Red Potato and Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Why is summer the best time of the year?  Extreme heat, popsicles, outdoor movies, long hours of sunlight, and PICNICS.  Yes, I admit it: I'm a picnic partisan and I think everything tastes better al fresco.  And what's a picnic without potato salad?  This recipe includes a little greenery for a healthsome crunch and an olive oil dressing.  Bonus: Using olive oil instead of mayo as the binding/moisturizing agent prevents the potato salad from going bad in the summer heat.  Nobody likes food poisoning.

 

Blueberry Muffins

While apple pie is pretty much as all-American as you can get, it's not really seasonal for the Fourth of July.  To me, a close second for sheer patriotic goodness is the blueberry muffin: Where else in the world is eating what is basically a cupcake for breakfast considered the norm?  God bless this country.

Seriously, I made four batches of these muffins over the weekend and my family ate them ALL.  Addictive yet so simple.  Sometimes, as my friend Kirsten says, you just can't improve on the simple standard: You could add lemon peel or orange essence, but it won't make these any better, just different. So here's the classic recipe:

Onion Rings

For very special occasions when I was growing up (e.g. the Fourth of July), my mom would make what I still consider the most delicious onion rings in the whole world.  They showed up on our table no more than a half-dozen times, but they're the stuff of family legend.  For my dad's birthday dinner, he requested a repeat appearance of these mythical fried onions, so I did my best to recreate my mom's recipe.

Basically, this is a fritter dough rather than the traditional onion-ring coating.  It keeps the onions from drying out and has a little more heft.

In any case, I know that Dani Cooks has been heavy on the baking recently, so here's a recipe that uses a whole different skill set (deep frying) for an all-American classic.

Coconut Cake

June means it's birthday time in my family!  Last week was my dad's natal day, so I made him a dinner of his choosing as part of my gift.

For dessert, he picked an oh-so-delicious but slightly tricky coconut cake.  "Beware!" my friends said.  "The boiled icing will be your downfall."

But I'm here to tell you that if you watch your icing carefully and follow the directions semi-carefully, you'll be A-OK.  And you'll have a light cake that's not too overwhelming for summer (or anytime) celebrations.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Disclaimer: These cupcakes are so delicious, I've made two batches in the last four days.  That's a lot of cupcakes, even for me.

Several months ago, I took an amazing cupcake class at Butter Lane in New York.  Since then, I haven't made a single cupcake, instead pining away for the magic of a stand mixer, to whose camp I became a firm convert after the class.  Thanks to a U of C audit in my favor (sounds like something out of Monopoly's Community Chest, but for real), I finally bought a beautiful refurbished KitchenAid and have been chomping at the bit to make something with it for about a week.

To celebrate the arrival of both my friend Britta, who is moving to the area for graduate school, and Shelly the Stand Mixer: Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting.  This recipe is based on the Butter Lane class's recipe, but adjusted to reflect the different ingredients I had on hand and to incorporate the addition of fruit.

Berry Pie

As my gift to my mom this year for Mother's Day, I offered to make her any kind of meal that she wanted for dinner.  For dessert, she chose a berry pie—a great seasonal choice for the height of springtime's berry yield, which happens to coincide with Mother's Day.  So a happy belated Mother's Day to all the great moms out there (especially mine): This one's for you.

This recipe is adapted from another one of my favorite cookbooks, The Artful Pie.  Sadly, it is out of print, but definitely worth tracking down.  This particular recipe has been adapted to include less refrigeration time (seriously, I don't have time to refrigerate after every step, though I wish I did) and a wider mix of berries.  Why limit yourself?

Matzo, Onion, and Mushroom Kugel

Well, Passover is almost over.  But if you're like me, you still have several pounds of matzo (not called "the bread of affliction" for nothing) left over.  You can either feed it to your local wildlife or make it into a much more palatable side dish that goes well with chicken or brisket, or as a starchy centerpiece to a vegetarian meal.

"Kugel" is a Yiddish word referring to a sweet or savory dish, and is basically a baked pudding.  Most of the time, noodles or potatoes form the basis for the recipe, but since this is for Passover, noodles are pretty much out.  This recipe, which has served me well for two years in a row, is a slight modification from one of my favorite cookbooks, Marlena Spieler's Jewish Cooking.