Summer Vittles

Can I just say that I hate to cook during the summer? I love to eat grilled food, but I strongly dislike the prep. I think I'd be happy to set out a buffet of fruit, sun chips (or Stacy's pita chips), olives, pasta salad (one sweet, one savory), rice (jasmine rice [I think it's 4 cups], 1 can coconut milk, and 1 can chicken broth), and whatever meat came off the grill and just let everyone pick away. Notice that I said set out. I don't want to create any of these dishes - except the rice. I can handle open and dump methodology.

That doesn't happen very often, so I have a couple of standby's for hot evenings...

I don't have a name for this, so I suppose you can call it
Staci's Chicken Cucumber Pitas.

Chicken Breast
Cucumber
Parmesan Cheese
Ranch dressing
Pitas

Grill teriyaki marinaded chicken. You can also marinade in soy sauce & minced garlic. Or - you can buy and heat the frozen, precooked Mesquite Chicken Breasts from Sam's club.

Cube cooked chicken. Place in large bowl.

Cube cucumbers. Add to large bowl.

Toss in parmesan cheese.

Add ranch dressing to taste.

Serve on pitas.

Jon and my boys (except Carson) love this. I love it because it's yummy, quick, and doesn't heat up my kitchen.

Here's one more. It's another chicken pita deal, so I don't know what to tell you to call this one.

Maybe Staci's Chicken Food Storage Pitas

Canned chicken, drained and rinsed
Fresh garden-grown tomatoes, cubed
Mayo (I sometimes use a Caesar Mayo recipe that I found in Taste of Home - see recipe below)

Mix all together

Place desired amount on a Pita and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff - not Kraft's processed stuff). My boys like to grate the parmesan directly onto the sandwich because we have one of those cool spinning graters...

Broil until cheese is melted.

Remove from oven and serve.

I've made this one while camping, and that worked out great - we just didn't broil the cheese...

CAESAR MAYO:
4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese (I use the processed stuff here)
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

How about you? Have any cool kid-friendly summer dinners you'd like to share?

How about recipes for pitas? That's the one thing I have to go to the store for every time. I think I could make a good pita - or focaccia for that matter.