That’s right, kids. July 4th is just around the corner, so I’m dipping. Strawberries, that is. Honestly, is anything better than a dipped strawberry?
Don’t answer that question. Instead, think about how beautiful these will be at your holiday celebration, and how fancy they look. Especially think about how little time they take to make! About .02 seconds, really.
Have I mentioned that headlines are getting scarier? They really are. And through them all, I see one constant theme: fear.
People are afraid of the unfamiliar. When that happens, they can respond in one of two ways: they can educate themselves and get a realistic handle on the way things work, or they can hate without reason. Sadly, the masses often choose hate instead of understanding.
I realize that July 4th is, as I mentioned earlier, a low-key holiday that’s mainly meant to be fun. But this year, I feel as though it’s a much more thought-provoking day. The concept of having rights and freedoms only works if we use our privileges for good and not evil. Lately, some people have used the concepts our country was built upon as an excuse to exclude, or to hurt others. It’s unbelievably sad.
Rather than use the holiday as an excuse to get political, I just want to use it as a chance at introspection. Let’s really take some time and think about how we view our role in the world. Do we want to be the country that is known for increasingly frequent mass shootings? That gets into the habit of seeing a mythical past (which was actually quite full of racism) as a time when America was supposedly “great?” That sets a standard of fear for anyone who might not be a falsely construed prototype of an American?
This July 4th, I want to spend some time thinking about what’s been happening in our increasingly vitriolic and angry nation, and try to generate some hope that things will turn around soon.
I will also eat dipped strawberries, of course.
When people make dipped treats, they often use Candiquik or candy melts. That’s a fast way to operate, but I prefer to use real chocolate. It tastes better. So for these, I melted Ghirardelli white chocolate chips with some canola oil, dipped the strawberries, and covered them with patriotic sprinkles. It’s fast, easy, and totally delicious. It’s also pretty healthy!
As we approach our nation’s biggest patriotic holiday, I hope we all have a lot of fun. But I also hope we think about the way we should be living and treating others, because that’s a lot more important than anything else — even dessert.
Ingredients
Instructions