I am a total creature of habit. I wake up at the same time each day. I get out of bed, feed my dogs, put on my contacts, brush my teeth, pull on my yoga clothes and head to the studio. When I’m through, I head to the gym or to TRX class and then I indulge in a large cuppa tea, sometimes an Epsom salt bath, and a few chapters of my book. In between this routine I always snack on a hard-boiled egg, a banana, and a couple of mini Mandarins. It’s all very routine and not very exciting, but it’s what I do and I do it daily and I like the order of it all. (I’m not type-A at all!)
But I gotta be honest here. I’m totally over hard-boiled eggs and I may go bananas if I have to peel another one! I eat these things because they are easy to transport, eat and toss/compost when I’m through. So last week I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop in San Luis called Sally Loo’s and I started noticing all these big bowls of deliciousness being delivered to people sitting by me. It looked like ice cream but better! “What is that?” I just had to ask. “An Açaí Bowl, what else?” was the answer I was given. So I did some research. And it seems that the latest breakfast craze here in California is the ever-so-popular Açaí Bowl, yet no one knows how to actually say it, never mind what’s actually in it.
I mean look at this beautifulness!
As my friends would say, this is total “Niccola Dish” or “Treehugger Meal” because of all the color and freshness to this bowl! I don’t mind the label, I happen to really LOVE trees… so much so that I have one tattooed on my back! And did you know that Açaí fruit are actually berries that are grown on huge 50 foot trees?
I love doing yoga on trees!
Açaí is a species of palm tree and is closely related to the primary source of hearts of palm, that are common in salads and appetizer dishes. Brazilian natives discovered that the dark purple berries had certain healing properties to them and ate them regularly to boost energy. In Brazil, it’s nicknamed “beauty berry” because it has so many compounds that make the body both look and feel better from the inside out, according to Dr. Oz who I love and trust like I know him or something! He also says that the berry is packed full of “antioxidants, amino acids and omega fatty acids all which help slow the aging process by boosting immune and metabolic function and removing destructive free radicals from our bodies.”
Sold right?! Açaí berries also pack more grams of protein than in one egg so I’ve been switching up my morning routine of an HB and a banana with one of these yummy bowls instead. I found these easy peesy frozen berry packs and each one contains just 70 calories and NO sugar! That means you can put as much fruit as you want in it and you’ll sweeten the deal with natural sugars instead! I picked this up at California Fresh Market but you should be able to find it in your local grocery store in the frozen berry section. Most of these smoothie packs can be mixed with any non-dairy milk, coconut water or yogurt.
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Açaí Bowl- serves one
Ingredients:
-1 Açaí berry smoothie pack (frozen)
-1/2 cup of almond or coconut milk or Greek yogurt or 1 banana
-sprinkle of granola, or coconut flakes, chia or flax seed
-your favorite fruits
Directions:
1. Follow the direction on the Açaí pack. Usually you have to run them under warm water for 5 seconds.
2. Toss the pack and your choice of liquid in your blender. I used Almond Milk. But Greek yogurt is really good too!
3. Blend until you have an ice cream-like consistency. Then toss your homemade granola on top!
4. Place in a bowl and then add your favorite toppings! Enjoy! It’s okay to be a treehugger… see?!!!!!
I topped my bowl with some fresh kiwi and raspberries that suck underneath all that goodness!
Check out the internet and Pinterest for exciting ways to decorate your bowl!
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Sorry for the lack of posts lately but my dog sitting business, Adventures in Dog Sitting, has really taken off and I’ve been busy shlepping animals back and forth. And I swear reading takes up 40 percent of my day. It’s a good thing I don’t have kids yet because I love to indulge in hours spent sipping tea with a good book in my lap!
Thanks to a category on Jeopardy last week about “Typhoid Mary” I picked up this book called Fever by Mary Beth Keane. I knew nothing about Mary before I read this book and I was fascinated to learn that although she herself was never sick with the flu, through her cooking, Mary managed to expose hundreds of people to Typhoid. She is said to have infected and killed at least 50 people although it took years for her to admit this. And what was even crazier was the fact that the NYC heath department made her promise not to cook ever again to large groups of people after the first time they caught her… and she just ignored them and kept applying for more jobs as a cook!
I’ve just started Under the Banner of Heaven by one of my favorite authors, Jon Krakauer. This is a true story of violent faith concerning Mormon Fundamentalists who still practice polygamy and believe that they were ordered by God to kill a young woman and her child. I can already tell this book is going to be thrilling and chilling all at once! What are you reading out there friends??!!
