Who says that eating healthy has to be a drag? Over the years I have gotten comments when I pass on the cookies and cake that I need to live a little. While passing up sweet treats every now and again can be difficult at times I make up for it by making something using REAL food and REAL ingredients. In my quest to eat better I discovered food I never knew existed. To my delight, one of those foods I discovered was Acai bowls. Pronounced ah-sigh-EE.
Acai is a berry that comes from a palm tree in South America. It is found in the Amazon forest. The acai berry is rich in antioxidants and is full of health benefits. Some of the more notable health benefits are as follows:
Anti-aging Effects
Improves Digestion
Improves Mental Function
Promotes Heart Health
Aides in Weight Loss
Fights Cancer
Boosts Energy
If you have been following my blog you know that my goal is to eat only real ingredients that can improve my health and not hurt it. Not only does acai have impressive stats…..so do the rest of the ingredients that are in the acai bowls. This is a sweet treat that our family absolutely loves, and while the list of ingredients is long….it is relatively simple to make at home.
Like anything you are trying to make for the first time it might take a little bit, but stick with it cause its so worth it once you bite into this sweet treat. It will leave you feeling satisfied and energized. While we typically have this for lunch, our kids have been requesting it for morning too. Since our mornings tend to be a tighter schedule I will have to make sure the granola is cooked and ready to go and berries washed and ready.
One last thing before I give you the recipe. The acai powder is the only thing I had a harder time finding locally. You can either pick up a bag of acai powder at a local health food store or buy it from amazon.
Acai Bowl Recipe
Serves 2
Acai bowl Ingredients
- 1 1/3 Banana
- 1 1/3 cups Frozen Berries
- 2/3 cup Baby Spinach (always hiding the greens every place I can)
- 2/3 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (any nut milk would do)
- 1 1/3 tbsps Ground Flax Seed
- 1 1/3 tbsps Chia Seeds
- 1 1/3 tbsps Acai Powder
- 1 1/3 tsps Cinnamon
Directions: Put all the above ingredients in a blender. It should be the constancy of ice cream. Place the granola at the bottom of the bowl and then top with granola as well. Follow recipe for topping your bowl with whatever fruits and seeds you like. See directions below.
Making the granola for the acai bowl.
Granola Ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Rolled Old Fashion Oats
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Flakes
- 1/4 Pure Maple Syrup
- 1 tbsp of Raw Honey
- 1 tbsp of Maple Sugar (or you could use Coconut Sugar)
- 1 tbsp of Cinnamon
- 1 tsp of Vanilla extract (add Vanilla after you remove from heat)
Stir all together and heat on stove top to melt all the ingredients. Add the vanilla after you remove from heat. Bake at 275 for 30-40 minutes. I bake the granola on a cookie sheet using parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper you can grease the pan with coconut oil. Once the granola cools it will harden and be ready for your acai bowl. I always have this granola on hand so I can have it ready to go for the next time I make an acai bowl.
Top your acai bowl with:
- 1/3 cup Strawberries (sliced)
- 1/3 cup Blueberries
- 2/3 Kiwi (sliced)
- 2 tsps Hemp Seeds
- 1/3 cup Sliced Bananas
- 1/3 cup Almond slices
- Drizzle raw honey
Directions: You can use whatever berries or fruit you want, but load it up and have fun with it. You can’t mess it up. I recently made it for my mother-in-law and she said she loved how she had a different taste with every bite.
I would love to hear if you and your family loved it as much as we do. Leave a comment below. I always love hearing from you.
Also, If you like this recipe and would like to join my mailing list to get future posts direct to your inbox you can link here.
Thank you! It looks delicious!!