Smoothie Bowls
Ah yes, the all mystical smoothie bowl. They're like the unicorn of meals. If you're into health and are currently using Instagram, I'm sure you've come across one of those colorful bowls full of gorgeously decorated, healthy deliciousness, also known as Smoothie Bowls. Most of the time when you're scrolling through your feed and one pops up, you've just gotta scroll back and take a gander at the thing. They're so bright and happy and have so much going on that you can't help but think, "I wish I could eat that for breakfast every day!" The thing is . . . you CAN! :) Smoothie bowls are very intriguing and yes, do look pretty complicated, but I can assure you that anyone can make them. For this post I decided to break down the smoothie bowl in hopes to encourage readers to give one a try at home. I don't mean to demystify the oh-so-magical smoothie bowl, I just think it's important to share these fun, very healthy meal ideas with anyone and everyone who is trying to live a healthy life! So here we go . . .
The Base
The Base of your smoothie bowl is the most important part. It's the main ingredient. Now the base can really be any blend of fruits or veggies that you'd normally use for a drinkable smoothie but for these decorative creations I recommend using frozen BANA-NA-NAAAAS! No, that's not a newly discovered fruit, it's just the more fun way of saying, bananas. So you've peeled and broken up your bananas, placed them in the freezer over night, and now they are ready to go first thing in the morning. I blend mine with a tinge of almond milk and just add more until I reach that thick smoothie bowl consistency.
Bananas are great at getting you that, "Spoon please!" thickness. They're also light in color which allows you to manipulate it into almost whatever color your bulging, hungry eyes desire.
The Fun Colors
Speaking of those crazy colors, where on earth do they come from and how are they achieved?! I haven't experimented with every color of the rainbow and all their shades, but I have tested some ingredients that make some very dreamy hues.
The one I used for this recipe was a Red Flesh Dragon Fruit. While I was preparing my bananas to freeze over night, I also cut up a red flesh dragon fruit and froze that as well. After blending my bananas, I added the dragon fruit pieces and blended that all together.
If you use this same fruit as your colorant, you should get a hue somewhere between a light magenta and a bubblegum pink.
Using frozen Strawberries gets you a baby pink. Spirulina powder will get you lots of interesting greens. Acai berries or Acai powder and Blueberries will get you one of hundreds of shades of purple. Steeping Blue Chai Tea in a tiny bit of water and using that instead of almond milk to blend your bananas, will get you a blue hue. Butterfly Pea Powder will get you a lavender color. There are endless possibilities and only experimenting can bring you closer to knowing exactly which ingredients and how much of them you'll need for a specific color. For now, we've got a deep vibrant pink so let's work with that . . .
SMOOTHIE BOWL TOPPINGS
Once you've got your base created and poured into your favorite bowl, it is time to decorate! Here's a plate of the kind of toppings I always have handy in my kitchen.
From left to right we've got, shaved coconut, coconut chips, blueberries, chocolate chips, whole almonds, chia seeds, rolled oats, strawberries, kiwi, raisins, and pumpkin seeds.
Those are just some examples of toppings you can use. Once you've picked some out, you can decorate in lines like this . . .
Cut your fruits into shapes with mini cookie cutters like this . . .
Sprinkle on some edible food glitter (found at your nearest craft store) . . .
And just go to town . . .
I really wish I could share this bite with you, but I know you can create one just as magical!
The best part is, no two ever turn out the same. They really are works of art! I hope you enjoyed the break down and learned a thing or two about these fanciful meals. Until next time, Ta Ta! :)
