The salad days of summer

I was starting to feel badly about not cooking these past few weeks, but then it occurred to me as I was enjoying a ripe Ontario nectarine dripping with sunny goodness: why cook when everything is this deliciously fresh?
In fact, I appear never to tire of a thick slice of steak tomato slabbed onto a fresh ciabatta bun lathered in Hellman's mayo (Canadian), avocado, red onion and whole leaves of fresh basil.
I'm equally a fan of using diced cherry tomatoes and red onion as a base to pair with: (a) cucumber, black olives, capers and feta cheese for a quesadilla topping or a side salad (b) add to fresh buffalo mozzarella, homemade croutons (baked bread cubes tossed in olive oil & sea salt) and loads of fresh basil, drizzled with olive oil and a good quality balsamic vinegar.
These are the salad days of summer, and I've taken to turning any produce sitting in my fridge into a layered salad:
Peaches, onions, tomatoes black beans, fresh corn kernels, celery, radishes and basil in a balsamic vinaigrette. It's a symphony of flavour.
Add a fresh baguette, a platter of cheeses and charcuterie and call it dinner.
And what of those fruits and vegetables that start turning? OK, that is when I'll turn on the gas burner and get cooking:
Slice fruit (peaches, nectarines, pears) into a sauce pan, add about a cup of water, a few tablespoons of brown sugar, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg and simmer for 10 minutes. Goes great with granola and yogurt in the morning.
Saute some diced onion and garlic in olive oil, add diced carrots and celery and season with sea salt and pepper. Add 2-3 cups of stock (I made three jars of homemade vegetable stock with leftover aging vegetables, including celery stalk roots, corn cobs etc., but any stock will do) and throw in diced potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes -- whatever you've got that can be cooked through. Simmer till the veggies are soft, add fresh herbs (parsley, chives, basil, oregano) then puree. Season with a fresh squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper and enjoy.
I actually made a base of soup but added pureed peaches and a can of coconut milk toward the end -- and used freshly grated ginger mint instead of other fresh herbs -- it was heavenly.
Summer's winding up -- I can feel fall is in the air -- but I'm going to resist the urge to bake and stew for a little while longer and enjoy the freshness of our local produce while it lasts.