the base of my smoothie bowls is always my favorite green smoothie. unfortunately, it's been more purple/brown lately as seen below - i've been cramming in mixed berries instead of an extra banana.
oooohhhhh yessssss
there's a very specific art to crafting the perfect (green?) smoothie. the spinach must be directly in the liquid, with the other ingredients on top. it's an unproven theory, but i'm pretty convinced the blender is able to blend the spinach more efficiently, reducing the risk of any creepy residual spinach flakes. no one likes those slimy little stowaways.
i'm just going to interrupt myself for a second and talk about a few books i've read lately, because they were very eye-opening and important. discussing the assembly of the bowl is gonna have to wait.
lately, i finished Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Both were quite fascinating and were written with what i perceived as an inquisitive desire for change. Salt, Sugar, Fat slammed the food industry, but not in annoying, rant-y way. Moss's approach was very scientific and methodical, with speculations around the way current eating habits involving processed food impact our society. it really inspired me to research even more about processed food, and the allegations against the food industry. i was/am so frustrated with it all - i just wish we could all have access to the healing power of farm fresh fruits and vegetables...which leads me to the next book i read! Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was the story of a really interesting experiment; eat nothing but what was in season and accessible locally. the Kingsolver family gardened a lot, gave up all processed food and all food that wasn't in season, and wrote a fantastic collaborative book about it. although i don't especially like gardening, i was ready to hop in my car and drive until i found a couple acres to grow beets on (i may have been getting a little ahead of myself). this book really made me think about what it means to go back to our roots, to eat locally. for the family in the book, it meant supporting local farmers markets, growing your own food, practicing the truly, truly, truly lost art of eating locally, and contributing to a community. i thought it was a great idea, and if it works for your family, go for it. as a vegetarian and borderline vegan, i wouldn't be able to survive winters of meat and root vegetables. but i really enjoyed the exploration of local food in the contexts of health and anthropology.
wrinkly thumb, color me mine bowl, off colored smoothie <3
whew. long story short, read those books. haha. anyway, smoothie bowls are famtastic because you get to feel super artsy and creative while you make them. there's a million and four ways to deck out your smoothie bowl, but i always opt for coconut and chia seeds as my constants. sometimes i'll add pumpkin seeds and raspberries, or mango and granola. today, it was a sliced Cutie and apple. i just have to say - the Cuties are phenomenal right now (though not local...sorry Mrs. Kingsolver) i've been eating four a day for the past few weeks and i have zero complaints/regrets about it. mmmm.
so there you have it! the ultimate college app fuel/i'm-stressed-out fuel/i-need-an-excuse-to-play-with-my-food fuel. below is my favorite smoothie recipe, but feel free to change it up. it's really just a formula to go off of.
lo and behold, the finished product
1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk (or coconut water, or milk, or water)
3ish cups of spinach - i usually just try to fill half to three-quarters of the blender with spinach
1-2 frozen bananas - this is imperative if you don't want your breakfast to taste like grass!!!
1.5 cups frozen berries (or another banana or two, or frozen mango, etc)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 lemon, squeezed into the blender (or lime, or a cutie - which i used in this bowl)
i'll usually blend up the almond milk with the spinach first, then add in banana, then the berries/lemon/vanilla. however, i'm pretty sure that's just me being crazy and that the layering technique in the first photo works just as well.
happy smoothie bowl-ing!
