This was a surprise for me. When I started thinking about side dishes to make on the grill, all I could think about was potato salad. Probably because my nineteen week old still-in-my-stomach baby likes potatoes. A lot. This was soooo easy and really tasty. You're going to love it.

Cut up a few red potatoes with the skin still on. You can aim for one potato per person if you'd like. Place one cut-up potato in a square of heavy duty foil (or regular foil doubled), give it a GOOD drizzle of regular olive oil, and a few sprinkles of salt and pepper, and wrap it up tight. If you cut up three potatoes, you'll have three packets. Got it?

Now plop the foil packets on a preheated grill set to medium-high heat, close the grill lid, and let it hang out for 25 minutes. They're perfect. Just to check that they're done, carefully open one of the packets, and if a fork goes into the potato easily, you're good to go. This is what they look like.

YUM. You could just eat them like this. They're so yummy and soft with just a bit of crunch on some of the edges. But if you want to do the potato salad thing, add a good spoonful of mayo, a slightly smaller spoonful of sour cream, a little extra salt and pepper, a good squeeze of lime juice, AND if you're serving this with those grilled chicken wraps, cut up a little grilled onion and throw it in. Mash and stir until you get the texture you like. Some of you probably have a potato masher or have gotten really good at the fork mashing technique, but I use a plastic muddler you use to make cocktails. It's perfect for this, as it is for avocado spread. YUM. This would also be great with some chopped parsley or cilantro if you have it. I didn't so it's not there, but I know it'd be awesome.

Isn't that a fun side dish on the grill? Super simple and a real crowd pleaser.  

Did you grill some chicken thighs? Here's an idea on what to do with them.

Cut a couple slices of red onion and a couple of zucchini horizontally.

Season both sides of the vegetables with oil, salt, and pepper (just like the chicken), and put the vegetables and chicken on the grill at the same time. Everything will take about 6-7 minutes to cook on each side.

While those cook, whip up a delicious avocado spread that I tend to eat with a spoon. Mix together one ripe avocado, a good spoonful of sour cream, the juice of half a lime, a good pinch of salt, and a tiny pinch of chili powder.

As you can see, the color of mine is a bit more brown. That is not because my avocado was bad. That is because my pinch of chili powder was a bit more than a pinch. Lesson learned? Pour the spices into your hand, not directly into the bowl. Moving on.

Spread a flour tortilla (warmed for a few seconds on the grill if you'd like) with a good dollop of avocado spread, a slice of zucchini, a couple rings of grilled onion, some chunked chicken thigh, and a sprinkle of crunchy lettuce. Wrap it up, and enjoy.

It's full of flavor, simple, fresh, and perfectly summery. This is also a great food to feed a crowd. Since the wraps are still pretty good at room temperature, just cook the veggies and chicken as you go and have the tortillas, sauce, and lettuce ready to go. Your guests can assemble their own wraps, and you can feel like a grilling rockstar. See you next week with more grilling help!

I asked; you answered.

It sounds like your biggest grilling concern is how to know your meat is done, especially chicken. Shall we deal with that now? Awesome.

A few grilling basics.

• Preheat your grill. A hot grill equals easy grilling.
• Oil the grill before putting anything on it. Oil keeps stuff from sticking.
• Don't move the food until it's time to turn it over. Fiddling with it while it's cooking will definitely cause your chicken or burger to stick. Not good.
• Don't be afraid. Sure, a grill is hot, but unless you're reaching for food with your bare hands over a really old grill that's prone to flame flares, you'll be fine.

Now let's talk chicken. In this method, I used boneless skinless chicken thighs, but you could definitely use breasts. Cooking with the skin and bone is a bit trickier since not all the meat is touching the grill at the same time, but the concept is still pretty similar. I think chicken thighs are a great way to start because thigh meat is so forgiving; it's really hard to overcook it like white meat. And the extra iron in the dark meat doesn't hurt either.

First, preheat the grill. We have a gas grill, and I set it on medium-high. If it's screeching hot, the outside if your chicken might burn a bit before the inside is done, especially if you're using a marinade or sauce that's high in sugar. Burn baby burn.

Second, prepare your meat. Since this is simple grilled chicken, we're just going with olive oil (not extra virgin), salt, and pepper. You can use different marinades and spices (we'll talk about those another day), but it's good to master the simple stuff before you start getting creative. Generously drizzle both sides of the chicken with olive oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

Next, grab a paper towel, some oil, a pair of stainless steel tongs, the chicken, and head out to your grill. Pour the oil on the paper towel, and use the tongs to spread the oil on the grill grates. I know your chicken has oil on it, but this extra step is worth it.

Place the chicken on the grill, and DON'T MOVE IT. If you don't want your chicken to stick, leave it alone.

These will take about 6-7 minutes per side, but here's what to look for.

You see how the color has changed on the meat? How the white has come up around the edges of the chicken? Do you also see those little brown bits on the edges? That's how you know it's time to flip, and there's no sticking.

Cook for another 6-7 minutes, and you should be good. A great way to tell is to press down on the chicken a bit. You're looking for the tiniest amount of give. Too soft or fleshy means it's not done yet. Of course the surest way to know the chicken is done is to cut it open, but then your chicken is hacked and not pretty anymore. Trust the time, the look, and the feel. Six-ish minutes, a nice golden color, and just a bit of give to the meat will give you perfectly cooked chicken.

In the coming weeks, I'll give you more tips and grilling recipes that you can enjoy this summer, so be sure and come back to check them out. By the way, this method works great for chicken breasts, too. Just flatten them a bit first beforehand; your cooking will be more even that way. Happy grilling!