Quick and easy...a thrown together dinner for the grill.

It's been a long day, you are really not in the mood to cook a huge and involved meal. Trust me, I've been there. Regardless of where you spend your day, either working outside the home or caring for your family at home, dinner often has a way of sneaking up on you. Don't worry about it, if you plan ahead for such times you'll be ready.

First of all, the planning part is important. When you do your weekly grocery shopping, plan for one dinner (or however many you think you'll need to cover) that you can just throw together in the time it takes you to heat up your outside grill. Need ideas to get your planning off the ground? No problem. Here are a few:

• Grilled shrimp kabobs with rice and sauteed veggies
• Chicken skewers with peppers, onion and mushrooms
• Grilled petite steaks with mushrooms and steamed new potatoes
• Grilled chicken fingers with a tossed salad sprinkled with Parmesan cheese
• Pork chops, grilled apples and home fries in a foil packet on the grill
• Italian boneless skinless chicken breast with a marinara, served with gluten-free pasta

Any of these ideas can be ready to go on the grill in no time at all. The key is to pick meat that will cook quickly, cut veggies in similar sizes so they are fully cooked at the same time and don't be afraid to use aluminum foil packets to help you simplify the process. Cooking foods together in a packet is a fun way to grill foods that may not otherwise work well on a grill. My family will often cut up potatoes into small cubes and fill a couple of foil packets, coat well with olive oil, season and seal up to grill along side the rest of the meal. Makes for less clean up and you don't have to run back and forth between your grill and the oven.

Another helpful tip is to keep it simple, you are trying to put together a quick and easy meal after all. Add a salad to go with your grilled meats. If you have a rice cooker, use it! This is a huge time saver for me when time has gotten away from me. Brown rice takes a long time to cook, but your favorite white rice (not instant) cooks in about the time it will take you to finish cooking the rest of your meal.

If you are serving pasta, get the water started boiling about the time you pull the meat off the grill. That will give your meat time to rest and your pasta will have enough time to get fully cooked while you finish any last minute dinner preparations. Gluten-free pasta tends to be best when served right after cooking. The timing will be just about perfect this way.

Don't let dinner sneak up on you unaware! All it takes is a bit of forethought and you'll be ready in no time for a wonderful meal. Life is busy, but we all need a satisfying meal at the end of a long day. Enjoy!