I have a confession to make: during the week, I’m relatively purposeful about my eating and I aim to make good food choices majority of the time, but on the weekends…let’s just say I’m a hot mess. To rough it for the weekend or not to rough it is my perpetual dilemma come Friday afternoon. By choice, I’m the main cook in my house, so I do the shopping especially because I am particular about what I purchase and from where it’s purchased. Entering PA school, I made this extravagant plan to get groceries on the way home on Friday after class especially because of the many places I shop are located between school and my house. The intention behind my ideal plan was to use that evening to take a brain break and to get a necessary chore done before I get home so that I’m not using valuable family or study time on Saturday or Sunday. The reality is that on most Fridays, I’m exhausted from a long week, and my perfect plan goes out the window. By Saturday morning, I immediately regret my decision when I see that we’re low on groceries because the grocery shopper, me, slacked! And guess what? We still have to eat!
I tend to have enough ingredients on hand to make balanced meals through the weekend for my son. My husband is pretty low maintenance in regards to food and he does not have the same special dietary needs that my son and I have, so he usually manages just fine. But for me…I’m a disaster. My meals are quite pitiful hodgepodges of whatever I can put together and often resemble nothing close a complete or balanced meal. This weekend I was in luck, I had some ingredients on hand to feed myself well. By Saturday, I was exhausted but I knew my eating and my family’s eating would suffer during the week if I slacked again on Sunday. So I set an early alarm for Sunday. When the alarm went off, I begrudgingly dragged myself out of bed and did a quick workout that provided me the much need energy to power my day. Right after that workout, I was able to do all of our grocery shopping. Upon coming home, I made my little guy lunch and myself an acai smoothie bowl to keep me going so that I could study during my son’s nap and then handle the next big task of the day: meal prep! I don’t have a huge repertoire for smoothie bowls recipes, but the more I tweak this particular one, the more it has become my go to. This weekend I discovered that the secret to getting it the way I like is to use flaxseed milk! You will soon learn that I will often list Trader Joe’s products in the ingredients because it’s one of the many places I frequently do grocery shopping, but you can swap in or out any ingredients to make this recipe your own. Enjoy!
Power Up Acai Bowl
Smoothie Ingredients
- 1 – Trader Joe’s 3.52 oz pack of unsweetened organic acai puree
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup Good Karma vanilla flax milk (start with 1/4 and add more as you need to reach the desired consistency you like)
- 1/2 – 1 frozen banana (I used 1/2 of a banana in this bowl. I like to buy bananas in bulk, halve, and freeze the overripe ones so that I have them on hand for smoothies).
Smoothie Toppings
- 1 kiwi
- Blueberries
- Trader Joe’s organic unsweetened coconut chips
- Trader Joe’s almond butter granola
Allow the acai pack to sit at room temperate for a few minutes. It should still be pretty frozen but it will be easier to handle. While it’s still in the package, I hit the package against the edge of my counter to help break up the puree into smaller pieces. I add the acai, banana, and a small amount of milk to my Ninja blender and blend until the smoothie is free of chunks but still thick. I pour the smoothie into the bowl and top as desired with whatever fresh fruit I have on hand/want to use granola, and the coconut chips. Then I devour it as quickly as it came together. Looking for a mid-day boost? Power up with this acai bowl!
