Mango Immuno-boost Smoothie

Serves 2-3 people:

1/2 mango + a little extra to cut into juice toppers as pictured

1/2 cup crushed ice

1/2 cup + 1 shot carrot orange immune refresher from Whole Foods

3 strawberries

1/4 banana

1/4 cup preferred milk

Hold one shot of immune juice off to the side. Crush and blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Pour into cup. Add mango topper. Grab the shot sinker to complete your palette once the smoothie is all slurped up. Enjoy! xo RCN

 

Lychee Lemonade Fizz

If it's not Happy Hour, let's pretend! I love a good cocktail. In the Summer, the fresh and fruitier, the better. Frosé? Hell yay! This sweet, frozen fizz is not frosé, but surely as tasty. It's for anyone that loves lemonade, a little bubble, cold to the sip, and well... lychees. I fell in love with lychee cocktails the first time I tried the ginjo lychee cocktail at Morimoto, one of my all time favorite sushi restaurants. If you've never tried a lychee, because after all, they are a little more rare in American cuisine, I highly recommend. Lychees have a consistency similar to the inside of a grape and they are sweet. Here is my super simple recipe for this Summer's creation of a lychee lemonade. Cheers! xo RCN

Makes 2 cocktails:

2 cups ice

10 lychees (they usually come in a 20oz can in liquid which is about 20 lychees)

1 can of sparkling lemonade, I used Lemon Lemon blackberry flavored

2 shots Vodka, I use Grey Goose

1/2 fresh lemon + 2 small lemon wedges for garnish to each glass

Crush ice in blender until frosty and snow-like and you just can't crush it anymore. Then add 8 lychees and continue to blend and crush (pulse too) for about 30 seconds or so until all combined and lychees are chopped up into very small pieces. Remove pitcher from blender and give the snow cone textured ice/lychees a mix with a spoon before scooping about four big spoonfuls into each glass. Then add one shot of Vodka to each glass (maybe 1 1/2 if you like your cocktails a little stronger) followed by a 1/2 cup of the sparkling blackberry lemonade (or reg. sparkling lemonade). Pour slowly, or the drink will fizz over the rim. Squeeze a quarter wedge of fresh lemon into drink and stir. Drop one whole lychee into each drink, and complete with a small lemon wedge on rim of glass. Sip with a straw and voilà!