Clementine Sunshine Smoothie

One week since Michael Devon Brooks arrived, and the world has reorganized itself around him. That is what babies do — they arrive weighing less than a bag of flour and they rearrange the entire gravitational structure of a family, and everyone orbits the new center, and the new center doesn't know it's the center because the new center is mostly interested in milk and sleep and making sounds that are either gas or the beginning of a personality.

Kayla is recovering. The birth was uncomplicated — the medical term for something that involved twelve hours of labor and a pain that Kayla described as "childbirth" and then refused to elaborate, which tells me everything I need to know about the pain because Henderson women do not describe pain. We endure it and we move on and we eat something warm afterward.

I have been at their house every day. Not because Kayla needs me — Devon is an excellent partner, attentive and present and doing the midnight feedings with formula while Kayla gets what sleep she can — but because I need to be there. I need to hold Michael. I need to watch him breathe. I need to see his face when it scrunches up before a cry and when it relaxes after a feeding and when it does that thing that newborns do where they look at nothing and you wonder what they're seeing on the other side of their brand-new eyes.

I held him Tuesday morning. Kayla was sleeping. Devon was sleeping. Michael was awake at four a.m. because four a.m. is apparently an acceptable hour in baby time. I picked him up from the bassinet and I sat in the rocking chair and I rocked him and I said, "Michael, your grandfather was a good man. He was quiet and kind and he laughed like the world surprised him. He died before you were born but he is in your chin and your hands and the way you hold on to my finger like you're not going to let go. He's here, baby. He's always been here."

The baby fell asleep. I kept rocking. The house was dark and warm and full of the breathing of sleeping people, and I was the only one awake, holding a new life in old arms, and the rocking was a prayer and the prayer was the rocking and Michael — both Michaels — were safe.

Made chicken broth for Kayla. The recovery broth. The thing my mother gave every woman who'd just given birth because broth is what the body needs when it's done the hardest work it will ever do. Kayla drank it from a mug. She said, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted." I said, "That's because you just made a person. Everything tastes good after you make a person."

Now go on and feed somebody.

Kayla graduated from the broth by day three — her appetite came back fierce, the way it does when the body remembers it has work to do — and I wanted something I could leave in the refrigerator for Devon to pour her at any hour, something bright and cold and full of everything a body burning through its reserves actually needs. My mother would have laughed at a smoothie, but she also would have drunk it straight down and asked for another, because Hattie Pearl was practical above all things, and practical means you feed people what they’ll take. This clementine smoothie is sunshine in a glass, and Kayla needed sunshine.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 2

Ingredients

4 clementines, peeled and segmented
1 medium banana, frozen
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup whole milk (or oat milk)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional, for color and anti-inflammatory benefit)
4–5 ice cubes

Instructions

Prep the fruit. Peel and segment all four clementines, removing any seeds. If your banana isn’t frozen, slice it and freeze for at least one hour before blending — this gives the smoothie its thick, creamy texture.
Blend the base. Add the clementine segments, frozen banana, Greek yogurt, orange juice, and milk to a blender. Blend on high for 30–45 seconds until completely smooth.
Sweeten and season. Add the honey, vanilla extract, and turmeric if using. Blend again for 15 seconds to incorporate.
Add ice and finish. Add the ice cubes and blend on high until the smoothie is thick, frosty, and fully combined, about 20–30 seconds. Taste and adjust honey as needed.
Serve immediately. Pour into two glasses and serve right away. If making ahead, store covered in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours and stir or re-blend briefly before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Clementine Sunshine Smoothie — What You Make When the Body Has Done Its Hardest Work