On July 4, 1776 the United States declared its freedom from Great Britain. To this day we celebrate the National Holiday with parades, fireworks, fairs, picnics, concerts, food, food and more food. To be honest, I’m happy about the food part. Celebrating the 4th of July in my family means a family picnic, a day of relaxing and enjoying time together and fireworks. I typically plan out my picnic food weeks in advance to bring to our celebration but I always find myself scrambling at the last minute to find anything extra that sounds tasty to bring along. I’m the type of person that always wants there to be more than enough food and options. So if you’re like me and you’re scrambling for a last minute idea to bring to a picnic today, here are some ideas of delicious dishes to bring along: Tuscan Herb Pasta Salad, Basil Lime Fruit Kebobs, Refreshing Garden Ranch Dip, Cotija Cilantro, Guacamole Watermelon & Feta Salad Chickpea, Cucumber and Kale Tomato Cups and Greek Pasta Salad.

Potatoes for Red, White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad

Ingredients Red, White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad

Which brings me to today’s post: Red, White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad. And did I mention that there’s bacon involved? Potato salad is probably one of my favorite picnic foods but I often don’t buy it at the grocery store because there are usually eggs involved. (I’m not a fan of eggs.) Creating a more rustic potato salad where no peeling of potatoes is involved can be very quick and easy. I incorporated Blue Cheese Crumbles and Chunky Bleu Cheese dressing into this salad for an extra punch of flavor. I’m from Wisconsin, I like cheese, what can I say? If you want to cut down on some of the calories you can use the OPA Blue Cheese dressing, low-fat mayonnaise and fat-free sour cream. This will give you all of the flavor while reducing the fat and calories. No matter how you plan to celebrate Independence Day, don’t forget to bring a dish to pass!