There are two things that help me survive summer - swimming is one. My family claim I’m a horrible swimmer which is arguable at best but not entirely untrue. Lucky for me, the second thing is food, and I am better in that area than i am in the pool. It’s the season to stock up on everything thats refreshing to the body, light on the taste buds and basically makes up for this scorching month. I’m talking berries, mango, coconut, cold milk - the works.
Last week(ish…) I hung out with one of my absolute favourite blogger friendsies, Jia Singh. Her travel, nutrition and wellness blog Wandering for Wellness is stunning, and beautifully written AND does that magical thing where it suddenly makes me want to shift to a more nutritious, wholesome, invigorating lifestyle. She talks about everything related to health, travel, fitness, food and beauty. Also, the best part is - she believes in letting yourself have a bite of the good life once in a while as long as you work on your body in general. To quote her: "You should allow yourself that glass of wine on the weekend and a few squares of dark chocolate and truly savour it without feeling guilty about it.” (AGREED!!)
Dessert and wellness aren’t exactly synonymous. But with a little bit of flavour testing and ingredient substitution, I think we may have found something that is healthy and tastes like pudding. And can be eaten for breakfast. Or Lunch. Or dinner. Seriously.
Jia had to educate me quite a bit about healthy ingredients, recipes and such but after a little work, these reeeally delicious and completely healthy smoothie bowls were born! Besides their incredible level of instagrammability (haha) They are actually super healthy - they’re made from an almond milk and banana base, contain zero sugar and taste like dessert. Almond milk is a dairy-free vegan alternative with no hormones or antibiotics of chemicals. Plus, one cup of almond milk contains only 40 - 50 calories per cup. Also, these smoothie bowls are packed with seeds and nuts, Omega 3, calcium, fibre, Iron and protein.
We did 3 different variations of the smoothie bowl. Berry, Chocolate and Green. Recipes for all are below:
Berry:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 1/2 frozen banana (chopped)
- A handful of frozen strawberries
- A handful of frozen blackberries
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Dash of Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp coconut oil (optional)
- Honey - to taste
Blend all the ingredients in a blender. Pour into a bowl and add toppings of your choice. We recommend fresh blackberries, strawberries, shredded coconut and shredded almond.
Chocolate:
.
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa
1/4 ripe avocado
1 1/2 frozen ripe banana
1 tsp flax seeds
honey to taste
.
Toppings
: chocolate chips, coconut shreds, cherries, nougat
.
Green:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 - 3 spinach leaves
- 1 - 2 tsp super green powder
- 1 tsp cold pressed coconut oil
- 1/4 avocado
- 1/3 cup cut pineapple
- honey to taste
Toppings:
mango, pinapple, nuts, seeds, figs
Notes:
Whenever you use an avocado, make sure it’s really really ripe (black in colour). Don’t use green avocados - it’ll make it taste bitter!
- Super green powder should be available at any high end nutrition store.
- This should be filling enough to last you a good 3 -4 hours.