Happy Monday, and Happy August, friends! The dog days are here, and with the height of summer comes the height of PRODUCE. Although there’s a place in my heart for fall and winter crops, berries take the cake – summer is my fave fruit month. May this background remind you to go get blueberries every time you go to the store and may your August be sweet & bountiful. Now, off to have some blueberry crostata…

I haven’t made you guys a smoothie in a while, and I felt like maybe it was time, so here we go. Summer’s a great time for all.the.berries but sometimes I buy so many I don’t know what to do with them. A smoothie is a great way to drink ’em up, folks. I like this mixture for the balance of cucumber and blueberry – refreshing and summery, with the right amount of sweet and earthy. If you feel like it, you can even throw in an avocado. Or a handful of parsley. Or some cilantro if you’re into that (which I am not! Ugh, cilantro you’re just gross sorry.)

I don’t think I can ever eat too many blueberries. They’re just so good so many ways. I buy a huge container of them every week when they’re in season and pop ’em like their candy. I think I might even make a blueberry galette this weekend because I’m dying for bursting blueberries with a hearty crust. Anyways, I digress, back to this smoothie.

I make my smoothies with an immersion blender in a big ole jar, because I am lazy and hate taking out my blender. But do what you want. Use the blender, or your food processor, or shake it for an hour (JK don’t try that it won’t work. (I’ve tried it in vain))

I used those tiny cucumbers that come from TJs, but feel free to use whatever ya got – just balance the cuke and the blueberries so you can taste both, with that dash of cinnamon. Also if you’ve got one, I’d recommend adding a lemon because let me tell you lemon juice does something magical to all smoothies.

Recipe below for guidance, but feel free to use this as a suggestion and create a great smoothie from what you’ve got lying around. Happy smoothie-ing, folks, and happy Friday!

Type: Smoothies

Author: Jennie

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 small cucumber
• 2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

Directions

1. Chop your cucumber and grate your ginger.

2. Add milk and spinach to a blender. Blend until smooth.

3. Add blueberries, cucumber, cinnamon, and ginger and blend until smooth. Serve room temperature or cold!

Today, I have a recipe for you for my series Breakfast in Bed for the Joie de Vivre Hotels.  I am always making avocado toast, and thought this was the perfect pair for a most perfect hotel, the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco. This hotel is right on the water on the Embarcadero, and is a great place to act as home-base for your travels in SF.

In the heart of San Francisco, within walking distance to the Ferry Building (with an amazing farmers market several days a week) or a quick cab to Fisherman’s Wharf, this modern hotel has everything you need to feel luxurious and equally at home. With so much to do nearby, I figured a breakfast that’s quick, hearty, but also light was the way to go. Plus, I wanted to create a truly Californian breakfast, inspired by the produce of the state and of course, the sourdough bread from San Francisco that’s unparalleled – there’s just nothing like a fresh loaf of sourdough from the city.

This avocado toast brings in what I found locally, but feel free to play with your toppings – that’s what summer produce is all about! Find some great tomatoes? Pile ‘em on. Those radishes looking particularly good? Those work too. Mix and match because the more flavor, the better – just don’t forget a hearty layer of avocado first, with enough salt and pepper to spice it up! I choose a mix of goat cheese, fresh tomatoes, radishes, micro greens, and sweet peppers. For the full recipe, head over to the Joie de Vivre blog, here!

Is it hot where you are? Here in LA, the heat has been creeping above 100 for several days, and then yesterday the heat wave broke (haha, and was 95 instead of 108.) It’s always a challenge to get enough water around these parts, especially when there’s cold beer in the fridge and sugary teas calling my name – or better yet, a really cold juice! Which is great and all, but I was in need of something I could sip without feeling too guilty to help me drink more!

Enter this Mint Lemonade, paired with some Mango Black Iced Tea, with of course some mixing for good measure. Because who doesn’t like an Arnold Palmer? Plus, going halfsies means you can have more glasses of each…right?! Isn’t that how it works? I’d like to think so.

I am a huge iced tea person, and could drink unsweetened iced tea at every meal. So I was happy to find the Mango Tea at Trader Joe’s – a little flavor without adding any sugar – bless! To make iced tea, you just brew as usual then ice, so no recipe needed for that folks – the hardest part is the wait.

Because the tree in my backyard has been overgrown with lemons, I had to make lemonade. I added mint because there’s just something so summery about mint, but you can use basil, or rosemary, or thyme, or really any herb you want to add a little something to your lemonade.

Keep a pitcher of each of these in your fridge all summer, and I promise you that your friends that come over will be happy that you’ve got something besides water. I promise it’ll make dinner time a little more fun, and it’ll make getting all the liquid you should all day easy peasy. Plus, what’s better to sip on when eating a cheese plate and reading Outlander (have you guys read it? I’m really into it.) Recipe below! Tell me what you guys are drinking to keep yourself cool this summer!

Type: Sipping Slowly

Author: Jennie

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 bunch mint, leaves torn
• 1 cup lemon juice
• water

Directions

1. Make simple syrup: mix water and sugar together in a sauce pan over medium heat, until sugar dissolves.

2. Add mint leaves, and turn off heat. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, then remove mint leaves, and allow to cool.

3. Meanwhile, juice lemons - it depends on how many lemons you have to get to 1 cup...mine only took like 3. I got big lemons, y'all.

4. Once your simple syrup is cool, fill a pitcher with us, then simple syrup, lemon juice, and then water to taste.

5. Serve cold over ice, or mix half and half with iced tea!

I love tacos. As someone who now lives in LA, all I ever want to east is tacos. When I’m truly hangry, I crave tacos. After a long hike? Tacos. Too hot to eat? Tacos. I love tacos of all kinds, but my favorite has to be really good shrimp tacos.

These are a great dinner to make quickly if it’s 100 degrees (like it is here) and you don’t want to turn the oven on. I definitely have not wanted to turn the oven on all week – there is an excessive heat warning here, for god’s sake! I’m lucky to even be cooking in the first place, I say, and this is something that doesn’t require making my kitchen into a hell hole first.

You can make these shrimp on kebabs on the grill, even. I love piling on the veggies and the cabbage and salsa and serving nice and hot. The lime, sumac, and veggies all pair really nicely. You can also serve this over salad with chips. Dealer’s choice.

I made these with roasted corn, pepper, and onions, and it was the perfect crunchy to savory dish. You could use pico de gallo, too, or arugula, or any myriad of veggies for this easy dinner dish!

Type: Lunch, Main Course, Quick Meals

Author: Jennie

Difficulty: Intermediate

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 24 shrimp
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sumac
• olive oil
• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 cup cabbage, shredded
• 1 cup roasted veggies
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 lime, quartered
• s/p

Directions

1. Start by making your roasted veggies. I recommend using my recipe for peppers, onions, and roasted corn.

2. Cook your shrimp in a cast iron with a little olive oil, your cumin and sumac. Cook until the shrimp are translucent.

3. Warm up your tortillas.

4. Assemble tacos: I prefer about four shrimp per taco. Serve shrimp with veggies, cabbage, and plenty of salsa, salt and pepper to taste, and a lime wedge.