and cut in half the long way on a cutting board.

2) Spread one banana half with peanut butter and sprinkle it with raisins.

3)Put the banana back together and cut it in half the short way.

4) Eat your B'namich like a sandwich.

Parmesan Pita Triangles (You're the Cook! by Katie Wilton, click here to reserve this item)

Ingredients: 2 pita pockets, 4 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup of grated Parmesan, plus optional toppings like pepperoni, pineapple, and chopped herbs)

1) Using scissors, cut pita pockets in half, then open the pita and separate the sides so that you have 4 semi-circular pieces.
2) Spread about half a tablespoon of butter on each semi-circle, cut in half, sprinkle with cheese and top with optional toppings.
3) Place on aluminum foil in toaster oven and toast until the cheese is melted and they are light brown. Serve warm.