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No-cook and grilling recipes are something you'll be hearing from me about all summer long. I'm  not a heat fan, and we don't have a central a/c here. We have a single (albeit larger) unit in the living room that doesn't quite reach the kitchen, especially when temperatures soar into the 90's with typical Pennsylvania high humidity.

Not only do I appreciate the no-cook solution, I also enjoy the ease of few ingredients, and any recipe that passes those two requirements is high on my list of "must try".

Sometimes, though, ingredients can be time consuming to prep for a recipe, like peeling and slicing carrots or peeling, seeding and dicing cucumbers. That's where the supermarket salad and olive bars come to the rescue. Picking up foods that are already prepped makes getting things together for dinner a snap. They are more expensive, but it's all relative if you're only using an ingredient for a single recipe. Leftovers that never get used are no savings at all.

Recipes that have five or less ingredients are great, but a mere three is awesome, especially if there's no cooking involved. There are several web pages that have recipes with five or less ingredients listed and there are also whole books on the subject. It was a little harder to find compilations of No-Cook recipes, but I did locate some.

• Busy Cooks at About.com has a page with 400 Five Ingredient Recipes.
• There are Four Ingredients or Less Recipes there as well.
• No-Cook recipes at Epicurious.com.

These books are all available at Amazon.com:

• The Three Ingredient Cookbook, by Jenny White
• Cooking 1-2-3: 500 Fabulous Three-Ingredient Recipes, by Rozanne Gold.
• 1001 Four-Ingredient Recipes, by  Gregg R. Gillespie.
• The Four Ingredient Cookbooks, by Linda Coffee and Emily Cale.
• No-cook Cookbook, by Orlando-Murrin

This menu is a lighter, but still fabulous, summer dinner using recipes with five or less ingredients and the only heat source is the grill.

Citrus Chicken

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ c lemon juice
½ c orange juice
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh oregano-snipped OR 1 t dried

Combine everything in a large zippered plastic bag and marinate for 2 hours. Drain and discard  marinade and grill chicken over medium coals (or medium heat on a gas grill) for 6-8 minutes each side or until juices run clear when chicken is pricked with a fork.
Serves 4 to 6

Green Bean Salad

16 oz frozen green beans-thawed
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
8 oz mozzarella cut in ½ inch cubes
1 cup balsamic vinaigrette

Toss all together and refrigerate one hour. Toss again before serving.
Serves 6

Honey Lime Melon

 4 cups mixed melon balls (cantaloupe, watermelon, or honey dew)
1 T lime juice
2 T honey
½ teaspoon finely grated lime peel

Combine and refrigerate for one hour for flavors to develop.
Serves 4 to 6