Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl

This Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl is the first in a series of recipes as part of Jumpstart January.  Yes, it’s that time again, time to put the indulgences of the festive season behind us and pledge to eat more fruit and vegetables and less cake and chocolate. 

During the month of January I’ll be featuring recipes, reviews and giveaways all focused on information and ideas for good health. I’m so excited about sharing  Jumpstart January with you and hearing how you plan to boost your health and well-being in January 2017 and on into the whole year.

I’m going to start by sharing my health goals for 2017:

Weight Loss: reduce my weight by 7lb (3 kg), restart 5:2 fasting (500 kcal on two days per week)

Exercise: Increase my home yoga sessions from 15 minutes 4 x per week to 30 minutes 4 x per week AND walk briskly for 30 minutes twice a week

Food: 2 x  meat-free days per week, 2 x fish meals per week, increase wholefoods, reduce sugar intake, reduce snacking.

Reducing sugar is difficult as I do have a sweet tooth and tend to comfort eat when I’m tired.  I’m planning to overcome this by creating delicious and slightly sweet treats that are still healthy and will satisfy that craving for sugar without sacrificing my health goals.  Wholefoods are something I’ve embraced since the 1970s, however I have lost my way a bit over the years, so will take this opportunity to get back to my roots and increase the wholegrains and pulses in my diet.  I’ll update you on my progress as I post throughout Jumpstart January. 

To kick start my Jumpstart January I’m easing in gently, with a naturally sweet and fruity Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl which will still give you that chocolate theobromine hit. It’s proof that healthy food can still be delicious.  I’m a bit of a new convert to the smoothie bowl and that’s all due to my new Optimum G 2.3 blender which makes it so easy to whizz up the ingredients and creates the smoothest of smooth smoothie!

You can use the Optimum G2.3 Platinum Series Blender for soups, smoothies, sauce, nut milks power balls, smoothies, cocktails and much more.  I’m a Froothie Ambassador and if you use my ambassador link to order your blender, you get free delivery in the UK as well as a super powerful blender. There are many more healthy recipes on the Froothie site has many inventive and healthy recipes to inspire you, including ones from me. If you order in Jumpstart January do write “3116” and “free ambassador delivery” in the comment section of the order. Delivery will be credited back to your card.

For lots more information,  recipe inspiration and motivation for Jumpstart January follow #Jumpstart17 on Twitter and Instagram. 

Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl

An ideal start to the day, this Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl is sweet enough to be enjoyed as a healthy dessert.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cherry, chocolate, smoothie, smoothie bowl

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 7 minutes

Servings: 1

Calories: 1200kcal

Author: Farmersgirl Kitchen

Ingredients

• 240 ml matcha green tea drink nut milk or dairy milk (your choice)
• 80 g low fat natural yogurt or skyr
• 1 frozen banana see notes
• 250 g frozen pitted cherries
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp organic raw cacao powder
• 1 tbsp granola preferably with chocolate
• 8 extra cherries thawed

Metric - US Customary units

Instructions

• Pour the matcha tea drink or milk into the blender, add all the other ingredients except the granola and extra cherries, blend until smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and top with the cherries and granola.

Notes

Peel and chop bananas into chunks and freeze for easy smoothie and smoothie bowl making. If you don't have a frozen banana, then use a fresh banana and add 3-4 ice cubes.

Nutrition

Calories: 1200kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 136g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 40mg | Potassium: 1289mg | Fiber: 16g | Sugar: 60g | Vitamin A: 244.7% | Vitamin C: 39.1% | Calcium: 20.2% | Iron: 259.7%

 I used a Matcha Green Tea Drink as the liquid in my Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl.   Matcha is a green tea powder made from green tea leaves which are steamed rather than allowing them to oxidise like black tea and this protects the anti-inflammatory polyphenols called catechins.  There are a myriad of claims for Matcha tea, it contains antioxidants but then so does black tea. There haven’t been enough large-scale studies to provide conclusive evidence for the claims that green tea will reduce diabetes risk, promote anti-ageing and reduce cholesterol, but there are indicators that anti-oxidants may contribute to improving health.

I’m adding this Chocolate Cherry Smoothie Bowl to the ‘We Should Cocoa’ Linky at Tin & Thyme the home of all things chocolate and many wholesome and healthy recipes too. 

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Check out these other posts for Jumpstart January:

Healthy Diet – Lose Weight – Let’s do this together – A Glug of Oil

WHAT ARE YOUR HEALTH GOALS FOR JUMPSTART JANUARY?

Disclosure: Froothie UK sent me the Optimum G2.3 Platninum Series Blender to use and review at home. I have not been paid for this post and was not required to give the G2.3 Blender a positive write-up.  All opinions are my own.  Affiliate links included in this post.