Açai Smoothie Bowl

As the yoga pant-clad woman in the shop at the beach passed my dragon fruit smoothie bowl across the counter and shoved a compostable spoon down the side, it was love at first sight.

I know I’m being dramatic when I say that smoothie bowls changed my life, so I’ll just say that smoothie bowls changed breakfast…and lunch…and sometimes dinner.

See, I used to spend the time before breakfast each morning trying to decide if I wanted cereal or a smoothie.

Cereal has been a lifelong love for me, and smoothies are my hot new thing. Each day, I ask myself if I should go with my roots or start up the blender. Now I don’t have to choose.

If you’re not already onto them, let me tell you about smoothie bowls. They’re just what they sound like—a smoothie dumped into a bowl. But there’s more.

Once you don’t have to worry about slurping your smoothie up a straw, the game changes. Now, that already delicious bowl of blended bananas, blueberries, and açai, has become a canvas for you to cover with superfoods, like cacao nibs, mulberries, and goji berries, or you know, CHOCOLATE GRANOLA. And pecans. And cherries. And everything. It’s a smoothie…aaaaand it’s cereal.

One other difference I’ve noticed between smoothies and smoothie bowls is the fact that people (read: other bloggers, like The Minimalist Baker!) tend to pack smoothie bowls with nutritionally dense ingredients like they’re going out of fashion, which I’m totally on board with.

It’s a superfood smorgasbord!

But I’ll be honest. I’m not convinced about the magical, mystical properties of ancient superfoods.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m ALL about trying new fun ingredients, like caramel-y mulberries, bitter goji berries, very GREEN spirulina, and earthy açai powder. But that’s just it, these ingredients are fun to me because they’re new (to me). Superfoods are like a new foodie playground filled with brand new toys.

But even if I’m not sure they’re as drastically transformative as some of the marketing makes them out to be, I do think that superfoods, like açai, have a lot of nutritional benefits, especially for vegans and people eating plant-based diets.

A lot of superfoods, like spirulina, can provide nutrients that people who don’t eat animal products might have a tough time coming by.

And Nourish NYC’s Marissa Lippert, M.S., R.D. says that “Açaí berries are jam-packed with a type of antioxidant called anthocyanins, thanks to their dark purple-black hue. Anthocyanins help prevent disease, like heart disease and cancer, and overall inflammation” (Refinery29).

I’m sold.

And what she didn’t mention is the fact that açai tastes like a cross between tart berries and dark chocolate.

::faints::

Try this smoothie bowl yourself and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #thatsplenty. If this is your first foray into smoothie bowls, then welcome. If you’re an old hat at smoothie bowls? You should have told me sooner. See you on the IG.

The Waco Vegan is no longer updated. You can find me over at RandleBrowning.com instead.