My first experience with acai was almost 9 years ago. I tried an acai smoothie at Hobee’s, a Bay Area restaurant where we’d often enjoy breakfast during our short stint living in Sunnyvale. It was nothing super special, as I remember, but the acai berries were shown in some studies to be richer in antioxidants than blueberries, blackberries, cranberries and other dark purple fruits, so I went with it for the alleged health benefits.
Fast forward to a couple years ago…I had an acai bowl while visiting the OC at Bowl of Heaven. It was, indeed, heaven and I couldn’t wait to find a place in the SCV where I could round up another one. Last summer I noticed Juice It Up had them and one day I treated myself to one while the kids were at VBS. Again, it was amazing, but not cheap {about $8} so I told myself it would be a definite once in awhile treat!
I had heard that Whole Foods sells the acai packs for homemade bowls and figured our local Sprouts would also carry them. Sure enough they do and last time I was there, I picked up a 4-pack. If I remember correctly, it was about $5 or $6. Each four pack will make 2 good size acai bowls or 4 smaller, but still satisfying, servings.
I order {The Mayan} when I go to Juice It Up and tried to recreate that at home with a couple modifications.
I used:
2 acai packs
1/2 cup chocolate soy milk
1 tbsp peanut butter
Blend that up in your blender. The texture is almost like that of frozen yogurt. If you want to make a smoothie, use 1 cup liquid instead.
I then topped the acai mixture with half a sliced banana, some hemp granola {also from Sprouts}, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkling of unsweetened coconut {from Ralphs}.
I must say that this homemade version will most definitely take care of those cravings at a fraction of the cost.
You can most certainly change up the liquid that you blend up and play around with the toppings ~ blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, Cutie orange segments, chopped nuts and even dried fruits would be delish!
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I still need to blog our amazing summer vacation to NYC! Now that school is in session and I’ve had some time to get the house back in semi-order, I can hopefully sit down next week and relive our trip through a blog post. Can’t wait to share it with you.
As always, thanks for reading and we are a stone’s throw away from the weekend. Yay!
XOXO
