They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I for one have been guilty of skipping. Or worse still, grabbing a sugary cereal bar to set myself right up for a crash around mid-morning. This new year I decided to take it a little more seriously.
This is not so much in terms of weight loss (I work out quite a bit so generally tend to break even on the scales) but more so for overall health and wellbeing. Headaches and fatigue are the main diet-related demons I had in mind to target. This in addition to my hair and skin needing a helping hand was motivation enough for me to change my morning ways.
Getting up that few minutes earlier in the morning can put a whole different slant on your day, and so I’ve decided to kiss the snooze button goodbye for now and attempt to start my day once the first alarm sounds. A major challenge in itself (that extra snooze-button bonus sleep is literally my favorite thing!). And so with the health experts at Alpro on hand with almond milk & natural yogurt, a Nutribullet, and a rainbow of fresh fruit, smoothie bowls were the order of the morning.
This morning’s dairy-free creation was not only beautiful to look at (pretty much the most instagrammable breakfast you can have!) but also seriously nutrient-dense.
Our Purple Dragon smoothie is simple and much quicker than it looks.
You will need…
- 1/2 Banana
- 1/4 cup of Raspberries
- 1/4 cup of blueberries (frozen or fresh)
- 3 large tablespoons of Alpro plain almond yogurt
- sprinkle of Chia seeds
- ½ Dragon Fruit
- 75 mls of Alpro almond milk
The method is the best bit…
Simply add all into the NutriBullet beaker (or any other blender) and whizz until desired consistency is reached. Ta-dah!
Now, if time is a serious morning issue, then snap a lid on your beaker and hit the road. However, if you happen to have time to sit at a table to enjoy, then fill a bowl with smoothie goodness and get topping with nuts, seeds, more fruit, and granola – or anything else you can think of, and enjoy (we’ve used more banana, goji berries, passionfruit, and toasted almonds). The addition of almond yogurt and chia seeds gives a little more density to the smoothie, making it perfect for a morning smoothie bowl.
- Bananas are great to fill you up and a perfect source of potassium, great for regulating blood pressure and preventing stroke (also ideal for replenishing electrolytes if you’re a hardcore gym bunny).
- Berries are generally superfoods and contain a burst of vitamin C in addition to a decent helping of antioxidants to fight free radicals that cause the skin to age.
- Alpro plain almond yogurt provides a plant-based alternative to dairy yogurts and provides the protein element to this breakfast, necessary for cell growth and repair. This one is lactose-free so perfect for anyone avoiding dairy and is also naturally low in saturated fats.
- Chia seeds are a nutrient powerhouse – they may be small, but so is dynamite! Loaded with omega 3 fats, dietary fiber, and minerals, they’re also a great source of antioxidants and relatively low in calories.
- Dragon fruit can be hard to come by, but their color alone is reason enough to include this addition to your morning smoothie bowl! Fantastically pink and powerful, dragon fruit contains a super combination of B group vitamins that can be hard to find in the western diet, together with up to 10% of your daily vitamin C requirements and yet more skin-loving antioxidants.
Finally, we added around 75mls of Alpro almond milk to add a creamy element and make sure the texture wasn’t overly dense. Again this is a great source of plant-based protein and is both lactose & gluten-free.
The beauty of this breakfast is you use whatever fruit you have lying about and can meal prep all ingredients the evening before and store them in an airtight container ready to whiz up the next day. Also, what better way to satisfy your inner artist than smoothie bowl decoration!
Have you any smoothie bowl combos you love?