Summer Series: Too Hot to Cook - Part 1: Panzanella & BBQ Tofu

I'm attempting a summer-long series inspired by my lack of desire to do lots of prep work or stand over a hot stove as temperatures hover in the 90s.

Last night, I made a Panzanella salad and BBQ tofu strips (which I just called "BBQ strips" until my 3-year-old declared them a winner) with a side of sliced avocado. Simple, not a lot of prep and perfect for a hot summer evening. Honestly, I would eat just the salad for dinner with some sliced avocado, but for the kid's sake, I wanted to round the meal out.

For the BBQ tofu, I followed this recipe from my BBQ Tofu Sandwiches.

Panzanella Salad
Ingredients:
(all vegetables are approximate)
5 nice-sized tomatoes, cut into a large dice
1 English cucumber, cut into a large dice
1/2 red onion sliced thinly
1 loaf of yummy bread (ideally getting stale, but if it's not, that's okay!), cubed - I used ciabatta
1/4 cup vinegar (red wine or balsamic)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 (small) clove garlic, minced or grated on the microplane
salt & pepper to taste
1 handful basil, chiffonaded

Directions:
If your bread isn't stale, set your oven to 200 and put the cubes on a cookie sheet and let them dry out for about 40 minutes. Once that is done, continue with the recipe.

In a measuring cup, measure out the vinegar and oil, add the garlic and salt & pepper and mix together.

Put the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Add the dressing and toss and toss and toss. Then refrigerate for at least an hour to let the dressing soak into the bread.

Add basil and toss again just before serving.