This week I got carried away with red, white, and blue foods for the 4th of July.

It started innocently enough, with a bag of (arguably) red, white, and blue Veggie Straws:

Next thing I know, there’s a box of red, white, and blue Cap’n Crunch in my grocery cart:

And red, white, and blue gummy bears:

And I couldn’t very well leave the red, white, and blue Rice Krispies behind.  The Rice Krispies Treats I made with them didn’t last long:

The red, white, and blue tortilla strips are still waiting for their salad debut:

In fairness, I didn’t buy every red, white, and blue food I saw at the grocery store.  I turned my back on the pop tarts:

And avoided making eye contact with the Hostess Twinkies, CupCakes, and Ding Dongs:

In keeping with the theme, I went to a macaron class at Central Market, where we made — you guessed it — red, white, and blue macarons.  I wouldn’t normally pay for a cookie class, but I’ve never made macarons before, which I understand can be tricky (they are), and I figured a class would be more fun than sitting around watching You Tube videos on how to make macarons (it was). I learned a lot in the class — how long to beat the meringue, the texture of the folded ingredients, piping technique, etc.

At the end of class, I proudly carried home my red, white, and blue macarons, which my husband and son promptly devoured.

To round out the Independence Day theme, I made a few chocolate-covered strawberries with red, white, and blue jimmies:

And finally, I made a clafoutis with blueberries and strawberries that vaguely resembled a flag.  I could have piped some whipped cream stripes, I suppose, if I really wanted it to look flag-like.  But it was delicious warm out of the oven, and no one seemed to care that it only sort of resembled a flag.

After all of these patriotic foods, I think these red, white, and blue Tums may be in order.

Independence from heartburn?  Hahaha!