What's for dinner?

I think about food all the time and love to cook, so I don't really mind when my husband's first full sentence after work is "what's for dinner?"

(However, I have been known to seriously fly off the handle over a "what's for lunch?" question on Saturday morning.)

Anyway, Seattle is sweltering hot right now, so the last thing you want to do is fire up a Viking gas oven in a house without AC. I always make extra dinner so John has leftovers for work the next day, so planning meals in the summer is more of a challenge. I like green salad for dinner, but who wants to take a soggy bowl of lettuce to work? And the grill is great, but it probably isn't that healthy to eat charred food 6 nights a week.

Trader Joe's to the rescue! I've made Asian noodle salad and pot stickers twice this week, and while not fancy, it was tasty enough for company on Sunday when our friends Terri and George came over. Last night I used cold rice stick noodles, savoy cabbage, peppers, onions, water chestnuts and celery topped with chopped peanuts and some roast chicken I had in the freezer. I was lazy, and used a mixture of Trader Joe's dressings: Spicy Thai peanut and Sesame Soy. No recipe required, just throw whatever you have a bowl and add dressing. Follow the directions on the pot sticker bag and dinner is served.