Food a big part of holiday traditions

On the Fourth of July, Greyhawk Landing’s Julie Fitzpatrick will head out on her family’s boat in the morning to Bean Point with her sons and husband. She’ll get to sit back and relax as she watches her 8-year-old sons, Owen and Connor, try to catch fish that would be part of their dinner menu that also includes ribs and potato salad.

“(The fish) never really complements the ribs and the potato salad, but it’s always something fun, and so far, we’ve been successful,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s just a fun tradition for the boys to do with their dad, and I always just kind of tag along, and sometimes I catch something too.”

The Fourth of July is oftentimes associated with burgers, hot dogs and apple pie, but these Lakewood Ranch-area families have made their own food traditions.

The Fitzpatricks’ tradition of going out on the boat to fish before coming home for a dinner of ribs, potato salad and fish started when they bought their boat five years ago.

“I love watching them, especially as they’re getting older and becoming more self-sufficient on the boat,” Fitzpatrick said. “I see a lot of growth each year with my boys. My husband and I just kind of sit back and watch, or we fish on our own.”

Fitzpatrick said the way her husband, Ryan, prepares the fish for dinner all depends on the type of fish they catch.

Besides the fish, the Fitzpatricks devour ribs and potato salad. The potato salad recipe is from Julie Fitzpatrick’s mother, Carole Wise, and ribs are part of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s family tradition of having barbecue every Fourth of July.

“I enjoy having the family tradition that we’ve set forth for our kids, and I hope it’s something that sticks with them that they carry forward like my husband and I have carried from our family traditions,” Julie Fitzpatrick said.

Wise has been making potato salad, which includes finely chopped green olives and pickles, since Fitzpatrick was a child.

“We only have it in the summertime,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s one of the only things I really remember having on the Fourth of July. We have macaroni salad otherwise. On Easter it’s macaroni salad and ham, and on the Fourth of July we always had potato salad, fried chicken and watermelon.”

For Summerfield’s Adriana Rahe, her favorite part of her July 4 meal is dessert when she and her family eat a slice of the jello poke cake she makes every year.

“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like it,” Rahe said. “My husband doesn’t like sweets, and he likes it.”

Rahe uses a vanilla box cake mix, strawberry jello and whipped topping for her cake, and to top it off, she uses blueberries and strawberries to make the cake into an American flag.

She said the cake also looks great on the inside because the jello mixes in with the cake to have a marble effect. As for the taste, Rahe described the cake as a strawberry shortcake that’s light and not too sweet.

“It’s just enough,” she said. “Even if you’re full, you can have a slice and not feel like you over-ate.”

Rahe has been making the poke cake for the past 10 years after learning how to make it from her mother, Diane Valverde.

“Ever since I was little she’s made it,” said Rahe, who is now 31. “It’s fun to keep the tradition and share it with my son. (Fourth of July) is a special time for me, and it’s fun to see my son’s reaction to the things I love as well.”

When Rahe thinks of the poke cake, she thinks of family and the feeling of summer. She gathers with her husband, Charley; her 3-year-old son, Maverick; and her in-laws at her home where they swim, eat and watch fireworks every July 4.

“It’s family bonding time because everyone knows once we’re done eating we have the jello poke cake, and everyone knows I make it,” Rahe said.