Happy 4th everybody!  It’s so fun when the holidays are on a weekend, isn’t it?  Who doesn’t love an extra day off of work?!?!?!!  Of course, all I’m trying to figure out is how am I going to eat all the foods.  Even though it’s a long weekend I have hot dogs, brats, burgers and ribs to get through.  The one I’m sure I’m making are the ribs!  We haven’t had them in forever and summer holiday bbq’s are made for ribs.  I don’t even care what else we have as sides.  Ribs are happening.

If you need a reminder on how to turn your grill into a smoker, click here.

Even though I don’t care about the sides, cabbage and apple salad is a great side for ribs because the tartness of the salad cuts through the delicious fatty sweetness of the ribs.  A match made in heaven.

A good jello never hurt anyone either.  Yes, I consider jello a side, not a dessert.  Bust one out this weekend.

Desserts have always been my favorite thing for the 4th.  I use it as an opportunity to experiment both in technique and design.  Here are some past favorites:

This year I don’t have the energy for the special dessert.  I’m going easy and you know what… the only person that will be disappointed is me!  No one else will notice I didn’t spend 12 hours preparing dessert.  I bought some stars & stripes paper cupcake liner thingies and I’m making brookies.*  So fast, so easy, so satisfying.

*By the way… This can make a lot more than 12 brookies as the recipe above states.  If you see my girls’ review from when I first made them, you can put less brownie batter in each cupcake so they aren’t too chocolatey.  You can probably make at least 18… maybe more!

Just imagine those flowers are red and the vase is clear glass, then they’re super festive.

I hope everyone has an excellent, simple and safe 4th of July weekend!  I know I will!

Mangia! Mangia!