A Rainbow of Smoothie Bowls

I like learning new things. That's one thing my dad impressed upon me - that you're never too old to learn new things.

I particularly like learning things about myself. Which doesn't often happen with a cookbook. But it did with this one.

As I was browsing through A Rainbow of Smoothie Bowls by Leigh Weingus, I realized that not only do I like vegetables more than fruits, but I also am more picky about fruit combinations than I am about vegetable combinations.

I am a weirdo. I admit it.

So, as I was going through the book, I realized that while I probably would have eaten pretty much any recipe in the book if someone served it to me, I'd be unlikely to want to make them.

Aside from strawberries (which are totally not in season now) I prefer most berries cooked or dried. So the recipes with fresh berries on top weren't all that appealing to me because I didn't want to buy all those berries and have them hanging around.

And then ... I have a love-hate relationship with mangoes. Sometimes I like them (the small champagne mangoes are my fave, but I don't see them very often) but I've gotten a whole lot of bad mangoes that were mealy or otherwise weird. So, the chance of me buying mangoes ... not so good.

I like bananas and I probably buy more of them than any other fruit. I love peaches and nectarines and plums, but they're not in season. Grapes are great, too. But not in season. So my fruit choices were kind of limited.

I found one recipe that I was going to make (and I might still make it; just not for this review) but I don't know if it's a great representation of this book. The "bowl" part of it had a frozen banana, almond milk, hazelnuts, and cocoa powder all blended together. That sounded awesome. And then it was topped with chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Oh heck to the yum.

But it was much less fruit-laden than typical recipes.

Another that looked interesting had frozen cherries, banana, almond milk, and almond butter blended up for the bowl and then blueberries, almonds, and honey on top. But cherries aren't in season, and I'm not inclined to buy a bag of frozen ones for a single recipe.

But, you know, that's just me. I'm sure other people would go crazy about these recipes.

So anyway, I guess I should explain smoothie bowls. They're kind of like regular smoothies but served in a bowl with a bunch of chunky toppings, so you'd eat them with a spoon. That would make them more like food than like a drink, right? There was even a Halloween-themed bowl with candy on top. So it's not like these are all super-green and chewy, although there are some with spinach or oats or goji berries.

If you're a big fan of smoothies to begin with, you're going to love this book. Me, it's making me think about my fruit eating habits. And when strawberries come back in season, I'm going to try a bunch of these. Maybe with some little adjustments.

I received this book at no cost from the publisher.