It's never too early to celebrate the change in season, and we wanted to prepare you for the even warmer months with some epic Breakfast Bowl Ideas.
Brekky Bowls - you know, Acai Bowls, Pitaya Bowls, Smoothie Bowls...
The delicious treats that were once all over instagram, and are still a popular favourite at smoothie bars and cafes.
Did you know it's super easy to make your own at home?
In this week's Recipe of the week, we wanted to teach you how to make a delicious Brekky Bowl in the comfort of your own kitchen...
Because while it's nice to go to a Cafe, I think all this staying at home we've done for the past year or so has definitely gotten us more comfortable with wearing pyjamas most of the time still.Â
STEP #1: THE BASEÂ
To create a great smoothie or brekky bowl, you need to start with a base. The base is commonly a frozen fruit that makes a nice thick mixture.
Here are some examples of bases for your bowl:
- Frozen Banana
- Frozen Acai Berry/Pulp
- Frozen Mango
- Frozen Avocado (if you don't want it to be super sweet)
- Frozen Pineapple
- Frozen Berries (of any kind)
- Frozen Pitaya aka Dragon Fruit
- Frozen Coconut Chunks (again, if you don't want it to be super sweet but still like it creamy)
Take about 1 Cup of your base, and throw it into your high speed blender. It could be one or a mix of them.
STEP #2: THE LIQUID
Next, you'll need a bit of liquid to get the mixture moving.
The more liquid you have, the runnier and more smoothie-like it will be. The less liquid, the thicker and better it is.
Depending on how good your blender is you may need to use more liquid, so just keep that in mind. Try with a smaller amount first then slowly add more until you reach the consistence you like.
A good amount of liquid to start with is approx 100mL and slowly add more until you reach the desired thickness.
In our opinion, you don't want something over powering because that is going to give you a totally different flavour. But please experiment til you figure out what you like most.
Here are some great liquids for your smoothie bowl:
- Coconut Water is definitely the all star favourite. Nutritious and kinda sweet, but not over powering. It's our favourite choice when making most of our bowls.
- Orange Juice
- Apple Juice
- Coconut Milk/Almond Milk/Any Nut Milk of your choice
- Filtered Water
- Any other juice/liquid you like
Note: If you are adding protein powder or other boosters, just consider that Orange Juice doesn't go very well on a taste level with protein powders most of the time - but hey, all of our tastebuds are different, so you do you!
STEP #3:Â BOOSTERS
This is where you get to jam pack your bowls with nutritional goodness.
While you'll add a lot of different things on top of the bowl as an edible decoration, you can still add them in here too.
Play around and discover what you like best!
Here are some booster ideas:
- Protein Powder (Pea, Rice Protein, Whey, Hemp & Collagen are the most common types)
- Collagen (makes it extra thick, so you might want to add a bit more water)
- Gelatin (makes it extra thick, so you might want to add a bit more water)
- Chia Seeds
- Super Greens
- Flaxseed Oil
- UDOS oil
- Coconut Oil
- MCT Oil
- Basically ANY Superfood Powder you like
- Cacao Powder (makes it nice and chocolatey)
- Vanilla bean paste or drops
- Essential Oils such as lemon, lime, orange, peppermint (make sure you are educated around this and use the right brand of oils like doterra or young living)
- Nuts & Seeds
- Peanut Butter or Nut or Seed Butter
- Raw Honey or Maple Syrup or a Sweetener of your choice (not Aspartame though... but we shouldn't have to tell you that haha)
- Dates
- Non-Frozen Fruit of your Choice
There are many more combos but this should at least get you started
STEP #4: THE TOPPINGS
This is the most iconic part of a smoothie bowl - the decorations. This is where you get to have fun not only with different flavours but if you're a creative foodie you and play around with different designs.
We aren't super fussed with how ours is presented because it all ends up in the same place, but if you have a look at the picture above you'll see an awesome example of a great smoothie bowl.
Simply choose a couple of your favourite toppings, and layer them gently on top of your frozen smoothie concoction. If they sink, it's too runny. If they hang around on top - you've done it right!
Again, you'll want to play around with the different toppings until you find your favourite...
But here is a list of some of our favourite toppers:
- Granola
- Chia Seeds
- Blueberries
- Sliced Banana
- Bee Pollen
- Nuts & Seeds
- Any Berries
- Dried Berries such as Goji Berries or Dried Mulberries or Raisins
- Cacao Nibs
- Superfood powders (for a bit of a mix of colours)
- Coconut Flakes or Shredded Coconut
- Hemp Seeds
- Nut Butter or Seed Butter, Drizzled
- Cinnamon
- Flaxseeds
- Activated Buckwheat
- Puffed Grains such as puffed rice, buckwheat or sorghum
- Fresh herbs such as mint or stevia leaves
- Any fresh fruit that slices well on top... popular ones are kiwi fruit, pineapple, mango, stone fruits, dragon fruit, lychees, pomegranate seeds
But before you eat it... make sure you take an instagram worthy picture :)
SAMPLE RECIPE:
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Frozen Mango
1/2 Cup Frozen Blueberries
1/2 Cup Coconut Water
2 TBS Carob Nibs
1 Fresh Banana
1 TBS Chia Seeds
3 TBS Granola
How To:
1. Blend your mango, blueberries and coconut water until super thick.
2. Pour into a bowl
3. Gently pour chia seeds along a line at one side of the bowl
4. Gently place carob nibs along a line next to the chia seeds
5. Gently place granola along a line next to the carob nibs
6. Chop up banana into slices and gently place along a line next to the granola.
7. Add a couple of mint leaves for a bit of green colour
Dive in!
We hope you enjoyed this recipe and feel confident to go out and make a delicious smoothie bowl.
Happy blending :)
