It's summer time and the living is easy. Someone said that once. It makes sense to me. It's time to bask in the kaleidoscope of colours at the produce stands. And then time to come home and put together something to eat that is fresh and fast. I did just that. The blueberries were plump and tempting, a perfect mango beckoned with its heady perfume, firm stalks of corn awaited discovery. Long, thin beans, bold peppers, slim green onions, I found them all today and made this bright delight to enjoy with some grilled wild salmon.

Let's start with the quinoa and what one does with it. There are different techniques for cooking quinoa and I am going with this one from trusty Saveur magazine.

How to Cook Quinoa Perfectly
adapted from www.saveur.com

1 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained; 1 tsp. salt

In a 4-litre pot, bring 6 cups of water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil. Add quinoa and simmer 12-15 minutes until tender and grains have bloomed. Remove from heat and drain quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Set sieve back over empty pot, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest 15 minutes. Serves 4 people.

Quinoa Salad

Next, if you would like to construct a summer salad, you need some vegetables. I used about a cup and a half each of fresh green beans, cut into small pieces, cherry tomatoes, quartered and fresh corn kernals. I cooked the green beans and the corn until tender and drained them well. Tossed them into the bowl of quinoa I had waiting on the side along with the tomatoes, seeds pressed out lightly, by the way. I toasted a cup of sliced almonds and included them in my creation along with about 6 green onions, sliced into small rounds and two jalapenos, diced, for a hit of heat. Fruit and quinoa get along beautifully and I was after some big time colour, so in went a mango, diced and about 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries. I made a simple dressing with almond oil, fresh lemon juice and the zest of that same lemon, adding salt and pepper, a bit of cayenne and a pinch of raw sugar to taste. The only thing missing was a big handful of fresh herbs from my garden, mint, chives and oregano, adding lush freshness and speckles of green.

My quinoa creation was a perky foil for the rich, delicate meat of the wild salmon, cutting the density of the fish with bursts of fruit and a friendly jolt of peppery heat. It is a salad I will play with and adapt all summer long, as the fruit season delivers its wares. I am looking forward to tender, young zucchini, diced and gently cooked. Corn will continue to appear and will get better as the summer progresses, as will peppers and beans. Parsley and dill, cilantro and thyme, all will play roles.

Keep your summer meals easy and fresh:

The marriage of grains and vegetables allows for much textural interest and the gustatory interplay of flavours. When tomatoes, corn and roasted peppers are set against a palette of chewy, plump Israeli couscous, they become even more alluring than when featured solo. Perhaps the contrast of the grainy orbs to the juicy tomatoes is what works here, or could it be the starch in the pasta that sponges up the moisture from the chopped veg? Whatever the case, we have a most memorable dish on the menu.

Start off by toasting the Israeli couscous, adding a tablespoon of olive oil to a pot and browning 2 cups of Israeli couscous in it, over medium heat, stirring. The couscous will take on a deep golden hue and a toasty bite after cooking. Add in 2+1/4 cups of boiling water and a half a teaspoon of salt. Stir and let everything bubble away. When the couscous is almost tender, add in about 2 cups of corn kernals, either fresh or frozen. The brief cooking time left will soften the kernals, finish the couscous and give you a structure from which to add more details.

Taste the couscous when the water has evarporated to make sure it is tender. If it needs a few more minutes of cooking and the pot is dry, add a few spoonfuls of water and let the pot simmer a bit longer.

Now for the add-ins: I like the juiciness of fresh, chopped tomatoes and the full-bodied aroma of roasted peppers, cut into dice. You need something green and my go-to choice is fresh herbs. I had chives; I used chives. Some kind of nut is always welcome around here, so in went some toasted slivered almonds. The acerbic bite of onion rounds off flavours well, so chop up some sweet onion or shallots and include them in your creation. And that, my friends, is the whole story.

Now you may add in your seasonings. A splash of extra virgin olive oil makes good sense as does the grated zest and juice of a lemon. Salt and pepper should be added to suit your taste. Garlic almost always plays a supporting role in my salads, so why not use some here? Yes, it really works wonders, adding bite and sharpness and depth from a few cloves of a humble, common bulb. This salad keeps for a few days in the fridge and made for some easy, light lunches as well as solid side dishes for dinner with some butternut squash soup (more on that another day).

Israeli couscous, with its adorable orbs of toothsome texture, will add some substance to your selection of salads. Of course, it is also excellent served hot, as the cooked pasta that it is. Because I am part of an Italian family, pasta salads are not really anyone's top choice in my home, as we like our pasta piping hot and served immediately if not sooner. But I make an exception for Israeli couscous because it is so pleasantly enjoyable to eat and keep. No sticky, gummy, dried out cold pasta going on here, but tender little tidbits of grain-like noodles to incorporate into your marinated vegetable and herb concoctions. Merge cooked Israeli couscous with fresh summer vegetables for a fine marriage.

Find more fun recipes for your vegetables with these books:

With a new book comes new ideas. Salad For Supper. Patricia Wells, inspirational cooking teacher and author, tantalizes with her new cookbook Salad As A Meal, a concept that speaks of ease, freshness, light meals, casual concoctions. Don't approach this with notions of a messy hodgepodge thrown into a salad bowl. No no no. Here we have lovely, gentle tossings of elegantly simple elements that work together to build a sum greater than its parts.

Then, there are the things that go with salad for supper, some gentle soups, homemade crackers, the wines we may like to enjoy. Salad As A Meal takes us by the hand and invites us inside Patricia Wells' charmed life in the south of France, enabling our participation in the creation of sun-drenched foods and easy living. Cookbooks like this promote the fullfillment of a fantasy, a portal to a kinder, gentler world where people sip wine and eat canapes under the canopy of an oak tree. While some elements of our own lives may differ, we can adapt the themes and menus to our own circumstances and get one step closer to creating our own happy retreats within our own homes.

So, which salad should I tell you about? Thai Beef? Potato Salad With Capers, Spring Onions and Mint? Pear, Blue Cheese, Fennnel, Endive and Salted Almond? Vietnamese Chicken and Green Papaya? Marinated Shrimp? You may have noticed that some of these creations are not particularly French, as are many of Patricia Wells' notable recpes. No matter. They are inspired and fresh, trademarks of Wells' casual, elegant style. The more I browse Salad As A Meal, the more enthralled I am with this book. Here is a salad that calls out to me:

Crab, Avocado and Quinoa Salad With Technicolour Tomatoes

3 cups water or stock; 1/2 tsp. kosher salt; 1 cup quinoa, well rinsed and drained; 2 bay leaves; 1 pound (2 cups) lump crabmeat, cooked; 1/4 cup minced fresh tarragon or Italian parsley; 1/2 cup minced fresh mint leaves; 1 large rip avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and cubed; 2 cups mixed red, yellow and green cherry or pear tomatoes, halved.

In a large saucepan, bring water or stock to a boil. Add salt, quinoa and bay leaves. Bring back to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the quinoa is tender and translucent, about 15 minutes. Drain and return quinoa to pan. Cover with a clean dish towel, replace the lid and let it sit for 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves and let quinoa cool.

Place cooled quinoa in a large, shallow bowl. Add crabmeat, tarragon, mint and avocado. Toss with a dressing of your choice. Patricia likes this Yogurt and Lemon Dressing:

Combine 1 tbsp. lemon zest and 1 tbsp. fine sea salt in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Take 1/4 tsp. of this lemon salt and combine it with 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt and 2 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice. Shake well to blend. Adjust seasoning and add pepper if you like. Serve with quinoa salad.

Let your days be salad days: