Fire Crackers and Creamy Cool Cucumber Dip

Firecracker, Firecracker, Boom, Boom, Boom!!
I seem to vaguely recall a childhood jump-rope song that had those
"Firecracker" lyrics in it...
Isn't it so funny, all the little things we retain from our childhood?

All these years later and I can tell you half a poem about firecrackers and
a few of other odds and ends...
I can tell you how much an extra long ice pop from Gil's cost in 1984.   10 cents.
I can tell you that my elementary school felt like a scene from The Wonder Years... and how grateful I am to have grown up in a small-ish town.
I can you how long --exactly to the minute-- it took to ride my bicycle home from the city pool to be home in time for dinner.  We had to leave by 4:40 and not a second later... if we planned to arrive home by 5pm. (It was an uphill ride (both ways), with a sopping-wet towel and pruney-feet...just some of the details my 10-year-old self had to factor into my travel planning)

I can also tell you what we ate every Fourth of July (I really can) because... for most of my childhood we celebrated with family friends.  Every year, the same plans and every year was always fun.

Many of my July 4th memories include swimming in the hot and humid sunshine, a rope swing, basement roller skating, and a deluxe homemade fireworks extravaganza (an entertainment experiment put on by the parents). I recall mosquito bites, lightning bugs, and the memory of always leaving the party completely worn out... I was living my best life...

And still today, July Fourth doesn't feel complete unless there are frosted chocolate brownies, a big bubbly casserole of cheesy potatoes, homemade chip dip, and of course, plenty of grilled burgers and hot dogs.

July 4th has always been a favorite of mine...lots of reasons why... I love that it's a no pressure, non-gift-giving holiday, a fun family day, good food, music and a day to spend together...
I recently received some great advice from my grandmother. She's 93 years young and waiting very patiently to visit with all of her family and friends again.  We were discussing the current Covid-19 situation...and she said, "Make sure to celebrate the same...it's so important to keep family traditions going if you can."  She's right...   It's so important to celebrate... I'm trying to keep the joy present and spread the lighthearted feeling of summer wherever I can.  -It somehow feels better to carry on and celebrate... and I do think it will keep our spirits up.

Will this year be different for all of us??  Yes, to some degree July 4th will not be the same...but we can still celebrate and we can still keep our traditions alive.  We can make delicious foods and make a point of making the most of the day... because one day...the memory of this difficult time will be part of the story we share with our grandchildren... the now we are experiencing, will become the "I can tell you how much gas was in 2020..."  or "We had the BEST Fire Crackers that July 4th of 2020...did you ever eat a Fire Cracker??"

Which brings me to this Southern staple of parties and picnics... the Fire Cracker!  How perfect for July 4th... the recipes for this appetizer/snack certainly varies from town to town and from church gathering to neighborhood block party... but, essentially, it's saltine crackers, that are lovingly soaked for a few hours to overnight in a slurry of spices and seasoning, and coated in either oil or butter.  The crackers are then baked in a single layer, until toasty and crisp.  Our family loved them!!  They'll be a new addition to our picnic spread this year...

I'm so curious if you have a Fourth of July favorite??  What will you be bringing the picnic this year?

If you need a super easy and very crowd-friendly snack, this is it.  These crackers are great on their own or served with cheese, veggies, or this creamy cool cumber dip... see below.

These Fire Crackers definitely bring a little smoky heat to the party...so the cucumber dip is the perfect addition if you need to cool off!!

Enjoy this new "old-fashioned" favorite... may it become one of those traditions, those delicious recipes, that family will look forward to for years to come.

Enjoy the recipe:

Patriotic Pineapple Upside Down Flag Cake!

Our "Pineapple Upside-Down Cake" is all dressed up for July 4th!!

This flag cake is the cutest!! It doesn't get much sweeter.

This easy...and I do mean EASY...dessdert will have you ready for Independence Day in a flash!

Be sure to have a platter or large cutting board (9x13 or larger) available for inverting the cake...even a sturdy piece of aluminum foil-covered cardboard or a foil-covered baking sheet would work in a pinch.  This pineapple upside-down flag cake is inverted after baking to reveal a gorgeous and very delicious dessert!

Below I share my recipe for an easy scratch cake...if you want to use a boxed cake mix... you can, just be sure to adjust the baking time ... a well-baked cake will spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick will come out cleanly from the center.

Happy first day of summer!

I hope you'll enjoy this patriotic cake as much as we do!!

Get the recipe:

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Hello friends!!

This is a great little pound cake...loaded with lots of lemon flavor and bursting with blueberries!

I hope you'll give it a try... be sure to note that the bake time is 1 hour and 20-30 minutes total.  This cakes bakes in a cooler 325 degree oven on the middle rack.

Get the recipe:

Fried Chicken Sandwich and Coleslaw

Growing up,

the summer months were always accompanied 

by a few steadfast activities that made summer feel complete…  

If the following few summertime events did not take place,

could we really be sure summer came and went??

1.  Riding our bicycles to and from the city pool with our towels draped around our necks…for what would be an almost daily ritual of sun-soaked afternoons and lots of swimming…. So much swimming.  

2.  Fourth of July with tall stacks of chocolate-iced brownies, grilled hot-dogs, fun with family friends and the evening would not be complete without our parents putting on death-defying homemade fireworks shows… the hose was always nearby.

3. Festivals… in Cincinnati, you are never further than a few blocks in any direction from a Catholic Church  -- every Parrish had a festival…  We were sure to spend a few summer evenings pulling tabs on “bars and bells” cards and playing .25 cent festival games… loading our pockets with tiny whistles, bubbles and penny candy… all in a good night's work of festival gaming...

4. Family picnics in the park…Our family would load up into the car...and we would get a bucket of chicken and a few sides from our favorite local chicken restaurant. We would take our fried chicken and picnic in the park…My brother and I would always gobble up our meal, so we would have plenty of time to run off to play on the swings, or to throw pebbles into the water…  always a special meal...eating in the woods made the food tastier... and somehow more summery.

All my life… my chicken…if it was fried… it came from the store. These chicken restaurants… aren’t these the establishments where the folks have the special secret recipe… right??

I truly never fried chicken at home…I just grew up ordering our fried chicken out…so it just never happened…

Trust me, we had every other kind of chicken dish under the sun...grilled, baked...casseroles... we just never fried it...

Then fast-forward to a year or so ago—and the "chicken sandwich wars" arrived… and our family played along… We sampled them all…I mean, it’s a hard job and we were certainly up to the task…(I do have a personal winner--btw)

After all the chicken sandwich samplings were behind us…  I decided, I would attempt to make my own version of the a fried chicken sandwich…how hard could it be??

Here’s my version of a  “winning” recipe…. She has never won a blue ribbon (yet)…but she’s a first-class chicken sandwich and you don’t have to look very much further than you own pantry to find one.