Here are a couple meals I whipped up this week when my kitchen energy was running pretty low.  These two recipes follow the same theme but when you change the flavor components in the marinade/dressing  it doesn’t taste monotonous at all.

Grilled Chicken & Rice Salad

RICE: I chose brown rice for this salad and since it takes a while to cook it’s wise to start that first.  I like to cook my rice in stock to enhance the flavor, but if I don’t have any around then I just add some crushed garlic cloves, bay leaf, salt and red pepper flakes.  The easy part about rice is that it doesn’t need much tending so while it cooks you can prepare the rest of the meal.
VEGGIES: Since the theme here is easy I just went with red onion and red bell pepper.  I already preheated the grill for the chicken so thought it would also be a simple way to cook the pepper and onion. I put the pepper on the grill whole making sure to char it on all sides.  Once charred, place the pepper in a covered bowl and let steam for 15 minutes, then peel and slice.  If your pepper is massive, which was true for my case, put the leftover red pepper slices in a small jar or container with olive oil and save them for a future pizza or sandwich.   The onion took much less effort; just slice it in 1/4 inch rings, brush with olive oil and toss it right on the grill.  Once you get some grill marks flip them once, then chop up in half or quarters.
MARINADE:  Combine the juice of one lemon, 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, 1tsp of honey, freshly chopped oregano and or thyme, 3 TBS of white balsamic or champagne vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.   Whisk in 1/4C olive oil. Pour 3/4 of the marinade over the chicken and reserve the remaining to stir into the brown rice and veggie mixture.

The rest of the recipe is pretty straightforward: Combine cooked rice, roasted veggies and remainder of marinade in a large serving bowl.  Grill the chicken, let it rest and then slice it into strips to serve over the rice mixture.  We had leftovers, so for my lunch the following day I heated up a wrap, added sliced chicken and rice, rolled it up and I was good to go.  It seems like a lot of steps but it all can be done in the 40 minutes it takes to cook the brown rice.

Roasted Veggie & Barley Salad with Ginger-Garlic Dressing

This recipe stemmed from a night that I got home late from work and really wanted to order out for dinner but felt the guilt of having so many fresh veggies in my fridge so I bit the bullet and whipped up this salad in about 40 minutes.  I know I went over the 30 minute Rachel Ray/easy week night meal time limit but she totally gets help from kitchen elves during commercial breaks and 40 minutes is not a long time for a normal human to make a tasty dinner.

BARLEY:  Cook one cup of barley in a pot of salted water, for about 20 minutes or until tender.
VEGGIES:  Toss veggies in olive oil, soy sauce and garlic and roast in a 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Use what ever veggies you have on hand, I had broccoli, string beans, zucchini, carrots and onion.
DRESSING: Combine 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp honey, grated garlic and ginger, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce (I didn’t measure these but im guessing around 1-2 TBS).  Whisk in olive oil and pour it over the roasted veggie and barley mixture.

There you have it, one recipe for the carnivore and one for the vegetarian.