The best cooks are often wizards with leftovers. Partially opened products in their pantries and refrigerators may be all they need for masterpieces. Four-time winner of the James Beard Award and bestselling cookbook author Rozanne Gold, who for many years was co-owner of New York City's famed Rainbow Room, once told me in an interview that a favorite pastime was challenges with others at her home on Sunday afternoons. They would compete to see who could make the most delightful dish from leftovers and whatever else might be lying around.

I thought of that conversation recently when I concocted a smoothie from bits and pieces in my kitchen. Smoothies have been missing from the leftover literature, but make delicious sense as a catchall. I had decided I needed an alternative to the one filled with unsweetened cocoa powder that had been keeping me up at night, or my other favorite that was overfilled with bottled orange juice.

For a less sugary choice, I started with a base of a leftover half apple, including the skin, and the leftover pulp of a half orange that I had in the refrigerator. I also added the last few strawberries from their plastic container and a half-cup of unsweetened soy milk into the container of my strong blender. I then spied some opened packages, cylinders and jars I hadn't used in a while and, due to all I knew of their nutritional prowess, stole a teaspoon of each: ground flaxseeds, chopped pecans, old-fashioned rolled oats, molasses and ground cinnamon. I added a dash of stevia zero calorie natural sweetener and ice cubes, blended until smooth and enjoyed one of the best smoothies I'd ever had — which had a hint of the flavor and texture of a delicious homemade applesauce.

Soon my nostalgia had me flipping through my kitchen's copy of Gold's classic "Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only Three Ingredients," which had stemmed from her kitchen competitions and was one of the first quick-prep cookbooks that spawned many competitors. I turned the delicious cardamom infused Turkish iced coffee she featured into this delicious morning smoothie:

ICED TURKISH COFFEE SMOOTHIE

1/4-pound French roast coffee beans

1/2 tablespoon green cardamom pod

Sugar, for taste (optional)

1 1/2 cups 2 percent milk, (almond milk or soy milk)

Ice, as needed

Yields 6 servings.

Grind the coffee beans and cardamom together until very finely ground, almost powdery. An alternative is purchasing Turkish coffee at a specialty coffee shop or Middle Eastern food store. In a medium sized saucepan, preferably one with a pouring spout, bring 1 quart water to a boil. Add 1/2 cup ground coffee and stir quickly with the handle of a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and let the coffee come to a boil. As the foam starts to form and come to the top of the pot, carefully remove the pot from the heat. Add sugar, if desired, and let cool. Strain coffee through a fine-mesh strainer and refrigerate until cold.

For iced coffee, serve over ice. For each of six smoothies: Pour 1/6 of the cold coffee into container of strong blender with 1/4 cup of the milk and ice, blending until desired texture.

-Adapted from "Recipes 1-2-3: Fabulous Food Using Only 3 Ingredients."

AFTER-WORK GOURMET COOKBOOK SHELF

Baker Claire Ptak, author of "The Violet Bakery Cookbook," suggests not only using broken pieces of dark chocolate in your favorite recipe for chocolate bread pudding, but torn pieces of chocolate croissants (day-old are best) as the base.

Photo courtesy of BettyCrocker.com

Smoothies can be a creative container for leftover fruits and spices.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Kristoffer Trolle