Welcome to my 15 Minutes to Fabulous series! Over the next few days I’ll be featuring some fantastic guest writers sharing ways to be fabulous in just 15 minutes. Let’s face it, give a busy woman 15 minutes of uninterrupted time and she can conquer the world…or at least 15 minutes of it! Today’s guest blogger is my niece Sarah from Serotonin for Breakfast.

Hey friends!

My name is Sarah and I write about plant-based diet and mindful living over at Serotonin for Breakfast. I am really excited to have the opportunity to share a refreshing summer recipe with you here on my Aunt Jamie’s blog as part of her 15 Minutes to Fabulous series.

Currently, I am working as a vegan chef in New York City, and like most of us over-committed yes-women and men, I am all too familiar with the true meaning of the New York minute, which essentially means that if I want to get a decent six hours of sleep and be out the door by 6 a.m. the following are highly likely:

• I will be that woman on the subway with mostly wet hair putting on her makeup.
• If I want to wear real clothes and pretend for at least a few hours a day that I have not sold my soul to Lululemon, which is what I wear under my chef’s jacket and to my evening yoga classes, those clothes must be selected the night before.
• It’s a really good idea to go ahead and grind my coffee, put it in my French press or Italian espresso maker, and strategically set out my blender to throw in whatever fruit and greens I have on hand to make a smoothie for that last T minus before making a sprint to the elevator.

Working in a fast-paced kitchen environment has taught me to be tremendously efficient in all areas of my life, and naturally, it has also inspired me to create recipes that have maximum flavor and nutrition with minimal time commitment.

Sweet summer watermelon combined with electrolyte-rich young Thai coconut water is incredibly hydrating, while a touch of vanilla bean and almond milk makes this smoothie satisfying, exotic, and a little bit glamorous. If you happen to find a yellow watermelon in your market, you can even have a wonderfully unexpected vibrant color to enjoy in your travel mug.

To ensure maximal frosty-ness, I recommend cutting a whole watermelon into one-inch cubes and spreading just over half on a cookie sheet in your freezer for a minimum of 48 hours. If your watermelon has seeds, cutting it into dice will make them easy to remove with the tines of a fork. Once frozen on the cookie sheet, watermelon cubes can be placed in a gallon Ziploc bag, and they will not stick together. This is a great method for freezing any fresh fruit you have on hand.

The measurements in the recipe can be eyeballed, but do be sure to use more frozen watermelon than fresh. There’s no real need to break out the measuring cups before your morning commute!

Watermelon Vanilla Bean Frosty

• 4 cups frozen watermelon cubes
• ½ to ¾ cup young Thai coconut water, chilled, preferably raw and unpasteurized
• ¼ to 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, homemade or store bought
• Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean, optional, but highly recommended
• Flesh from one young Thai coconut; optional, but makes it very filling

Place all ingredients in a high speed blender. Blend until smooth, adding more liquid until desired consistency is reached. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Serves 2-4
10 minutes or less