Super Spirulina Smoothie Bowl
Spirulina smoothie bowls are here to stay. If last summer we suffered the açai bowl fever, this year is the turn for the awesome superpower spirulina smoothie bowls.
Spirulina is a blue-green micro algae that grows in subtropical oceans or lakes. It has been consumed for centuries due to his high nutritional value and supposed health benefits.
The first time I came across spirulina was in Cambodia. At the cafe we organized 5 day cleanse programs. It wasn’t nothing like the juice cleanse you see these days. It was real meals based on a raw diet. We served superfood shots, raw lasagnes, salads, zucchini noodles, bliss balls and many other delicious options.
By that time of my life I wasn’t much into nutritious food and even though the food was delightful, I though the little shots of coconut oil, turmeric or spirulina were a bit freaky.
The second time spirulina run into my life was watching the program Superfoods: The Real Story. A really cool and interesting program, which investigates if the healthy claims for superfood are real or not.
Claims for spirulina are: weight loss, diabetes, high cholesterol among many other. But like the show explains, the truth is that currently there are not scientific evidence to determinate it effectiveness.
What it’s real is that spirulina is very high in protein, iron, calcium, potassium or vitamin E. It’s even used for astronauts in NASA as a high dense nutrient ingredient. Since fresh products can’t be consumed in the space, astronauts have to load their intake with superfoods to get all nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed. 
Delicious spirulina smoothie. If you are not use to spirulina, go for smaller amount than I call in the recipe since it has very strong flavour and you can find it a bit weird at the beginner.
- 2 bananas frozen
- 2 tbsp coconut flesh
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2-1 tsp spirulina powder
- 1 handful almonds
- ice cubes
- honey optional
- fresh fruits, cocoa nibs to garnish
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Place frozen banana, coconut flesh, almonds, cocoa and spirulina powders, honey if using and some ice cubes into a blender and blend until smooth. If it's too thick you could add some liquid as water or coconut water.
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Pour smoothie into bowls and garnish with fresh fruit, cocoa nibs or coconut flakes.
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Enjoy this weird and delicious smoothie and feel energetic right the way!
Because I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid, but now I am a freaky foodie, I have decided to mix all these facts and have spirulina smoothie bowl as snack. Which by the way, I believe it will be a real trend this next summer.
If you have never tried spirulina, be aware it has a very strong algae flavour, so start with a very small amount. Even a quarter of a teaspoon is enough, you need to re-educate your palate so it get used to new flavour and sensations.
And as any smoothie, you can of course customise it with your favourite ingredients. Today I have used coconut flesh and cocoa powder, but you could use avocado, banana or blueberries for example.