I’m all about experimenting over here. I like to try new things. The love of newness is called “neophilia” and I have strong neophilic tendencies. So when I saw this recipe on Pulse Canada’s Instagram, I had to try it.

It’s for a bean smoothie.
In my initial attempt I used:

1 cup red kidney beans (because that’s what I had left over)
2 cups spinach
¾ cup black berries
1 cup rice milk

The original smoothie was green, but mine was purple, because I added so many blackberries.
I threw this all in a blender and then had a sip. And all I could think was “OMG, RECIPE FAIL.” The kidney beans were overpowering. Anyway, I managed to choke it down and go on with my day.

About half an hour later, I felt as if I had swallowed some sort of magical elixir. I had lots of energy, a ton of focus and I felt super human. I didn’t get hungry until lunch time, which is rare for me. Hmmmm. I needed to experiment again.

So I followed a recipe closer to what was originally posted by Pulse Canada
1 cup white beans (much better)
2 cups spinach
¾ cup blue berries
1 cup rice milk

(The original recipe from Pulse Canada called for ½ cup of frozen fruit. Do other people have frozen fruit in their house? I never do)

Once again, I was energized and pumped. There’s something to this madness. I’ll definitely try this again. It’s a good start to my day.

After I made this recipe, I spent some time googling and discovered all kinds of bean smoothie recipes. One woman made a black bean chocolate smoothie. I can’t even drink coffee because it makes me too revved up, so I can’t imagine what that would do to me. There are a lot of crazy recipes out there, including one with white beans and mango that actually sounds good. Clearly, this bean thing is getting to me.

(This recipe calls for a non-dairy milk, like almond milk. I can’t do almond milk, so I tend to stick with rice and soy. I know a lot of people worry about soy products and the estrogen in soy products. So I decided to look up some information. Here’s the science- Soy contains isoflavones, also known as phytoestrogens or “plant estrogens.” However, isoflavones are different from the hormone estrogen. Reality: Soy does not contain the hormone estrogen. It does contain isoflavones, which are naturally occurring plant compounds.)

Here’s some more information about soy from a dietitian’s magazine- http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/040114p52.shtml

(Also, I just realized that someone is going to ask me about that glass. I bought it in Palm Springs. It was full of honey when I got it. I intend to get more of these jars the next time I go back.)