Dinner with my hometown ladies!

Back before school started, by some miracle, Natalia, Jaqui (and Mat!) and I were able to get together for dinner. Thinking that I wanted to make something light and summery for what would probably be the last little gathering before school started and summer was totally over, I searched epicurious for substantial and meal-worthy salads. I was instantly attracted to the photo accompanying the Grilled Chicken Summer Salad. Despite the incredibly long list of ingredients, I headed off to Whole Foods.

Essentially, the Grilled Chicken Summer Salad is like 7 separate salads all dressed with the same super light vinaigrette and displayed beautifully on one platter. I accidentally forgot to buy green beans, so that salad was out, but I don't think it was missed. Although it was a little time consuming to make, it wasn't difficult, and the end result was totally worth it.

left 2 right: chickpea salad, chicken pesto salad, radish/ cucumber salad, grilled mushroom salad, fresh tomato salad, and a green salad

I don't actually have a platter, but it still looks pretty good on a cookie sheet right?

Since my little window unit a.c. is weeeeaak, I couldn't bear the thought of turning the oven on to bake anything, so instead I went for Caramelized Banana Splits with Hot Chocolate Sauce. Also really delicious and easy to make. I've made this recipe again already and it really is a crowd pleaser and is so simple (with a fairly short ingredient list- always a plus!)

This did not photograph well, but I wasn't really in the mood to mess around with trying to get a pretty shot when I could have been eating it...

Recipes: Grilled Chicken Summer Salad & Caramelized Banana Splits with Hot Chocolate Sauce

both from epicurious.com

Coming soon: Melissa and I's easy and delicious burger night (for vegetarians and meat eaters!)