Clock and Refrigerator Conspire; Cook Wins.

Thirty minutes before that client meeting across town. No time for breakfast, right?

Wrong. Time for some fresh strawberries and millet flakes (which take about ten minutes to cook).

Oh, really? Notice anything about those strawberries? Yes, you did put them too close to the back of the refrigerator, and they are--

Frozen???

Nooooooooo!!!

(And then just a bit of the vernacular, which we will leave out of our story since this is a family operation.)

Suddenly a friend comes to the rescue. On the phone yesterday, he had used a word you hadn't been thinking about much lately.

The word is "smoothie."

So you reach for the smoothie cookbook* to get the proportions of some of the recipes, remember that almond milk you haven't opened and yes! Silken tofu in the cupboard!

To be used by 2006.

Well, fine. Into the blender go the strawberries. (Most of a pint. Eclair strawberries from Yerena Farms, which is why there is no way we are throwing them out.)

Chop.

Pour a cup of almond milk into the little measuring cup. Put half of it into the blender.

Puree.

Taste.

Add a tablespoon of lowfat yogurt and a pinch of cinnamon.

Taste again.

Add a half-teaspoon (yes, of course that means half a regular teaspoon, there's no time to get out real measuring spoons) of that wonderful lemonade marmalade Michele gave you from her trip to McCutcheon's.

Taste. Drink happily. While you're at it, heat the oven to 350 degrees and move a slice of sprouted rye bread from the freezer to a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet that has become your favorite cooking equipment ever.

Drink your smoothie. Turn over the toast. Now spread it with a spoonful of almond-hazelnut butter, drink the rest of the smoothie and the rest of the almond milk from the measuring cup, and eat your toast on the way to the bus.

*To be exact: Barber, Mary Corpening and Whiteford, Sara Corpening. Super Smoothies (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000). From the late, lamented, Cody's Books, which fortunately gave out magnets so you can look at your refrigerator and remember a local treasure.

©2010 Laynie Tzena.