Seasonal Summer Party Recipes

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC Thursday, June 18, 2015 Entertaining, Lifestyle, Recipes entertaining, party recipes, Recipes, summer, summer recipes Permalink 0

We threw a lovely little housewarming party a bit ago, to celebrate our beautiful new Santa Monica home and all we love about west coast living. (Check out our Sustainable Summer Soiree Inspiration post for all the serving ware and decorative items we used!)

We used our weekly Out of the Box Collective CSA box of fresh, local, seasonal and organic produce as a jumping off point to create our entertaining menu, and filled in the blanks from Whole Foods and food ol’ trusty Trader’ Joe’s.

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Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC Friday, June 28, 2013 Diet and Foods, Healthy Cooking, Healthy Eating, Nutrition, Organic Beauty Chilled Cucumber Soup, Cook, Cucumber, detox, Healthy Cooking Permalink 0

By: Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

This delicious chilled cucumber soup is super detoxifying, and is a perfect light summer dinner for those balmy nights. The pine nuts add some bulk and healthy fats, giving the soup a super yummy consistency. Due to the high water content of cucumbers, this soup is also amazing for beauty, hydrating skin, and weight loss!

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint

Serves 2

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 lemon, peeled and cut into wedges
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cups pure water
1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Blend everything except fresh mint together until smooth — about 3 minutes in a high-speed blender. Add mint and blend for 15 seconds. Garnish with as extra drizzle of olive oil and a sprig of mint or dill. Serve chilled with some rye toast.

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