Banana Açai Smoothie Bowl

Açai has been everywhere on Instagram so when I saw a packet of açai puree at Trader Joe’s, I jumped at the chance to finally make my own açai bowl. First of all, for those of you who wonder what açai is, it’s a berry that comes from Brazil and it contains a lot of antioxidants. I’m not sure about the rest of the claims, such as preventing diseases and weight loss, but açai sure is delicious.

I always thought it was pronounced a-KAY, but it’s not! The real spelling is açai, with a c-cedilla, so that means the ‘c’ is said softly and the ‘i’ is not silent. The correct pronunciation is ah-sah-EE. You’ll thank me in the future when you’re faced with the prospect of ordering something with açai and don’t want to embarrass yourself pronouncing it.

I added 1/2 cup almond milk in my açai bowl, which was a bit too much because it doesn’t have the consistency of scoop-able ice cream, so I revised the recipe and cut the milk down to 1/3 cup to make it thicker.

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A smooth and delicious bowl of creamy goodness. Made with bananas, blueberries, açai and spinach, this is sure to subside the sweet cravings for the day.
Ingredients:
2 bananas, peeled
1 packet of Trader Joe’s açai puree, put under warm water for 5 seconds
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup spinach, washed
1/3 cup almond milk

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and thick. It should have the consistency of ice cream. Divide smoothie into two bowls and enjoy right away with toppings such as berries, granola and coconut flakes.

Fig, Banana and Peach Smoothie

After a 6-week long holiday in Europe, I’m finally back home. It was a beautiful trip, which I will post about later, but for now, you’ll have to content with a smoothie recipe. One thing about traveling is that you can’t always find the healthiest foods all the time, so I’m trying even harder to eat healthy now that I’m home. For example, this was my first smoothie in 6 weeks!!! And I think I passed my monthly quota of meat and potatoes by a mile. Whoops.

This smoothie is the sweetest smoothie I’ve ever tasted, and this is without any additional sugars. The sweetness mainly comes from the figs, which came from our own fig tree! The rest of our garden exploded as well, including the lettuce and zucchini. The only thing that kinda turned for worse was the grass. Brown grass is not that nice… Anyways, I’ll try to finish up the vacation post soon (hopefully), and make more food!

Greek Yogurt Healthy-Freddo with Berries

The day I’m done school the weather decides to be blistering hot. Well, blistering hot compared to the rest of the year. It’s 30°C here and I know that might not seem hot in other places, but trust me, here it’s incredible.

I decided to beat the heat by making a cold dessert, and what better than the Italian dessert Semifreddo, which literally means half-cold? I was looking at Elisabeth Prueitt’s cookbook, titled Tartine All Day, and I happened upon the most gorgeous picture of chocolate Semifreddo. I was so hyped to make it until I saw the ingredients and realized I didn’t have half of them and it wasn’t as healthy I would have liked.

Tropical Blueberry Smoothie

I’m going to Hong Kong soon!!! Just one more week of school and then I’m off. I actually can’t wait for all the delicious food and the much warmer weather than we’ve been having over here. Like can you believe it’s snowing in March? I fear this city is adopting Quebec’s weather 😦 .

Weirdly, although it’s really cold outside (well, for me it is because I’m a naturally cold person), I still love making smoothies, yogurt bowls, chocolate banana chia seed pudding and all sorts of cold stuff for breakfast.

Apple Banana Oatmeal with Almond Butter

Since breakfast is normally coined the most important meal of the day, you probably understand that skipping breakfast is kinda bad for your health. But do you know why?

Some of my friends skip breakfast constantly so this is for you guys ;).

Reasons why you need breakfast:

1. It gives you energy!
2. You’re actually less likely to be overweight if you eat breakfast because you’ll feel less compelled to reach for sugary snacks during the day.
3. It improves memory and concentration levels, so you’ll get better grades at school.
4. It makes us happier and reduces stress levels.
5. Provides essential nutrients that you might not get for the rest of the day.

Blueberry Bliss Smoothie

So the chia seed pudding at the bottom is completely optional, but it does look nicer and don’t forget, chia seeds are loaded with fibers, Omega-3 fatty acids and proteins. The blueberries give the smoothie that particular bright bluish-red colour naturally. I’ve also seen Spirulina, a blue-green algae, used in smoothies for a light blue look, but I’ve never tried it myself. How did they even turn algae into a powder? Mind blowing.

Really loved how this turned out! This was definitely a pleasant change from my usual avocado and banana smoothies in the morning.

On another note, I’ve been trying to find a project for my Projet Personnel (a very important project!) I’ll have to do next year in school but I keep changing ideas because I keep thinking it’s not good.

Sesame Banana Ice Cream

Smooth, indulgent ice cream made with just… wait for it… 2 ingredients! And it is healthy and vegan because there is no milk, eggs or sugar! Frozen bananas and sesame powder=1 amazing cool refreshing dessert.

Make sure to have frozen bananas on hand, but other than that, there is no way to go wrong. You can’t overheat anything, beat it too long, under mix, etc. Just use a food processor and you’re good.

So I had a birthday party this weekend and it was super hot. Like 34 Celsius hot. Which is why I made this ice cream. Partly because of the heat and partly to celebrate the fact that I’m almost 15! (I might have also been influenced by my mom’s obsession with everything sesame, but let’s not delve too far into that).And guess what I got for my birthday? 

My Favorite Overnight Oats

If you’ve been reading this blog, you might have read somewhere in my previous posts that I really don’t like oatmeal. This statement still holds true. But overnight oats, on the other hand, as I have discovered the greatness of them two days ago, is so good! And due to me saying that I do not like oatmeal, I have decided that overnight oats shall not be classified as oatmeal.

I love making these and testing new flavors, like bananas and toasted almonds. And they’re really convenient because in the morning you just have to take it out of the refrigerator and add some toppings!

The picture above is strawberries, blueberries and grapes overnight oats.

Decadent Chocolate Muffins

These are super healthy and taste extraordinary! They’re moist and has a very chocolate-rich center in the middle. Everyone in my family loved them. And these could be last-minute Valentine’s day baked goods because it only takes 40 minutes and 2 bowls to make these fabulous muffins.

This recipe makes 24 medium muffins or 12 medium muffins and 6 gigantic muffins (those are seriously my life!), but you can half the recipe to make just 12 medium muffins. I used buttermilk, but that can be replaced with sour cream or Greek yogurt. Or you can make your own buttermilk by adding a few tablespoons of lemon or vinegar in milk and letting it rest for 5 minutes before using. And no applesauce in hand? Replace it with mashed bananas! I love how tweak-able this recipe is and how the result still stays delicious. Think I’m going to make them again today…

Raspberry Banana Pancakes

Imagine biting into a pancake which tastes like bananas and then feeling the oozy sweetness of the raspberries enter your mouth.

With just 4 ingredients, these are just so easy to make in the morning. Oh and did you know how hard it is to take a good picture with good lighting? For these past recipes, I’ve just been running around my house, trying to place the food in a good spot, but it is so difficult! Especially for those pictures which would look so good from the top view but my camera puts a shadow on the food.