“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”
Erma Bombeck
This is AmyLeigh here, I’m going to give you 2 really fast and easy 4th of July recipes.
The first one is Sausage Spiedini.
Spiedini being a fancy way of saying “cooked on a skewer”.
This is a free flowing guideline. Use whatever sausage-veggie-bread combo you like.
- 6 TBS. wine vinegar (sherry, white, champagne, red)
- 2 TBS. Dijon mustard (plus maybe 2 tsp more, depending on your love of mustard)
- 2 gloves of garlic (you want it pressed so it evenly distributes through the sop)
- 3 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
- 1 cup olive oil (EVOO or light are what I use, but go with what you like)
- 4 bell peppers; chunked
- 1-1/2″ chunks of sausage of choice (kielbasa, andouille, chorizo, any type with a casing)
- large onion cut into inch and half wedges
- crusty bread cut into large cubes (batard, sourdough, Italian)
Soak bamboo skewers in warm water for 15-20 minutes so they don’t burn. Preheat grill (medium heat).
Mix first 4 ingredients together in a small bowl. Slowly add the oil, whisking vigorously, until combined.
Cut up sausages, veggies and bread. Skewer sausage-veggies-bread, alternating the three.
Place on grill and cook for 15-20 minutes. Brush or pour on sop (or marinade). Watch the skewers carefully, turning them often, so that the bread doesn’t burn. Cook more or less depending on personal tastes. I like my sausage pretty well done.
To go with the Spiedini skewers, I make Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus Bundles.
Super simple, with lotsa wow factor and flavor with little work.
Step # 1: Buy asparagus and Proscuitto.
Step #2: Break off woody ends. The asparagus will “tell” you where the woodiness starts. Just bend gently and let it break where it wants.
Step #3: Sort by size. You want them to cook at the same rate.
Step #4: Wrap asparagus in bundles of three.
Step # 5: Place on foil covered grill. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, and freshly cracked peppercorn. I cook the bundles until they turn a slightly brighter green. I know you want like minutes or whatever, but I go by the way it feels and looks. If you like it crisp, cook them less. If you like it limp and mushy, cook them more. Cooking is individual. Do what you like.
I would show them all loverly plated, but they never make it to a plate. We just eat them hot off the grill with our fingers, inbetween games of bocce, badminton, and croquet, while drinking tons of beer. 
Hope you have a Very Happy Independence Day!
(no captions necessary, i think the pics speak for themselves.) 
cause…that’s how we roll…. “did someone say dinner roll?”
