Protein Acai Bowl

Acai Bowls are one of my most favorite breakfast treats or afternoon snacks.  If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you know I am obsessed with Acai Bowls.  By now I'm sure you have heard of Acai and it's wonderful health benefits.  This fruit which hails from Brazil, has gained a lot of popularity in the past several years.  During one of my trips home to Hawaii it seemed that the Acai Bowl had swept the island and this delicious treat was available everywhere.  One bite and I fell in love!  To the simple eye it might look like a simple parfait, but somehow it's so much more than that. 

One of my favorite places to get an Acai Bowl when I am home is at Blue Hawaii in Ala Moana Shopping Center.  I have yet to find an Acai Bowl as delicious as any that I've had in Hawaii, in a pinch I will go to Robeks or Jamba Juice to quench my Acai cravings.  That was until I discovered these Acai packets at Whole Foods and could make my own!  I've been playing around with adding Protein Powder into the mix and I love the results.  This is a breakfast that will keep you full till lunch. 

Acai Bowl at Blue Hawaii

Protein Acai Bowl

1/2 of an Acai Smoothie Pack
6 oz Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (Or any other liquid you want to substitue)
1 scoop Banana/Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
1 cup frozen berries (I used strawberry and blueberry mix)
1 Tbsp Flaxseeds
Honey
Granola
Fresh Fruit (Sliced Banana, Strawberries, blueberries, etc)

1.  Run Acai smoothie pack under water for a couple of seconds.  Snap frozen pack in half, cut open and place half into blender. 

2.  Fill blender with almond milk, protein powder and berries and blend until a smooth consistency.  *You can add more liquid if you would like to turn this into a smoothie*

This pic has sliced banana's but I actually like it better without when adding Protein Powder

3.  Pour mixture into a bowl.  Top with a couple handfuls of granola, sliced bananas and berries.  *At this point if you wanted to add in additional nutrients like green tea powder, spriulina, noni juice, flaxseeds, etc layer it on to the Acai mixture* 
4.  Drizzle honey over entire mixture.  *The better the honey you have, the more awesome it tastes!  In Hawaii one of my favorite places uses locally grown Lehua Honey which kicks it up a notch*

The combinations for this are endless.  Yesterday I added some spinach into my Acai mixture and squeezed some lime over the mixture to give it some added freshness and tang.  Hope you give this a try, Acai Bowls are the new parfait!!  I really hope this gets more popular in LA, cause I would love to find a place like Blue Hawaii up here, for when I'm out and about.