Creamy Cantaloupe Smoothie Bowls

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Hello, everyone! I do apologize for yesterday's lack of a post - I hyper extended my knee. Again. Looks like I'll be writing a lot more, as I won't be able to workout for a few weeks; so I guess that's kind of a bonus?

When I was making my menu for this past week, I wanted something a little... different for dinner. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, my mom made chocolate chip banana pancakes for special suppers. May I be the first to say that they were absolutely fantastic. She would brown the batter on the griddle, so that they had these incredible brittle tops, but the insides were as soft as a pillow. The aroma of chocolate and caramelized bananas seemed to float around our house the entire evening. Breakfast for dinner was certainly a treat. For this week, I wanted to make breakfast for dinner. Now, I think you'll understand when I say that breakfast for dinner is hard when you're Primal. Pancakes are pretty much out of the question, unless you use cream cheese. To be honest, I also wasn't feeling up for dealing with flipping pancakes, either. I always mess up, and they turn into mush. Perhaps another day. This week, I was thinking of creating something just as mouthwatering as Mom's chocolate chip banana pancakes, but much easier. Convenience is always an added bonus. And as it's summer, a cold dish would be preferable.
Abby enjoys her Creamy Cantaloupe
Smoothie Bowl

So I thought to myself - what is sweet (because I have the biggest sweet tooth - something that is rather unfortunate), easy, and relatively fun? And then it came to me - a smoothie!

But no one wants any old smoothie. Those can get old after a while. For my Creamy Cantaloupe Smoothie Bowls, I decided to serve the drink in the hollowed-out cantaloupe halves. That certainly made it more exciting!

Creamy Cantaloupe Smoothie Bowls - Serves 4
Ingredients

  • 2 Small Dulcinea Cantaloupes. This type of cantaloupe is extra sweet, but can also be expensive. Regular cantaloupes will work just fine.
  • About 2 cups of full-fat unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1-2 Tbsps chia seeds
  • Plenty of ice
  • Optional toppings: almonds, berries (I found that blackberries went great with cantaloupe), shredded coconut flakes, chia seeds, ground flax seed, sliced banana, etc.
Execution
Wash and dry the cantaloupes thoroughly. Carefully cut them in half and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut a small flat bottom on each of the halves to allow them to stand as bowls. Make sure not to cut too much! You don't want a leaky bowl on your hands. Spoon the majority of the sweet, orange flesh into a blender - leave between 1/2 to 1/4 inch of the fruit in the rind. This will ensure that the smoothie doesn't leak out, and will provide some cantaloupe to eat when your smoothie is all gone. Blend the cantaloupe flesh until smooth. Add in the coconut milk, ice, and chia seeds, and blend again. With the Dulcinea Cantaloupes, you shouldn't need extra sweetener. However, if you're finding you could use more, sprinkle in a dash of monk fruit or erythritol. Pour the smoothie into your cantaloupe bowls. Top decoratively with nuts, berries, coconut, chia, flax, banana, or any other selected topping. Enjoy this quirky, scrumptious dish for breakfast, luncheon, or dinner!

Happy Cantaloupe Season, everyone.
- Maya

Photo by Chris Ralston on Unsplash, Photo by Maya Epstein, Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

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