BERRY COCONUT BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE BOWLS

gringalicious (78)in #photography • 8 years ago

Hi everyone, here's another recipe and photo shoot that you have to see,....

Ok, yesterday was my fourth week anniversary here on Steemit and I'd have to say that I am hooked. Actually, I was hooked at day 1. But enough about that.

Before I go too far, I always like to mention my camera, all of these shots were taken with my Nikon D5300 with my Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G Lens. In an attempt to be funny, I posted a verification photo of my camera in THIS POST. The photo is towards the bottom of the page. I thought it was really funny, but nobody seemed to notice. Maybe you can take a look judge for yourself.

I have had several comments suggesting I do a post on how I shoot my food, so, I am working on a post on HOW TO TAKE FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY. But, until I have that posted, one of the most important tips that I can give is natural lighting. I never use a flash, never. My Dad has bought me some really nice lighting, including a really nice (according to him) flash, but I won't use it for my food photography.

Ok, so on to the smoothie,.... Can I tell you a little bit about these bowls please? I’m just so excited ’cause I know your going to love them!

Smoothie bowls are really popular out in food blog land (really, it's a place, believe me). To be completely honest, the first time I saw a smoothie bowl I thought it was a pretty lame idea and I didn’t see myself ever wanting to make one. I mean, smoothies are supposed to be what they claim, smooth, so that they can be sipped through a big fat straw, not chunky and thick enough to scoop. But after I’d had time to get used to the idea it actually started to sound pretty stinkin’ good.

I’m kind of addicted to berries, (it’s like a certifiable condition, not even kidding), and one of my favorite things to snack on is berries with yogurt and/or cereal. That’s why I got to thinking, why should a smoothie bowl be so different?

But anyway, something else I’ve been crazy about, and still getting crazier, are coconuts. I’m nuts for dem coconuts! Seriously though, do you have any idea how versatile coconuts and their contents can be? I’m constantly switching up my normal dairy products for coconut water, milk, or cream and it works amazingly! It’s so good in pretty much any form of dessert or you can go savory and put it in everything from breading to Thai sauce

So here’s the deal, these smoothie bowls are super easy, they’re gluten free, dairy free, and vegan so pretty much everyone can enjoy them and they work as a breakfast, a snack, or I’d even go for one as lunch, yum! I wanted to make them extra pretty so I thought it would be fun to pour them into actual coconuts to make them more fun. I’m really hoping that you’ll want to make them now too.

As for personalization, I used a combo of oats and flax to thicken this but you can trade out the flax for chia seeds and my smoothie was like really thick with the amount of oats I used so you can cut back on them if you want it a little thinner. The fruits can be traded out too. Maybe try replacing some or all of the berries with tropical fruit for a breakfast that will feel like your on vacation!

Other than that, I just say make them, load them with all of the yummy toppings you can think of, and most importantly, eat them with a small spoon. I have this belief that everything is better with a smaller spoon!

Yield: 2 - 3 (about 4 cups)

Ingredients

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1 cup coconut water (or you can use almond milk)
2 cup frozen mixed berries
2 large frozen bananas
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal (or ground chia seed)
2 tablespoons honey (use agave or maple if vegan)
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
Optional Topping Ideas:
fresh berries and/or sliced fruits
nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios.....)
toasted seeds (sunflower, pepitas.....)
dried coconut shreds
granola clusters or cereal
cocoa nibs/ dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Combine all ingredients for the smoothies in a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. For an extra thick smoothie allow it to set for at least 30 minutes in fridge. Pour into bowls and serve with any toppings you'd like!

I hope you enjoy... If you'd like to see my verification post, you can see my two attempts, ONE HERE and the OTHER HERE.

Again, this is only my 4th week here, so I am begging for comments and suggestions. I'm really enjoying the content here at Steemit, although some is, shall we say odd? But nonetheless, there is some incredible talent on this platform and it's exciting to participate. And one more note, this post as well as all my previous posts , is coming to you from Southern Chile. Here's a sunrise from the other morning taken with my Moto G and taken from my back yard overlooking Lago Llanquihue. There's two Volcanos there, the one on the left is Volcan Osorno and the other is Volcan Calbuco. Volcan Calbuco erupted last year. 04/22/2015. It was incredible. An erupting Volcano in my back yard, it was crazy. You can see several pics of the eruption HERE :

Entonces, Que tengas un buen dia!