Summer non-cooking

In the summer, even I don't feel like cooking. I'd rather be outside. I'd rather eat raw, fresh food. My appetite is diminished. Etc.

However, too much of this attitude and I wind up eating yogurt, berries, granola bars, and grilled cheese for meal after meal. Enough is enough!

Fortunately, summer dishes can be mostly raw and therefore take less time to cook. Simply toss a few things together, or pour one thing over another thing.

For instance:

• 10-minute pickles that will last a week (I halved the recipe for 1 large cucumber and 1 small head of celery from this week's farm share)
• cold soba noodles and stir-fried Chinese greens with garlic
• tossed summer grain-and-corn salad

Cold soba noodles: boil the noodles as directed, then drain and immediately run under cold water until cool. Toss with a little bit of soy sauce, ponzu, and scallions. Enjoy with tofu or greens or as is.

Stir-fried Chinese greens with garlic: wash and chop greens into large pieces. Peel a few garlic cloves and leave whole. In a large frying pan or wok, heat about a tablespoon of canola oil until very hot (test with a drop of water or a piece of garlic), then add garlic. Cook for a minute, then turn off the heat and add the greens (if you don't turn off the heat, sometimes the whole thing will catch fire). Turn the heat back on and cook for a minute on high. Season with salt if you're feeling indulgent (or just went running!).

Summer salad: toss together the following ingredients.

• any grain, cooked al dente (I used some cool-looking black forbidden rice)
• 1 ear of corn, steamed and de-kerneled
• handful of chopped cilantro and scallion
• half an avocado, cut into small pieces
• handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• lemon juice
• red pepper flakes

Summer greens

Is there anything worse than attending a lecture about lifestyle balance, the need for sleep and relaxation, four days before an exam? If only I were so good at managing my need for sleep as I am anticipating my need to eat well. Priorities...

To balance out the macaroni and cheese and meatballs, I also made a large pot of collard greens to ensure some vegetable intake throughout the week. Think of these as another iron-rich, fiber-rich, cholesterol-clearing alternative to kale, which you may be getting sick of by now. I'm no expert at cooking collard greens, but these came out quite delicious.

Collard greens:

• 1 bunch collard greens, washed and sliced into ribbons horizontally (against the direction of the stem)
• 1 onion, cut into quarters and sliced lengthwise
• 4 garlic cloves, whole
• olive oil
• salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
• vinegar
• cooking wine (optional)

In a large pot, heat a few tablespoons of oil. Add the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and stir until the onion is translucent. Add the collard greens (may need to add in batches until they have cooked down to make room), 1-2 cups of water, and generous splashes of vinegar and cooking wine (this was serendipitous in my case -- I added wine by mistake but it came out well). Simmer at low-medium heat for about an hour until greens are soft. Season generously with salt and pepper.