A very weird thing happened today.
I was making a Vegan Maple Pecan Pie Smoothie from Healthy Blender Recipes, and I made a few modifications. I added some romaine lettuce (no, this isn’t the weird part) and subbed a little stevia for part of the maple syrup and accidentally forgot the cinnamon entirely. The result tastes like a creamy coffee-flavored liqueur drink even though there’s neither coffee nor alcohol in it. Nor cream, actually.
And it’s not just my weird alcohol-and-coffee-starved taste buds that taste Kahlúa where there is no Kahlúa. My spouse tasted it, too, and he consumes way less kale than I do.
It’s possible it’s some kind of miracle. Or perhaps there’s some logical, scientific explanation that I’ve simply not discerned yet, some kind of chemical reaction between the pecans and the lettuce and the maple syrup. Or maybe my bananas were so ripe they’d begun to ferment.
Whatever it is, here’s the recipe. You give it a try and let me know what you think.
Miracle Pecan Smoothie
(modified from Healthy Blender Recipe’s Vegan Maple Pecan Pie Smoothie)
Yield: 4 cups
1 cup romaine lettuce (3-4 leaves)
1 cup pecans
2 cups water
2 frozen ripe bananas
1 T maple syrup (I use grade B)
1 scant dropperful of liquid stevia
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch sea salt
Toss everything into your high-powered blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy (this takes ~50 seconds in my Vitamix).
So? What do you think?
Imperfect Happiness 
Well the creaminess I can understand, but the coffee liqueur taste causes pause for thought… Perhaps try it again and see if the you get the same flavour, if so then it has to be based on the combination and quantity of ingredients. If it tastes different then it was one of those food ‘miracles’ that sometimes happens when your dish/drink comes out tasting way better than you expected but can’t seem to make it that way again afterwards lol!
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Yes, this is an experiment that bears repeating…as soon as I buy more pecans.
Thanks for the comment!
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Wow. Kahlua and soymilk is my favorite indulgence. This would be so much more virtuous.
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That it would, if you don’t mind an indulgence turning into something virtuous. But this was so yummy (and has enough fat from the pecans) that I think it could still seem just wicked enough to keep it feeling like an indulgence. And I suppose if it ended up too virtuous, you could always mix some real Kahlua into it.
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Oh, I’m all about healthy hedonism. I’m very virtuous 🙂
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