You Call That a Recipe?

Sometimes something that sounds delicious is really a flop.

I tried something this morning that sounded amazing: Candy Bar Smoothie. The recipe came in an email from VegNews magazine, a normally very reliable recipe source for all things vegan and wonderful. Well, I changed it a little. Could that have been the trouble? It called for flaxseeds, and I used chia (slightly higher in calories); it called for cocoa nibs and I used unsweetened cocoa powder (much lower in calories). 

I assembled the ingredients:

I whipped it all up in the Vitamix, using 1-1/2 cups of almond milk because the recipe didn't say how much.

It looked pretty in a glass:

As the photo above shows, it was reallllly thick. That spoon never sank.

I tasted it. Mmm, okay. No refined sugars, smooth and flavorful. I stuck it in the freezer while I cleaned up. Whenever you use chia seeds, the cleanup has to happen right away.

Before trying to consume this, I decided to enter the ingredients into My Fitness Pal to see the damages. OMG! It was about 750 calories. Not happening. I divided it into four 1/2 cup servings at 186 calories each and put it in the fridge. 

Here are the actual ingredients:

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
So Delicious - Vanilla Almond Plus Almond Milk, 1.5 cup	105	12	3	8	143	12
Dry - Chia Seeds, 2 T	120	12	10	6	6	0
Maranatha - No Stir Creamy Almond Butter, 2 Tbsp.	190	7	16	6	60	3
Fruit - Frozen Banana Small (6"-7"), 1 Banana (101g)	90	23	0	1	1	12
Bob's Red Mill - Flaked Coconut (Unsweetened), 30 g (1/4 cup)	200	8	20	2	10	2
Simply Organic - Vanilla Extract, 1 tsp	10	0	0	0	0	0
Cocoa - Dry powder, unsweetened, 2 tbsp	25	6	1	2	2	0
Spices - Cinnamon, ground, 1 tsp	6	2	0	0	1	0

Total:	746	70	50	25	223	29
Per Serving:	187	18	13	6	56	7

I ate it like pudding which was pretty good, and I changed the name to Candy Bar Smoothie Pudding. 

Would I make this again? I doubt it. 

What Have I Learned?

I've learned some lessons worth sharing from my recipe flop:

• Be willing to try something new; you never know but it might be wonderful.
• Rather than treat a flop as a failure, see if you can transform it into something that works for you.
• Ask yourself if the sorry outcome is worth it; if you are underweight and needing tasty, high-calorie nutrients, this might be perfect for you; do you know somebody needing to bulk up?
• Share your flops as well as your triumphs; someone may be grateful that you made the effort so they (a) don't have to, or (b) can try it for themselves.

Have a wonderful day filled with opportunities to grow. It means you're awake and alive!

How the Candy Bar Smoothie Pudding
will look in 1/2 cup servings