4th of July: Cupcakes, Pasta and Squash … Oh My!

One of the major gripes suburbanites have about living in the city is the lack of a yard. Ok, I get it—no place to let a dog or kids run loose and do their thing, nowhere to grow flowers, no place to enjoy nature. I see their point.

Although we have no plot of grass to call our own here in Wicker Park, we have something better: a rooftop deck. And it’s not just any old rooftop deck. It’s got a killer view, plenty of places to plant flowers (in pots, of course) and the best spot in the city for viewing fireworks. 

Yes, it’s only good for three months of the year (if we’re lucky), but on the bright side, we don’t have to shovel snow off it.

This weekend, we held our annual July 4 party, complete with booze, bratwursts and this year—babies (they’re starting to infiltrate at a fast pace). Surprisingly, the babies were unfazed by the chaos of party goers and fireworks being set off just a block away.

In addition to the bratwursts, we grilled burgers and hot dogs—the usual cookout fare. I always like to do a homemade side of some sort and this year opted for pasta salad. It got rave reviews, so here is the recipe (sort of—I just kind of threw it together).

Pesto Pasta Salad

Homemade Pesto: Put all ingredients below together in food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add more or less olive oil depending on how smooth/runny you want it.

• Basil leaves (4 cups or so)

• Parsley (3/4 cup)

• 1 cup of Parmesan

• 2 Tbsp lemon juice

• 5 or 6 cloves garlic

• Salt

• 1 cup of olive oil (more or less)

• 3 oz toasted pine nuts

Coat 2 lbs. cooked pasta (I used rotini) with pesto. Add three roasted red peppers (I chopped these in the food processor, too), 1 jar chopped kalamata olives and 2 cups crumbled feta. Serve at room temperature.

Cherry Mini Cupcakes

Of course, I never pass up an opportunity to bake—especially if there’s a theme. I saw this mini cupcake flag in a magazine and had to go for it. I made one of my favorite variations on white cake: cherry. Here’s how I did it:

Cherry Cake (note: this is adapted from the Cake Mix Doctor book)

• white cake mix

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 stick butter, melted

• 3 large eggs

• ¼ cup maraschino cherry juice

• 1 jar chopped maraschino cherries

Once batter is mixed, I put it in a gallon size Ziploc bag and cut one of the corners off. I then squirt the batter into each mini cupcake (use paper liners). The recipe makes about 72 mini cupcakes.

Frosting

• stick of room temperature butter

• ½ cup Crisco

• 1 ½ lbs. powdered sugar

• ¾ cup milk (more or less—add slowly for perfect consistency)

• 2 tsp. almond extract

Squash for the Skeptic

As for the squash, well, I can’t take credit for that. My brother’s girlfriend, Chelsea, has recently returned to her vegetarian roots, and I have to hand it to her—she’s really good at being a vegetarian.

If I were a vegetarian, I’d probably just eat a tortilla with melted cheese in it for lunch, pasta every night and call it a day. Chelsea really embraces her vegetables though. Last night, she showed up with squash blossoms. What’s a squash blossom? I’m still not really sure, but she says you can get them at farmer’s markets.

What I do know is this: she stuffed those squash blossoms with goat cheese, quinoa and chickpeas and threw them on the grill for a few minutes, and they were deeeeeeeelicious.

Seriously, I could have had a plate of those and been perfectly happy. Well, maybe not totally happy. I’d need a half dozen mini cupcakes, too ...