This article was contributed by Katie Seybold, an agricultural business student at Cal Poly
Any given weekend morning, I guarantee you can find Sally Loo’s Wholesome Café packed with Cal Poly girls waiting in line to get an acai bowl. And who can blame them! They’re trendy, refreshing, and they make for the perfect Instagram photo, (be honest.. you know you’ve taken one).
But aside from all that they are actually a really wholesome, healthy choice. Acai is packed with antioxidants, healthy fats, and dietary fiber.
While it can be a little expensive to dine out on acai bowls all the time – they can be six to seven dollars for just one bowl. It is relatively easy and a lot cheaper to make these bowls yourself! I like to use Sambazon’s unsweetened pure acai smoothie packets.
For six dollars, you get four frozen packets. You can find these at any health food store – I typically get them at New Frontiers (The health food store by Costco for those of you that don’t know).
All you need to make these are a few simple ingredients and a blender! You’ll need to mix in some frozen fruit with the acai since it can be a little bitter on its own.
I like to use mangos, strawberries, and peaches in mine, but any fruit you like will work! I find that raspberries and blueberries work really well too.
Ingredients:
- 1 unsweetened acai packet
- 1 cup any frozen fruit of your choice
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup water
- Granola and fresh fruit (optional)
Start off by running the acai packet under some hot water or putting it in the microwave on defrost for ten seconds to thaw it out a little. In your blender, put in a half cup of water, the acai packet, a chopped banana, and some frozen fruit.
Blend to the consistency you like. If you want you could just make a smoothie and blend it until its completely liquefied. If you want to make it a bowl leave it a little thicker. Pour the contents into a bowl. Add some granola and, if you like, put some berries and a banana on top.
Voila! Wasn’t that easy? You now have yourself a healthy, refreshing snack, that’s pretty delicious too.