Cool food for the summer

Besides getting dinner on the table within a millisecond of walking in the door from work, my biggest challenge right now is coming up with interesting meals that don't repeat too often and don't make the house hot.

Yeah.

Not so easy.

So, we do have a BBQ, but there are a few problems with that. Our balcony is small and home to the BBQ, a few random stools and a double Phil and Ted's stroller. To use the BBQ, the stroller needs to move. I have a toddler who loves to be on the balcony with you, but the balcony is small and the BBQ is hot. Generally pre-dinner time means Alex is in the shower getting ready for work and I'm hopping back and forth over the kitchen gate constantly while wrangling a toddler. A toddler who would love nothing more than to have Mommy stop cooking and Daddy stop showering and play with her. Also, our balcony faces due WEST. That means, at dinner time it's stifling and in direct sunlight. NOT CONDUCIVE to a BBQ!

So, the BBQ gets used rarely.

So, what to make. On Friday I was tired. I was hungry. We had company coming for the weekend (but staying elsewhere). UGH.

But Martha saved the day. We ended up making a modified version of her Southwestern Chicken Wraps.


We made a few changes. I don't eat sour cream (more about that and the rest of my crazy diet on Get Fit Chicks), but I wanted something to spread on my wrap so it wouldn't be dry. Instead of avocado slices, I made some guacamole. Because there were onions in the guacamole, we omitted the red onions (I might use them next time anyway because they would give it another little touch of colour - no tomatoes in mine. see aforementioned crazy diet). Those who eat sour cream spread guacamole on their wraps and then put the sour cream sauce on top.

MMMmmmm...these were good! J isn't a big fan of sandwiches or wraps these days, but I had some mini pitas in the freezer for her from when we had pita tacos last, so she got a compartment plate with chunks of chicken and avocado as well as some beans. She often eats everything separately, but when she saw that Auntie Tati, who came for dinner, had a wrap, she stuffed her pita full and ate it that way too!

I don't have a picture of the finished product because they were eaten so quickly there wasn't a chance. This also made a good lunch for Alex to take to work - another challenge we're working on. LUNCHES.

And because I bought a rotisserie chicken, I did this as soon as dinner was over:


And we had yummy chicken soup for a few nights - I used the leftover beans and added some chopped peppers, corn and Tabasco and it was yummy! It was wet and cool this weekend, so soup was a welcome meal!