Summer is here! That means lots of fabulous options at the farmers’ market with fresh fruits and vegetables galore. And blueberries.
There is nothing quite like the sweet taste of fresh summer berries. And now I was in need of something to do with all these blueberries. You have probably heard, seen, or tasted the trendy concept of a smoothie bowl or an acai bowl. An acai bowl is made up of frozen acai berries mixed with other typical smoothie ingredients (varies on recipe but bananas, strawberries, etc) blended to make a thick smoothie. It is then topped with various toppings such as granola, fruits, nuts, honey, drizzled peanut butter, or coconut flakes. Store-bought smoothie and acai bowls can be very high in sugar. There is often sugar added to the frozen acai berries (they are very tart and very expensive on their own) and as you see from the above list of toppings, they can be very high in sugar as well. So to save money, and limit my sugar intake, I embarked on my own smoothie-bowl and acai bowl challenge.
Smoothie bowls are different from a regular smoothie because they are thicker and eaten with a spoon. By eating it in a bowl with a spoon, it allows you to become more mindful and slow down instead of slurping through a smoothie (while you are most likely doing something else at the same time). You can find frozen acai berry packets at most grocery stores, but read to the label to make sure they do not contain any added sugars. Trader Joe’s has individual packets of unsweetened acai in their frozen section – a great find!
I used an EatingWell recipe to make it a DIY acai bowl and it turned out great! I also prefer to get vegetables into my smoothies, so I typically make green smoothie bowls using spinach, frozen banana, frozen pineapple, water or coconut water, and ice cubes. The result? A delicious green smoothie bowl. Since the typical smoothie bowl toppings can be high in sugar, I stick with a little bit of homemade granola (you can control your own sugar and oil), nuts, and berries.
And for the rest of the blueberries, they found their home in the form of tasty blueberry muffins.