Gluten & Dairy Free Acai Smoothie Bowl

In this thing called life, a lot of trends come and go. There is always the current popular thing to do, whether it is a color, hair style (I cut my hair first you guys!) or certain food items.

Soy products where a big thing once, kale was suddenly everywhere, then came in the coconut oil...and now acai. There is always a hot food of the moment.

But here is the thing about trends, they become that way because people like them. Or pretend to anyway. Remember that time bagel foreheads where a thing? I do not know who in their right mind ever jumped on that band wagon...

Because popular things became popular for some kind of a reason, I feel like it is important to try them out. Not because I want to be one of the cool kids necessarily, but just because I want to see what its all about.

Enter the acai smoothie bowl, the new kale green smoothie.

All a smoothie bowl is, is a thicker variation of a smoothie that you eat with a spoon in a bowl, rather then a straw in a cup. 

It's not that complicated. 

Acai, is a berry that is supposedly all super fruited with antioxidants and all that. 

(are antioxidants really an actual thing, or just something someone made-up to get us to buy things that seem healthy? serious question.)

It seems you can only buy acai as a juice, either fresh or frozen or as a powder situation. I chose the frozen variety, for no reason other then that's what Whole Foods had and because I figured it would last longer.

I also chose the Amazon Planet packs, because they had no ingredients other then acai juice, where some of the others had preservatives or added sugar. We don't want any of that.

Get some other ingredients that fit your fancy, then make yourself an extra thick smoothie. 

The end.

or so it would seem.

Let me just talk about my smoothie feelings for a second, because it's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

I am not big into the fruit smoothie situation. Don't get my wrong, I find them incredibly delicious and I have had my fair share of trips to Jamba Juice. 

But, they are basically pure sugar, and I'm not down with that.

I have this complex about fruit sugar, and all sugars in general based off of my family health history, and my own diagnosis of P.C.O.S.

Basically, I only like to eat a small amount of low sugar fruits in a day. 

As far as a typical smoothie goes, it is generally a whole load of very sugary fruits liquified to go straight to your blood stream without needing anything to break down along the way.

I personally, cannot even drink a cup of juice or soda in good conscious. I have a lot of paranoia issues you guys. Only sometimes are they actually reasonable.

To eat this without anxiety, and better health I need to throw in some protein. Eat a protein with a sugar remember!

Plus it will make you feel better about essentially eating ice cream for breakfast.

I bring this up, in relation to this smoothie bowl as an explanation for some of my ingredients.

(here lies the unofficial recipe)

For taste:
1/2 Frozen Acai pack
1/2 cup Frozen Berry medley
3 Fresh Strawberries
1 Fresh Banana

For a little health help:
1 Tbsp Chia Seeds (you can soak them or not)
1 scoop Protein Powder, this one is my favorite. (gluten/dairy/soy/corn free)


Put all ingredients into a blender, and blend er up!
(I use my Magic Bullet which after many a years is starting to die a little...hands up, who wants to buy me a NutriBullet for my birthday?)


Add some almond milk as needed to blend, but remember you don't want it too runny.

Next, you can go ahead and through in some yummy toppings.
I also have this thing about eating smooth foods... I don't like it.
I always need a little crunch to my lunch, ya know?

I went ahead and topped it with bananas and strawberries, as well as some Larabar Grain Free Granola (which is really just flavored nuts and coconut)

I added some toasted coconut flakes the other day, instead of granola and that was pretty good as well.

and that is all folks!

(tag me on instagram (@carinamdee) if you try one out for yourself!)

Enjoy! xoxo