April 17, 2015
Smoothies have evolved in our house from simple berries, juice and yogurt as ingredients to all sorts of grains, vegetables, fruits and other liquids. I saw a recipe on Epicurious yesterday for a smoothie bowl at breakfast that is topped with granola, coconut and berries. This morning I decided to try it out. It was delicious to me – full of a variety of flavor and textures. The two men in my house were not as enthusiastic…one of them commented after I said it was really good for him that it ought to be! It is a nice variation of oats, fruits and vegetables in the morning…a bright start to any day.

I included ingredients that I had on hand that were similar to the Epicurious recipe – and ones I knew would go together well. First of all, I started last night with a little oatmeal, flax seed and chia seeds in a small container with some almond-coconut milk. The oats soften overnight to make a raw oatmeal. This is fine to eat by itself but I liked the idea of a thick smoothie to eat in a bowl. So, I placed that in my Vitamix blender with some frozen grapes, frozen mango, kiwi, a healthy dollup of plain yogurt, a handfull of power greens (baby kale, spinach and chard), some added almond milk and water and a little honey. It made a fairly thick smoothie that was still easily pourable.

frozen grapes are great in smootihes or just for snacking! It’s a great way to save grapes that are not being eaten in your refrigerator.

As is the case for many of my recipes, this can easily be modified. The original recipe I saw called for ginger and almond butter added to the mix but did not call for frozen grapes. The biggest caveat when making any smoothie is to be careful not to put too many different colors of ingredients into the blender. If you do, the color of the finished product is a brown almagamation that is not very appetizing. I stuck with mosly a green/yellow combination this morning.

smoothie form.

Topping the bowl with dried (unsweetened) coconut and storebought granola gave the bowl a little more substance that was easily spoonable. I did not have fresh berries, but they would really make a nice presentation and taste good too.

Green Smoothie Breakfast bowl

Ingredients

1/2 cup oats
2 Tbs flax seed
1 Tbs chia seed
1 cup almond/coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup almond/coconut milk
2 Tbs plain yogurt
2 kiwi, peeled and cut into quarters
1/2 cup frozen grapes
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 cup loose packed power greens (kale, spinach, swiss chard)
1 Tbs raw honey (or more to taste)
granola,coconut and/or berries for topping
Instructions

Soak oats, flax seed and chia seed in 1 cup almond/coconut milk for at least 15 minutes, or overnight in your refrigerator. Pour into a blender with all remaining ingredients except the toppings. Blend until well incorporated. Taste for sweetness and add more honey if needed.

Pour into a bowl and top with granola, coconut and berries if desired.

Serves four as cereal or thick smoothie.

Preparation time 20 minutes.