How about an all-rounder snack that suits any time of the day? If you’ve never heard of smoothie bowl before it is what it says: a smoothie in a bowl. It's easy to make and perfect for the green and clean-living virgin.
I’m a bit late to the smoothie bowl party. Another trend that’s been propelled by Instagram, with more than 150K #smoothiebowl tags. Why am I late? I normally completely ignore something that sounds like a fad, especially when something is sold as the next superfood, I’m lost quicker than you can say "wheatgrass shot."
I’m all about eating accessible, nutritious and delicious food, but, I have to say, the beauty of these is that you can add toppings for extra taste and texture, and you eat it with a spoon so that it's more satisfying than chugging a smoothie as you rush from A to B, plus you feel like you have eaten and not just had a drink. Genius. It's also a delicious way to get three of your five-a-day – omega 3s, calcium, protein, iron and fibre in before 9am.
Last week I road tested my first smoothie bowl. And it was surprisingly really good. I made it my style – no protein or supergreen powders and no cooked quinoa. Not even a nut milk in sight. With the exception of the chia seeds, which you can buy online from Irish company
chiabia.com, all these ingredients you can buy in your local convenience store, relatively inexpensively.
This might be the perfect recipe for post-school run, and to try out on the kids. If you add their favourite (healthy) cereal as a topping, I reckon you could easily get a kid-sized portion into them.
But the best thing about this recipe is as long as you stick to the base recipe ingredients, you can mix up the fruits and toppings for an entirely different combo every day.
An American measuring cup will help you to get the proportions right. You can pick one up in most supermarket department stores.
Here is a fool-proof combination to whet your appetite for bowl food:
Ingredients per portion (halve for a kids portion)
Serves 1
1 tbsp rolled oats
½ tbsp walnuts
½ tbsp chia seeds
1 cup of berries (fresh or frozen) or soft fruit (such as mango, peach, nectarine) – or avocado if you’re feeling a bit braver
A handful of baby spinach leaves
1 tbsp Glenisk strained Greek Style natural yoghurt, or alternative Greek/natural yoghurt
1 ½ cups of water
A few cubes of ice
Toppings
Choose 2-3 of the following:
Granola
Nut butter
Raisins, sultanas or dried cranberries
Chopped fruit such as apple, banana, pear, pineapple
Fresh or thawed berries
Toasted flaked almonds or desiccated coconut (toast for 1 min on a tray under a hot grill)
Directions
1. Double or triple the quantity of the recipe, depending on how many you are making for. Blend all the smoothie ingredients in a blender or nutribullet. You might need to add more water if the consistency is too thick to process. Pour into bowls.
2. Add your toppings of choice and ENJOY with a spoon.
Take a pic of your #smoothiebowl and tag me into your combos on Instagram @elaine_lavery.
Elaine Lavery is a former French Alps chalet chef, and now the co-founder of Irish company Improper Food. The company’s first product, Improper Butter is a yummy range of natural garlic and herb cooking butters.
This week Elaine is our foodie Guest Blogger, highlighting some amazing Irish small food producers, she adds, "As a small food producer, I am a big advocate of buying local. We have amazing quality produce to choose from and buying local has become really on-trend." 
