I have been known to get into some pretty intense smoothie kicks. Smoothies of every imaginable kind for days on end. Never the same smoothie two days in a row, 'cause that would be ridiculous. I love adding a different combo of supportive superfoods depending on my mood. I'm like a mad scientist, maca for concentration, camu-camu for immunity, cacao for CHOCOLATE. The base of my smoothies tends to be the same, a big handful of greens, a bit of fruit, healthy fat, a scoop of protein powder, some kind of liquid. Most of the time they are delicious, once in awhile I will make a pretty epic smoothie fail.
When it comes to actually eating the smoothie, I am not a slow smoothie sipper, I wish I was. I chug. Quickly. I can sometimes catch myself and slow down, but truthfully I drink them too fast. I do that with milkshakes too, and lets tell the truth here smoothies are just milkshakes with a superhero cape (reason #857 they are genius).
Enter the smoothie bowl.
What's better than a smoothie? A smoothie that you can eat with a spoon and chew.
When I pour my smoothie into a bowl and top it with crunch and texture its a whole other level. I slow down. Way down. Most importantly I find that by slowing down I feel satisfied longer. By slowing down I feel as if I've actually eaten something.
You see, chewing is a beautiful thing. I could share with you all of the nutritional reasons this is true, but I'll save that for another time. I just want to share that I've found, for me, chewing is an entry point into mindful eating.
Mindful eating has transformed my relationship to food and my body. So, yeah, it's a pretty big deal.
A smoothie bowl. A revolution.
Can we talk about a carrot cake smoothie bowl for a minute? I said… A CARROT CAKE smoothie bowl! This is the perfect departure from my green smoothies. You can add a handful of greens if you really want, but sometimes it's nice to have other veggies as the star and the carrot is a big star today.
As for toppings, I love sliced fresh fruit, and nuts or coconut, or both. I also added raisins because I LOVE raisins in carrot cake, and a little bee pollen for that superfood kick!
You want to make your smoothie extra thick so you can in fact eat it with a spoon, so this recipe requires less liquid. I also used soaked walnuts as the “liquid” base. Essentially I made walnut milk, because CARROT CAKE!
I also added rolled oats which gives it that extra “cakey” taste. Now that I'm on this smoothie cake, ah-ahem… I mean bowl kick, I may just come up with a few more recipes. What about lemon cake? Or chocolate layer cake? Or pumpkin chocolate chip cake? Or vanilla birthday cake? Uh oh, I may need a smoothie bowl intervention. Stay tuned 😉
So if you haven't yet entered the wonderful world of the smoothie bowl consider this your ticket. Let me know what you think! Are you someone that drinks smoothies too fast too? I want to hear all about it, comment below!
Carrot Cake Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 medium carrots chopped
- 1 1/2 bananas
- 1/2 cup of walnuts
- 1/4 cup of organic rolled oats gluten free
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup of ice cubes
Toppings, optional
- raisins
- sliced banana
- bee pollen
- shredded coconut unsweetened
Instructions
- Place walnuts in a bowl and cover with water, soak for at least 15 minutes.
- Drain walnuts and place in blender with carrot, banana, oats, vanilla extract, cinnamon, ice cubes, and 1 cup fresh water (do not use the water you soaked the walnuts in, discard that water)
- Blend in a high speed blender until thick and super creamy
- Pour into bowl and top with raisins, banana, coconut, and bee pollen.
Nutrition
