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Kitchen Confessions: Smoothie bowls: arts and crafts time with food

Lately I’ve seen a lot of beautiful and colourful images of smoothie bowls on social media like Instagram and Pinterest and wondered what all the hype is all about. Are smoothie bowls just an excuse to have arts and crafts time with our food or could it be a gateway to get humans to eat healthier?
11019155_web1_Kitchen-Confessions

Lately I’ve seen a lot of beautiful and colourful images of smoothie bowls on social media like Instagram and Pinterest and wondered what all the hype is all about. Are smoothie bowls just an excuse to have arts and crafts time with our food or could it be a gateway to get humans to eat healthier?

I will admit that I would rather eat artfully styled food when prepared by someone else, but this weekend I decided to embark on a smoothie bowl journey and see what all the hype is about!

A smoothie is already a delicious meal to go, but I’m sensing that the smoothie bowl is more of an excuse to sit down (meaning not to take on the go) and really appreciate the ingredients with our eyes as well as our taste buds.

I gathered all of the necessary ingredients; assorted fruit, some greens, all types of milk alternatives, chia seeds, chopped nuts and seeds, oats, sweeteners and anything else I could think of that would either blend well or look pretty as a garnish. After consulting with several online resources (thank you Pinterest), I figured out that there is a pretty standard formula to these bowls:

1 cup frozen fruit + ½ banana + ½ cup liquid + 2 tbsp protein (like nuts or seeds) + ton of garnishes = 1 smoothie bowl

I came up with three bowl concoctions of my own, but I would imagine the combos are fairly infinite if you follow the ratios above.

Smoothie Bowls

PURPLE SMOOTHIE BOWL

1 cup frozen mixed berries

½ banana

2 tbsp oats

½ cup almond milk

1 tbsp chia seeds

(this one was topped with fresh mango chunks and unsalted pepita seeds)

PINK SMOOTHIE BOWL

1 cup frozen strawberries

½ banana

2 tbsp cottage cheese

½ cup coconut milk

(I topped mine with extra bananas, chia seeds, sliced almonds)

GREEN SMOOTHIE BOWL

1 cup finely chopped kale (harder to process in a normal blender, so finer is better)

¼ English cucumber

½ avocado

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp maple syrup or honey

½ cup hemp milk

(finished off with sliced banana, sliced kiwi and hemp hearts)

Blend, pour into a bowl and top with fresh mango chunks, pepita seeds… whatever you’re craving! Remember that the final product will be a bit thicker than a regular boring smoothie but that’s because the smoothie bowl is supposed to be eaten with a spoon, not sucked out of a straw!

And it’s kind of just that easy; blend, pour, decorate. I did create a massive mess in the kitchen from all of the preparation, but it really didn’t take too long to put together. My overall feeling is that smoothie bowl construction could be a fun afternoon with your littles, especially if you’re looking to increase their fruit and vegetable intake.

Another benefit of the smoothie bowl is the adaptability of the recipes to suit any kind of dietary needs, but I’m still scratching my head wondering how portable this is, especially after laying out those skillfully arranged banana slices and hemp hearts, but whatever gets you the most Instagram likes!

Shannon Yacyshyn’s Kitchen Confessions column runs every second Thursday in the Red Deer Advocate.