Mango Smoothie Bowl
With the warmer weather here, we like to make smoothie bowls on the regular for breakfast or a snack. When is comes to smoothie bowls there are endless possabilities! I love changing it up each time, as an easy way to get more variety in my family’s diet. The more diversity of plants we eat, the more diverse our gut microbiome is, the healthier we are in general. The American Gut Health Project reccommends including 30 different plant species per week. Smoothie bowls are one great way to get several different species into our bellies. This one bowl has 6 different plants. For more on why it is important to consume a wide variety of plants check out this post.
What are the main components to a smoothie bowl?
When I build my smoothie bowls I make sure to include protein, healthy fat, fruit, veggies, and some fun toppings for a nice crunch and added nutrients.
For protein I usually add collagen, or protein powder. My favorite collagen is Paleo Valley. I love to add this into my girls oatmeal too since it doesn’t have a taste. My favorite protein powder is Be Well By Kelly. I do find it a bit sweet so I use a 1/2 scoop of protein powder and a 1/2 scoop of collagen. I like buying the vanilla and then adding 1 teaspoon of cacao powder when I feel like chocolate. For a plant based protein powder I like Nuzest. Many plant based protein powders can have high amounts of lead and lots of ingredients. I like Nuzest because the ingredient list is short and they also test for pesticides and heavy metals.
For healthy fat think avocado, full fat, unsweetened canned coconut milk, grass fed, full fat yogurt, or nut butter.
My go to veggies are usually frozen spinach or frozen cauliflower. I’ve also played around with frozen carrots and frozen zucchini which I chop up ahead of time and put in individual glass containers.
There are so many delicious fruit options. I like to make sure they are frozen for texture purposes. Frozen bananas, mangos, and pineapple are great for a sweeter option and for lower glycemic fruits, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are great. My rule of thumb for fruit is to add only the amount of fruit you would be able to eat in one serving.
Toppings are a a fun way to add crunch, more nutrients, and is a fun way for kids to play with food, create designs, and add color. We like hemp seeds, unsweetened shredded coconut, cacao nibs, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and fresh fruit.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen cauliflower rice
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 scoop collagen
3/4 cup of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk (ideally from a BPA free can)
1 tablespoon shredded coconut
1 tablespoon cacao nibs
fresh blueberries and raspberries
Directions:
Blend together cauliflower rice, mango, collagen, and coconut milk. Add a little milk at a time until desired consistency.
Scoop into a bowl and top with shredded coconut, cacao nibs, and fresh berries.
