Are you pronouncing “açaí” correctly?
Are you pronouncing it at all?
Açaí (ah-sigh-ee) bowls are all the rage in California. And with good reason – they are delicious! They’re also $13.
Why are people spending so much on these? Aside from the taste, açaí is a super food.
Açaí is the berry of a special Amazon palm tree. It tastes sort of like a blueberry – not overly sweet. It also tastes a little chocolate-y to me. Strange, but quite good! Açaí is jam-packed with antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids.
©iStockphoto.com/Brasil2
You probably won’t find the berries at the grocery store, but you can find packets of açaí pulp in the frozen section at certain health food stores (ahem, Whole Paycheck Foods). The packets aren’t cheap, but it’s a lot cheaper than buying a $13 bowl!
I picked up a few and decided to make my own protein-rich bowl with the new strawberry flavored Growing Naturals rice protein. It had a strange color, but it really was good. Vegas even approved.
And yes, I’m still sneaking sweet potato in our smoothies. It’s not a secret anymore since she read about it… but the taste isn’t detectable. You only need a little bit and it makes these bowls super creamy!
Strawberry Açaí Protein Bowl
- 1 scoop strawberry protein powder
- 1 frozen açaí packet
- 1/2 C strawberries
- 1 C spinach
- 1/4 C baked sweet potato
- 1 tsp maca
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Ice and water, to taste
- Toppings: strawberries, hemp hearts, cocoa nibs
Place everything in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
Scoop in a bowl and have fun with the toppings!
How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week? The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends! Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.
Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂
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Unrelated, but what am I going watch now that I’ve binged my way through OITNB?!
Have you tried açaí?
Have you tried the sweet potato trick yet?
I haven’t tried sweet potatoes in my smoothies yet but it’s a great idea. You can sneak an amazing array of healthy food into a smoothie 🙂
Let me know if you do! It is amazing what you can cram into a smoothie. 🙂
I’ve never actually seen an açai berry before. Here you just get it in powdered form for about it’s weight in gold!
The smoothie bowl sounds super delicious yet I couldn’t find any açai in it? And what does it mean when I find the idea of adding sweet potato to smoothies not at all strange?
And I did wonder before how you might have to pronounce it. I am a lowbrow and will continue to say akai! All Germans do 😉
Leave it to me to leave out the main ingredient. LOL! Fixed. Thank you.
Love Acai bowls (and love that you do the correct thing with the c -I’m too lazy!)! I’m all about everything in a bowl lately. So good!
Don’t give me too much credit – I cut and pasted from Google. 😉
Replying to the most important questions first ;): Watch Gilmore Girls. Or rather re-watch because I’m guessing [or hoping?] you already did. I’m currently going through all seasons for the first time ever after only catching random episodes on TV during past years and that show is SO good.
Sweet potatoes and me aren’t exactly friends and I’m also not a smoothie person but you got me curious about the texture here … hm. Now whom to whip up a smoothie for so I can get a taste??
I’ve actually never seen Gilmore Girls! I started watching Grace and Frankie… it’s cracking me up!
You gotta try this – I sweat to you, you eon’t know there’s any sweet potatoes in there. just add a teeny bit and you’re golden! Avocado does that same thing, FYI.
LOL – I’m always correcting my husband on how to pronounce Acai! Of course now I need to figure out how you got the fancy ‘c’ and ‘i’. Damn you!!!
Google – search “acai” and then cut and paste from the search results with the funky accents. 😉
I love acai bowls. Do you know on my side of Phoenix there’s not a single acai/smoothie/juice bar? I’ve often thought I should open one because in a city this large it’s just not right!
Really? I thought that just being in the southwest mandated hippie smoothie bars. 😉
A friend of mine just told me that there is an acai bowl place near my office. In John’s Creek of all places. Who knew John’s Creek had hidden healthy gems?
Isn’t there a bunch of vegan food up there too? Crazy. Remember when it was horse pastures?
I have never has an acai bowl, but I am determined to try one next week when I’m in NYC! They look so good.
That surprises me! You would LOVE them!
totally going to try that sweet potato trick!
i LOVE acai! when we visit my brother in san diego (when he lived there) we got them all the time! st louis doesn’t have any (that i know of) places that sell acai bowls!! i guess i could make my own..
I did try sweet potatoes in my smoothies! You are right about them making the smoothie so creamy!
I have never had an acai bowl before, sounds good though!
I’m so glad you liked it!!! Try the acai too – you’ll love it. 🙂
Yum! I had these in Puerto Rico and loved them! I haven’t tried the sweet potato trick but it’s only a matter of time. I loooove sweet potatoes. Hmm as for binge watching a show I’ve got nothing. I’ve been watching the World Cup and the Tour de France starts soon which means I’ll be yelling at my TV for the next month 😉
Let me know what you think when you try it!
I’m addicted to the World Cup right now too. The US women are looking good!
Yea…I never made an acai bowl….because I am not blowing my money on that! Haha!
But it kills me when people say it wrong!
You should totally make your own – SO much cheaper!
I was in Cali last week and I tried to get and acai bowl but it was like 12 dollars! I need to make this! Looks so good 🙂
I. Know. So ridiculous!
Hi Laura, Some of the best smoothies I’ve ever made at home have featured baked sweet potato. It’s delish. And I’m all for making acai at home too. It’s so expensive. But you’ve got to drop some protein in there otherwise those bowls don’t keep you full. Good stuff! Happy Friday! 🙂
Acai bowls are seriously one of my favorite things ever. I LOVE making them for my weekend breakfasts!
You just taught me something as a I had no idea how to pronounce acai! $13 for a bowl is insane.
I want to hear it in your accent.
Love acai bowls, but you’re right, they’re so expensive! I’m still working out my recipe 😉 so this is helpful! Have a great weekend, lady!
Oh, great! I can’t wait to see your recipe!
Yeah, never had ACAI before – and never plan on doing so, ha! Suck it fruit, just suck it. Oh and suck it California fads 😉 Although, really this fruit isn’t a fad because it’s super healthy.
Ugh. Imma make you a salmon skin smoothie bowl.
Um. As much as I love salmon, that just sounds raunchy – LOL!
Yeah… I gagged a little just typing that.
Sweet potatoes in smoothies is such a good idea! I often try to fit in more veggies than fruit into my smoothies, but I often run out of ideas for which veggies to include. I’ll have to try this!
Aweosme! Let me know what you think!
i love that you add in sweet potato! that a girl! carbs for the win!! and when we lived in hawaii, acai bowls were like an every day must! plus they sound fancy. haha
Living in Hawaii sounds fancy! 😉
Yum, I’m obsessed with acai bowls! I make em at home sometimes but also get them out. There’s this place called Beach City Smoothies in Carlsbad where you have to try their acai bowls – I think they’re like $8 and SO good 😉
Ok… we should meet up there one day! We can invite Annie and post it on Zomato. Haha!
Sweet potatoes in a smoothie, I never would have thought of that.
I haven’t had it before, not that I recall but I know it’s considered a super food. This looks like a great recipe, can I omit the sweet potato? lol not a fan, I always prefer the starchy regular potato counterpart. 🙂 Have a great weekend Laura! -Iva
You can… but I promise you wouldn’t know it was there! You might also try a winter squash or avocado. All creamy goodness!
I’ve never had an acai bowl and I didn’t know how to properly pronounce it until now. Thank you for that.
I’ll be on the lookout for these packets at my grocery store. I bet they’d make a great addition to my morning smoothies, along with my bee pollen that is. 🙂
I have to admit something…I tried fresh, local bee pollen at the farmer’s market a liked it MUCH better.