This is a new experience. I imagined I'd always gleefully try exotic and complicated recipes at least three times a week. I never really understood people who view cooking as a chore rather than a creative outlet.

Now I get it. At about 6 p.m. since the official start of summer, I've regularly thought: "Oh, no. I have to figure out what to make - again."

Last week I dumped the victim mentality - and the recipes that I've made over and over this summer - and went on the offense with a self-help program targeting my malady - boredom.

Some of my first thoughts were to wade deeper into ethnic recipes, to look beyond supermarket offerings of beef, pork, lamb and chicken to, say, rabbit, sweetbreads, and maybe even buffalo. I considered trying home methods for sous-vide, the extremely low-temperature method of cooking that's the rage among chefs.

Then I thought: Never mind.

While I may eventually go in those directions occasionally, I realized that what I needed now was less labor-intensive challenges. My best defense against the daily-dinner bully might be working with easily obtained and prepared ingredients.

So I focused on tweaking sensible ideas involving the usual suspects of late summer - chicken, corn, tomatoes, zucchini, sugar snap peas, watermelon and berries.

In selecting recipes, I focused on outdoor grilling to limit excessive dishwashing, which could be a factor in my malaise. I eliminated any recipe that would require turning on the oven for more than an hour, another common excuse for ordering takeout in the summer.

I also realized that I had become a sitting duck for the dinnertime bully by not equipping myself with ingredients, instead lazily waiting until the daily 6 p.m. reveille to figure out what to prepare. Now I'm deciding roughly what I will cook at least two days ahead.

What follows are a handful of solutions to the late summertime dinner blues.

Little is easier or more unexpected than the delicious appetizers made of sliced raw zucchini spread with flavored cream cheese and olives.

And Mario Batali does know his way around a grill. The chicken recipe is his, and is ideal to serve with his version of Italian grilled corn. (Cook the corn on the hot part of the grill, turning a quarter-turn every two minutes. Roll the ears in olive oil and vinegar, then dredge in grated Parmesan, and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint and hot red pepper flakes.)

Because the chicken thighs are breaded (that's the "agliata" part), they rest on the cooler part of the grill. The corn crisps on its hotter part, and afterward, it is dredged in Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

The corn and the chicken - with its tangle of tender-crisp sugar snap peas - are glorious in both taste and appearance.

And, big surprise: Tomatoes and watermelon are surprisingly compatible, especially when they are combined and laced with herbs - coriander seeds, dill and parsley.

There's nothing like success to bolster confidence and stave off boredom.

And, while I'm not completely back to anticipating 6 p.m. on summer's remaining evenings, I've fired a spitball in the direction of the daily dinner bully.

Zucchini Bites

Makes 36 slices