I'm going to host around 4 barbeques during the coming fortnight ! Does anyone have any kind of suggestion for a quick, but unusual, chicken, burger or sausage recipe, and salad, which may include rice, couscous or potatoes, pleeeaase?!!

No recipies of my own, gatchamarie. My recipies tend to be in the half-hour to hour range. BUT- Here's a website I've found very very useful in the past. I particularly love the search feature. http://www.cooks.com/

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Depending on what your guests have eaten before, could you do a kabob? Get some long wooden skewers and put bits of meat and veggies on them. You can alternate the meat and veggies in patterns, and choose veggies for color. Then for dessert, you could serve fruit kabobs (chunks of fruit on a skewer, maybe with a dipping sauce like honey or vanilla... no cooking required). The advantage of kabobs is that all of the prep is done in advance (not while your guests are there) and they don't take as long to cook on the grill because the pieces are bite-size. I've done chicken and beef this way. Veggies that work well are colored peppers, onions, mushrooms and chunks of zucchini or squash. A bit of bacon adds a nice flavor as it grills. HTH!

Thanks to all for your help! I knew I could have been given some great ideas from you! Sometimes, I tend to spend hours browsing internet for recipes or searching for different ones through my books, this stealing a lot from my time, which is ever restricted ... so, again, thanks! Candi ... the website you've suggested is one I've never encountered, and it seems very helpful and full of ideas! I'll surely take a good look at it and it's delicious recipes ... the ones on the main page already seem yummy! I appreciate a lot your sending me the link! Nuni ... your recipes are the kind I'm searching for! I always like to try different and unusual things, apart from those we're traditionally used to, and the ingredients you've listed seem very interesting when combined with each other! I'm loving the Argentinian Chimichurri sauce recipe! It's just what I was looking for to go with my burgers! My only problem with the second recipe is that I don't know if, here, I could find corn with their husks still on! Maybe, I could use whole corn without husks, instead! Thanks a lot also for your meticulous guidance through the methods! TJ ... your idea of including kebabs on one, or more, of the occasions is great, and it's one I have also thought about! You're right, owing to the small size of the meat or chicken chunks, cooking time will be much less and the preparation could be all done beforehand! The most thing that I like about kebabs, apart from the favourable things already mentioned, is that they're not so messy and that I don't have to include a lot of extra cutlery! I also like to make sausage kebabs, chopping bite-size pieces of different types of sausages and skewering them alternately! And, I agree ... the addition of bacon does make a difference, and adds a lot of flavour! One of your suggestions that I also like is that of a honey or vanilla dipping sauce as an accompaniment for fruit kebabs! I've always served such kebabs alone in the past, just putting them in a basket made out of a watermelon as a garnish, sometimes, but I've never tried dipping sauces before! Okay ... there were times when I've done melted chocolate as a dipping sauce, but not honey or vanilla, which surely sound yummy! Thanks again!

Marie, burgers are easy. Choose your ground meat: beef, chicken, turkey, etc. Then stuff them with mushrooms, bacon, cheese, onions, garlic. Before cooking or stuffing season them with your favorite spices or worchestershire sauce, wine, or whatever else you want. For something like this or even with the kebabs that TJ suggested, you can get your guests involved. Do the prep work before they arrive and let them stuff their burger or kebab. Ribs are another easy to do ahead of time. Season and cook them in the oven or stove top up to twenty four hours in advance then warm them slowly on the barbecue adding the sauce. For salads here's one of my favorites, it's elegant and easy: Spring salad mix or mesclun crumbled bleu cheese pecans, candied or plain Raspberry vinigrette

You'll have to let us know what you made, and how your entertaining turned out, Marie!

Amethyst .... your idea of letting the guests involve themselves in the assemble of their own choice of food makes a lot of sense! I like to let them do that with their burgers, letting them choose their preferred sauces and other condiments! Burgers are always included in my bbqs ... they're usually loved by everyone and make a fast, but very tasty and filling, treat! Thanks for the wonderful salad recipe! The combination is awesome ... I usually like to combine blue cheese and nuts with pasta, but I've never tried the raspberry vinigrette! Thanks again for your help! TJ ... I hope I won't have to tell you that we've burnt everything! But, that would be my DH's fault, as I do all the precooking, prep work and extras leaving for him the delicate duty of grilling the food on the bbq! Well ... he's the one who, usually, specifically asks for such a task!