Good Morning!

This is my idea of a "good morning." Acai bowls are just as delicious as they are healthy. Acai has the most antioxidants of any fruit and is filled with Omega 3's, protein, and fiber. I first had an acai bowl at Cafe Brazil in Santa Cruz, sometimes i would wake up craving acai bowls and head straight to Cafe Brazil. In March of 2005, Mike and I went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with his family. I started each morning with an acai smoothie from the local fruit stand. YUM! When I came home from Brazil I happened upon this fabulous product at my local health food store.

Now I make my own Acai bowls.

1 pack of unsweetened acai
1 scoop of soy base *
1/4 c. soy milk (you can use regular milk or apple juice)
3 strawberries, sliced
handful of blueberries
1/2 banana, sliced
granola**
I throw all these together and use my immersion blender to blend it all together, a regular blender would also work. Then I put it into a bowl and sprinkle some granola on top.

*I make my own soy base in my ice cream maker. I mix 2 cups of soy milk, 1 tsp of vanilla, sprinkle of vanilla bean, & 2 TBSP splenda (or sugar)... then i throw it in the ice cream maker for 25 minutes. Then I freeze it and use it in these smoothies. I do have a problem keeping the creamy consistency after I freeze it. It becomes a solid block. If anyone has any solutions to this problem, let me know. I end up having to microwaving the soy base for 30 seconds to make it soft enough to scoop.

You can also use a store bought soy vanilla ice cream, or regular vanilla frozen yogurt, if you don't want to make your own soy base. You can also opt not to use soy base at all, the acai will just be more liquidly and more like a drink.

**I use Trader Joe's vanilla almond granola...but I've really been wanting to make my own granola one of these days. If anybody has ever made their own granola, i would love a good low-fat granola recipe.