For the 4th of July party main course(s), I made beer-boiled and grilled brats, oven-roasted BBQ chicken thighs (recipe to follow), and chile-cheese stuffed burgers.

Far and away, the burgers were the star. (Look for Sheila’s Old-Fashioned Potato Salad recipe tomorrow.)

Tram and Julie, filling their plates with burger and brat.

This recipe makes enough burgers for a crowd. It can easily be halved or quartered. One thing you’ll need is a 5-inch template to form the burgers with. The center green area of this plate is exactly 5-inches, so I used it as my guide.

The Grill Pit – where the Magic Happens!

Chile & Pepper Jack Stuffed Burgers

6 Anaheim chiles
4 large jalapeño chiles
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
12-ounces shredded pepper Jack cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 pounds ground beef, divided into 32 three-ounce portions
16 hamburger buns or Kaiser rolls, split and lightly toasted

Lettuce leaves, onion and tomato slices, sweet pickle relish, mustard, and ketchup, for serving

Roast the Anaheim and jalapeño chiles on either the grill or stovetop until blacked on all sides.

To prevent the jalapeños from falling through the grates, use a stovetop-roasting grate, which can be found at kitchen stores such as Sur La Table or ordered online from HERE.

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We weathered the storm, put everything that blew down, back up, and had a wonderful pot-luck 4th of July BBQ/Pool Party.

I’ll be posting photos along with not only my recipes but the delicious recipes from the guests as well.

What better place to start than with dessert? All of the desserts were brought by guests, which makes them all my favorite!

We’ll begin with Tram’s Key Lime Pie. Tram and Steve brought Zak & Zoey, and they were the hit of the party, of course. No one could resist either one of the adorable nearly 4-month-old sweetie-pies.

Unfortunately, Heidi Klum ruined the party for Zoey. How on earth could a supermodel ruin a party for a baby, you ask! Tram, thoughtfully, dressed the twins in outfits that I had given them. The outfit I gave Zoey was from the “Truly Scrumptious Clothing by Heidi Klum” baby clothing line.

Zoey looked adorable, but the outfit was either pinching or scratching or somehow irritating her.  The otherwise sweet-natured Zoey was very unhappy. She screamed bloody murder until the outfit was finally removed but by then she was so wiped out that the only photo I got of her was of her sound asleep on my bed. Poor little Zoey!

Zak, on the other hand, was the life of the party!

Every woman in attendance had their hands on him at one time or another, as seen here with Sloane, proudly showing him off, while Papa Steve is showing off his burger and brats.

Tram and Steve hamming for the camera as they dish up their dessert plates.

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As I told you earlier in the week, I pulled out all my 4th of July decorations and began decorating the house for a little BBQ/Pool Party we are having today.

Happily, I took all the photos throughout the week because I’m not sure what it’s all going to look like when I wake up on the 4th. You see, I am typing this on Thursday night, during a massive wind/dust storm.

I lifted these two photos from the 12 News Facebook page. The one on the left, of Sky Harbor International Airport, was taken by Zachary Doublery and to one on the right was taken by Benita Skalada out the window of the airplane as she was taking off.

Yes, that is what is raging outside my home right now on Thursday night, July 3rd.

But honestly, a few tousled decorations are nothing when you consider that more than 25,000 people are without power due to the storm. And at least 24 flights bound for Phoenix were diverted to other airports.

Since I don’t know what will still be standing (hanging) when I awake in the morning, I’ll go ahead and share the details with you now.

I hung bunting over every door…

… and flags in every window.

The covered patios are alive with the Red, White & Blue…

As is the pool and BBQ area.

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American Flag Fruit Plate

American Flag Layer Dip

Confetti Mac Salad

High-Style Slider Bar

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That may be THE most misleading title for a post I have ever made!

I’m sorry about that. The fact is that you don’t need a recipe or a post to make this “2 ingredient no-calorie dessert.” All you need is to buy a box of Angel Food Cake Mix to achieve the same end result.

Except for one minor little change…

The Angel Food Cake Mix called for water as ingredient #2, I used diet orange soda to make this a Creamsicle Angel Food Cake.

