Fourth of July celebrations have always meant two things to Americans: fireworks and lots of good food.

This year, there won’t be any fireworks in Lawrence — they’ve been outlawed by the Lawrence City Commission.

But, thankfully, that ruling doesn’t affect the culinary right of every American to indulge in traditional favorites like the creamy potato salad and juicy hamburgers that will be served up at countless picnics and barbecues this holiday.

The Journal-World recently invited its readers to share some of their favorite Fourth of July recipes. We received recipes for everything from peach ice cream and three-bean salad to watermelon martinis and raspberry pie.

So fly the flag, light up the grill and celebrate the freedom to add a few new Fourth of July recipes to your repertoire.

The following recipes were submitted by Lawrence residents Heather Campbell, Gay Flynn and Lorraine Kreutzer. They said many of the recipes have been handed down from family members.

Watermelon Martini

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1 small (4 to 5 pound) seedless watermelon, peeled, and cut into chunks

For Heather Campbell, Lawrence, foods on the Fourth of July must be light, sweet and require as little time as possible in the kitchen. On Saturday, she displayed two of her family recipes: Red, White & Blue Cheesecake and Raspberry Lime Fizz.

1/3 cup very fine baker’s sugar

3 tablespoons sweetened lime juice

1 1/2 cups vodka

Place watermelon chunks in a large bowl; add sugar and lime juice, stir lightly until combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour for flavors to mix. Spoon mixture into blender, add vodka. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately or refrigerate. If desired, serve in glasses that have had a lime run around the rim and then dipped in sugar. Makes 6 glasses.

Raspberry Lime Fizz

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4 limes

32 ounces carbonated water

6 ounces raspberry syrup

Fill four glasses with ice. Cut each lime in half, squeeze 2 halves into each glass. Add 1 1/2 ounces syrup to each glass, then fill with each glass with 8 ounces of carbonated water. Stir lightly. Drop squeezed lime halves into glasses. Makes 4 glasses.

Fruity Fruit Salad

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1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 8 ounce tub whipped topping, thawed

1 16 ounce can cherry pie filling (or whichever filling you like best)

1 15 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained

1 small can mandarin oranges, drained

1 banana, sliced

1 cup miniature marshmallows (the pastel fruit-flavored marshmallows go well with this)

Combine the milk and topping in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, stir carefully to evenly distribute fruit. Refrigerate until serving. Serves 10 to 12.

Banana-Marshmallow-Pineapple Salad

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1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons sugar

1 12- to 15-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

3 bananas, sliced

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Mix mayonnaise and sugar. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar. In a large bowl, mix pineapple, bananas and marshmallows. Gently stir in mayonnaise dressing until coated. Serve immediately. Serves 10 to 12.

Cucumbers ‘n’ Onions

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2 cucumbers

2 large yellow onions

3 large tomatoes

1 14- to 16-ounce bottle Italian salad dressing

Peel and dice cucumbers into a large bowl. Slice onion in thin rings and add to bowl. Cut tomatoes into chunks and add to bowl. Pour salad dressing into bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours for flavors to blend. Right before serving, pour off some of the dressing. Serves 8.

Raspberry Pie

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1 frozen pie crust, thawed

9 cups fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon water

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 pint whipping cream (optional)

sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Top pie crust with foil, fill with pie weights or dried peas/beans. Bake 10 minutes, remove weights and foil. Reduce heat to 400 degrees, bake for 10 more minutes. Cool on wire rack for one hour. Place 5 cups of the raspberries in a large saucepan, mash with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the water, bring to a boil. Press through a sieve placed over a bowl. In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch; add raspberry puree and mix well. Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Add butter, stir until melted. Cool to room temperature. Fold in remaining berries; pour into pie shell. Chill. If desired, whip cream until peaks form. Add sugar, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, beating after each addition, until as sweet as desired. Serve with pie. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Red White & Blue Cheesecake

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2 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 prepared vanilla wafer crust

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

2 eggs

2 cups fresh blueberries

2 cups fresh strawberries

1 cup sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Blend cream cheese, sugar and extracts in a large bowl until smooth. Add eggs, blend until just mixed in (do not over blend, this will cause the cheesecake to crack). Stir in blueberries. Pour into shell, bake for 50 minutes. Don’t peek, this also causes the cheesecake to crack.

While the cheesecake is baking, slice strawberries into a large bowl. Sprinkle sugar over top, stir well. Refrigerate for 2 hours. After cheesecake is done, cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Top with strawberry topping. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Peach Ice Cream

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1 quart milk

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk

2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced

1 1/3 cup sugar

In a medium-sized bowl, beat eggs. Add 1 cup sugar and the salt, mix thoroughly. Bring milk to a boil. Add a small amount of hot milk to egg mixture, return the mixture to the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 6 to 8 minutes (be sure to cook this long so eggs are cooked completely). Remove from the heat.

Set pan in a sink full of ice cold water, but don’t get it in the mixture. Stir for about 3 minutes. Stir in sweetened condensed milk, mix thoroughly.

Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. Before adding to ice cream freezer, place peeled and sliced peaches in a large bowl. Cover with remaining sugar, let sit for 5 minutes. Mash; let stand for 20 minutes. Combine milk mix and peaches in ice cream freezer, freeze according to manufacturer’s specifications. Makes 4 quarts.

Potato Salad

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1 1/2 teaspoons of mustard seed

1 teaspoon of celery seed

3 tablespoons of cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped green onions (tops and all)

6 cups diced cooked potatoes

2 chopped hard cooked boiled eggs

1 cup mayonnaise

Soak the mustard seed and celery seed in vinegar overnight or for several hours. Mix salt and onions. Add vinegar mixture, cooked potatoes, eggs and mayonnaise. Mix well. Chill. Serves 6 to 8.

Patchwork Beans

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1/2 pound bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, drained

1 16-ounce can pork and beans, drained

1 16-ounce can butter beans, drained

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown bacon and onion in skillet. Pour off fat. Place bacon, onion and all three beans, vinegar, mustard, brown sugar and ketchup in casserole dish. Mix well. Bake for one hour. Serves 6 to 8.

Note: Sometimes the cans that used to be 16 ounces are now 14.5 ounce cans, those will do.

Grandpa Mike’s Spoon Cookies

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1 cup peanut butter

2 7-ounce jars marshmallow creme

4 1 3/4-ounce cans shoestring potatoes

Spread a thin layer of peanut butter onto a tablespoon. Top with a heaping teaspoon of marshmallow creme. Gently press a generous pinch of shoestring potatoes into the marshmallow creme.

Eat right off the spoon. Serve with ice-cold root beer.