A is for Acai Bowl

I wimped out last year and didn't participate in the A to Z Challenge (truth be told, I didn't participate in ANY blogging for many a month). Early last month, though, I took a deep breath, signed myself up for the Challenge, and then blabbed to everyone that I had done it and now there's no turning back.

I'm continuing my tradition of re-creating Pinterest pins (a challenge within a challenge). There will be recipes. There will be crafts. There will be household hacks. There will be health and beauty stuff. Is it a Pinterest win or a Pinterest fail? I'll have my opinion; you're free to have your own. Aaaaaand go!

Last summer, I accompanied my daughter to her freshman orientation at University of Arkansas. It was two days of too much information, but they did feed us. Our meals were at one of the dining halls, and let me tell you, dining halls have changed TREMENDOUSLY since I was in college. My dorm had one cafeteria line where you got an entree and vegetables (take it or leave it). There were desserts. There was a salad bar. There was always cereal available and bread and peanut butter, and there was a soft serve ice cream machine. That's it. THIS place at UArk had stations for pasta, pizza, sandwiches, entrees (a station with meat and another with vegetarian options), burgers, salad bar, OMELET STATION AT BREAKFAST (we weren't there for breakfast and I don't even LIKE omelets, but still). 

There was also a room that had only healthy options, very earthy-nutty-crunchy, and we ended up sitting in there for one of our meals. My daughter noticed that they had smoothie bowls with acai berries and seeds and stuff, and we got one to try (and although she will deny it, my daughter called them "ah-key bowls" and that's what I thought they were until I Googled it for the purpose of this challenge). They were really good, and I thought about them off and on for months.

I found this on Pinterest:

https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/acai-bowl-recipe/

Similar to what we had at the UArk dining hall, so I decided to give it a try.

Let's talk about acai berries. For the record, it is pronounced "ah-sah-EE"  and NOT "ahh-key" and they are touted as a superfood that will cure all that ails you. They are also Big City food, and if it weren't for a recently opened organic food store here, I wouldn't have been able to get the #1 ingredient in my smoothie. As it is, at $6.95 for four frozen packets of acai berry puree (each good for two servings), I will have to go back to walking on the dietary wild side and forego this superfood (and probably any other superfood for good measure).

Sorry, I cut the top off before I took
the picture. My bad.

My husband had to be my guinea pig, and as he waited for me to prepare his acai bowl, he armchair quarterbacked EVERY STEP of the process. 

"It has to be made in a blender?" "Why does it have to be in a bowl? Why can't we just drink it?" "Are you putting chia seeds in it? Have you ever used them before? They swell up when they get wet!" "Put some honey in it to make it sweeter!" (Should have listened to him on THAT one.) "The big thing now is Greek yogurt in a bowl with stuff drizzled over it. Why can't you just make that?" (BECAUSE THAT'S NOT TODAY'S CHALLENGE!)

In spite of the EXCELLENT advice and commentary, I followed the directions and mixed up the acai puree, vanilla Greek yogurt, honey (it DID have some, just not enough), frozen strawberries and blueberries, apple juice, and banana:

Ingredients in the blender.

Whirr! Whirr!

I poured it into bowls and topped it with almonds, blueberries, chia seeds, flax seeds, and pepitas. I meant to add fresh raspberries, which I bought just for the occasion, but I forgot to put them in....

There you go.

The verdict? I liked it, except it was SOUR. I'm guessing that's the fault of the acai puree, which, again, I don't think was worth the cost. But I liked the contrast of the icy smoothie with the nuts and seeds giving it texture, and I liked eating it with a spoon, and besides, you can't suck the chunky parts through a straw anyway. (By the way, the directions called for the frozen acai puree to be broken into pieces, but it was like trying to crack open a black walnut, and after beating it with the handle of my kitchen shears with little success, I threw it in as-is and it all broke apart in the blender.)

My husband's verdict? "I don't know what the point of it is. Why don't you just drink a smoothie?"

I think it's pretty clear who is the cool cat here and who isn't.

My verdict? Pinterest win!