Keep reading if you’re intrigued, if not, come back tomorrow. But know before you go, Creamsicles were my favorite thing on earth when I was 8 years old.

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We hosted an annual 4th of July party for many years. About 10 years ago, we stopped and instead spent the holiday in Wisconsin at the Log Mansion.

We aren’t going to Wisconsin this year because we are leaving for England and Ireland in a little more than a week.

Since we’ll be home for the first time in a decade, I pulled out all my Red, White & Blue and invited a few friends over.

I forgot just how much stuff I had! The gathering is going to be small.

But the American Pride will be everywhere!

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I’ve seen this cool tip for cutting a bunch of cherry tomatoes at one time all over the internet and on Pinterest. I’ve used it for some time now, but keep forgetting to share it with you. It not only comes in handy for this salad but is especially fabulous for THIS RECIPE and any other recipes calling for roasted cherry tomatoes.

Summer Squash and Salmon Salad

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds zucchini, ends trimmed and then thinly sliced
2 tablespoons pepper jelly
3-pound salmon fillet, skin on
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
6 cups fresh spinach leaves
1/2 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 avocados, diced
1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Add the zucchini, toss to coat and let marinate at room temperature for at least 15 minutes.

Spread the pepper jelly on the flesh side of the salmon. Heat a grill or broiler to high.

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I don’t recall if I’ve ever shared this before but I will now confess…

… I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never liked it. I love the smell, and I adore coffee ice cream, but I knew that if I was to become a coffee drinker, I’d need to load that bitter liquid up with sugar and cream and I don’t see the point of starting each day off with that!

Most mornings I start my day with water, now and then with juice and if someone offers, I’ll have hot tea. Not in the summer, but at other times of the year. That’s the other thing I don’t get, how can people drink steaming hot coffee when it’s 100 degrees out? It is often 100 degrees out by 9 AM here in AZ!

Iced Coffee – that has sounded like something I might enjoy, once in a while, when I need a kick-start. Not too often, since it too, is loaded with cream and sugar.

Today is that day, I’ve been up since 4:15 and I am already dragging. I can’t be dragging today, I have too much to do. Iced Coffee! I’m gonna give it a try.

I’m going with the simplest recipe possible for this first try. One thing I do know is that it is best to start with cold-brewed coffee. Since I don’t drink coffee, I don’t make the best-tasting coffee, so I bought a bottle of cold-brewed coffee at Trader Joe’s.

My verdict?  It was OK, maybe a person who likes coffee would like it more. I’m going back to the drawing board and I’m going to make something more exciting. I’ll keep you posted. Until then, here is my simple iced coffee “recipe.”

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Last night’s beautiful Arizona sunset. No filters, no Photoshop, just pure natural beauty!

This quick and easy pizza has some of my favorite Italian ingredients and they can all be found, along with the pizza dough, at Trader Joe’s.

Burrata, a luscious cream-filled fresh mozzarella cheese.

Pancetta, Italian-style bacon, already diced into “cubetti” pieces. Actually, I don’t know if the word “cubetti” has anything to do with the diced pieces, but it is convenient!

Prosciutto, this package is actually from Costco and was in my freezer, so don’t be alarmed with the “use by” date. Prosciutto can always be found at TJ’s too.

I prefer Trader Joe’s whole-wheat dough, but while pulling a package from the back of the case (looking for the freshest bag – a selfish little thing I always do with freshly packaged food) I accidentally grabbed the plain dough. The reasons I like the whole-wheat better are two-fold, it is easier to work with due to the texture and I think the taste is superior.

The only other ingredients you need are a little olive oil, a medium ripe tomato, and a smidgen of freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes.

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There is one thing I look forward to each summer more than anything else.

Rainier Cherries!!

“The Rainier cherry was developed in 1952 at Washington State University by Harold Fogle, and named after Mount Rainier.

Rainiers are sweet cherries with a thin skin and thick creamy-yellow flesh. The cherries are very sensitive to temperature, wind, and rain. About 1/3 of a Rainier cherry orchard’s crop is eaten by birds.”

Lucky devils!

“Rainiers are considered a premium type of cherry, and sell for $5 per pound or more in the States and as much as a dollar each in Japan!

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