Awesome Açaí Bowl Recipe

You've heard the hype (heretofore unverified scientifically) about the Açaí berry, full of antioxidants and yummy goodness, but you live nowhere near Rio.  You've seen the Açaí packets in the freezer section, but what do you do with them?  Search no further!  Here I present a recipe for a Rio-style Açaí bowl you can make in your own kitchen!

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First, gather the necessary tools and materials.  It's important to this first so that your acai doesn't melt -- the tricky part of making an acai bowl is to get the texture right.  The recipe is for one bowl.

• Acai -- I use the Sambazon "Rio Blend" with guarana included.  Guarana is another Brazilian treat that has a mild stimulant like caffeine, and it tastes great!  You could also use the plain old acai one instead.  You need two packs per bowl
• Bananas -- you need at least two to mix into the acai bowl
• Apple Juice (or Orange Juice or another fruit juice)
• Honey (or Agave Syrup if that's your thing)
• Granola
• Optional Strawberries, another Banana, or other berries
• Blender

The first step in this very simple recipe is to get the ingredients into the blender.  Because the texture is important and can be finicky, I like to put the bananas in first.  I suggest using TWO bananas to make the acai bowl thick and creamy.  Then, cut open the frozen acai pouches and put them in.  Finally, add a small amount of apple juice to get things moving in the blender and add flavor.  I use about 1/4 cup of apple juice, give or take.  It's better to err on the side of too little juice -- if you add too much the bowl will be soupy.  It will still taste good, but the idea is to have a pudding-like consistency.

Now that everything is in the blender, it's time to blend!  If your blender has a "pulse" function, that works really well as you can control the consistency and gravity will help pull the unblended ingredients down in between pulses.  If not, use the lowest speed on the blender, and blend for 5 seconds or so.  The aim here is to have everything well blended, but the consistency of pudding.

Once the banana/juice/acai mix is blended, you're almost there.  Pour the mix into a bowl and top with the other ingredients.  I like to put on granola first, followed by honey, and then finally with strawberries/other berries/banana slices if desired.

Enjoy this tasty treat from Brazil!