Acai Bowl

It’s Recipe Redux time again! I love being a part of the Recipe Redux community because it really creates the opportunity for me to think outside the box.  And for a variety seeker like me, that’s always exciting (haha, I know, I’m WILD!)

Here is the Theme:

“Pick a new ingredient that you’ve been wanting to try… and cook or bake up a new recipe in the new year. Are you curious about nutritional yeast, fish sauce, matcha, teff – or maybe even ugli fruit? Show us how you’re cooking with something new (to you!) in 2016.”

And I immediately thought of making an Acai Bowl.  I was so curious about the Acai bowl trend because they basically looked like a fruit smoothie in a bowl, and so I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  An Acai bowl is a really thick blended fruit smoothie made with frozen fruit using an Acai berry puree or adding Acai berry powder.  Acai Berrys are a super nutrient dense, antioxidant rich fruit found in Palm trees in Brazil and other countries in South America.

Acai bowls are also typically topped with fresh fruit, a nut butter and various toppings like coconut, chia seeds, hemp seeds, bee pollen, granola or oats.

So first thing I did when making my bowl was start looking for Acai, I scoured my local store for Acai puree, but couldn’t find it, so I went to my go-to Amazon and ordered this freeze dried Acai powder (affiliate link).  

I decided to make a very simple Acai bowl base using frozen strawberries, blueberries,  almond milk  Acai berry powder and topping with some of my fav toppings, fresh strawberries, blueberries, banana slices, some canned pineapple, peanut butter, Chia seeds and rolled oats (confession: I planned on adding shredded coconut too but I forgot about it).

And I loved it!  It was so tart, tangy, sweet and refreshing, like eating frozen fruit sorbet topped with fresh fruit. And because you eat it with a spoon, you are “forced” to slow down and appreciate the experience…so it’s a very mindful food ;).

Delicous, nutritious and so simple!