Valentine’s Day Mocha + Banana Smoothie Bowl

There are two types of people in this world; those who eagerly count down the days till the 14^th of February and those who want to pop every heart-shaped balloon in site.

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day but sometimes... sometimes it can get a bit too much. We make reservations for the fanciest of restaurants, we prepare ourselves for the pure wonder of it all and then we land up getting a little disappointed when it's not the exact fairytale we've dreamed of...

Every.

Single.

Year.

Do we never learn?

Let's simplify Valentine's Day this year. We can all agree that Valentine's day is a day about love - whether it's with yourself, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, partner, friend, dog, neighbour, neighbour’s dog, it's time to spread the love!

And in true Supercharged Food fashion, the way we’re going to spread some luuuurve today is with food. What better way to start the day than with showing your love with some breakfast in bed?

If you or your love of choice think that starting the day feeling both happy and energised is a foreign myth unless you’ve had your morning cuppa joe, or, if you can’t make words or look anyone in the eye until you've had your first sip of creamy coffee in the a.m., this one is especially for you.

Let’s take that espresso shot, throw it into the blender and espresso some love with a mega morning smoothie!

My delicious Mocha and Banana Smoothie Bowl recipe is from my latest book Supercharge Your Gut, and it’s every bit as good as it sounds.

This delicious smoothie made with real coffee (which you can substitute for dandelion tea if you’re *gasp* not a coffee lover), raw cacao, chia seeds, hazelnuts and blissful bananas feels a little like monkey magic. This bowl will give you a natural hit of everyone’s favourite hormone, dopamine – the happy one (if you know what I mean ;-)!)  Plus, it tastes like chocolate. If anyone ever tells you that you can’t have chocolate for breakfast, they’re wrong and you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life!

This Supercharged smoothie bowl combines good fats and complex carbohydrates in the bananas and nuts, so you’ll be performing all your regular human-like tasks on your hands, performing effortless backflips, half-turns and triple twists before you’ve made it through half your day’s to-do list. Your ability to focus and maintain motivation (as well as stamina in other places…) will dramatically improve too – that’s a 10/10 for you!

Both raw cacao and banana are great sources of antioxidants, potassium and vitamin B6. Cacao increases both our serotonin and dopamine levels, giving us feelings of pleasure and helping lower stress. Plus, there's nothing sexier than decadent dark chocolate. Don't fight me on this one ok?

Bananas are extra special because they contain a distinct fibre called pectin which can help decrease stomach ulcers and provide a whopping dose of prebiotics for our bodies to utilize as food, gobbled up by the good guys in the gut.

If you’re not a fan of coffee, you may want to try out dandelion tea. Dandelion is a great herb for supporting liver detoxification to help cleanse the body; especially important if the rest of your Vee day is going to include a drink or three!

The great thing about smoothie bowls is the fact that you can be super sneaky with them. I’ve added some Love Your Gut powder to this smoothie to help out our guts and increase iron levels to combat tiredness and fatigue. LYG is full of iron and yet, won’t leave you constipated like regular synthetic iron supplements may. LYG doesn’t have a flavour so while you may not taste the difference, you sure will feel one! As I've always said, Valentine's Day is incomplete if you don't show your gut some love.

What's the other great thing to sneak into a smoothie bowl? Greens, greens and more greens! Adding greens to a smoothie bowl doesn’t alter the taste but it does alter the nutrient content. If you want to try adding in a handful of spinach, kale, avocado or even frozen peas (don’t judge me till you’ve tried it!), you’ll get a nice head-start on your vegetable intake before the day’s even begun. Seriously, who knew eating your vegetables could be so cool?

This smoothie bowl's guaranteed to increase the grin on you and your company’s face from a 40% to a 90% every time!

Nothing screams romance more than breakfast in bed; it's seriously magic. If you're looking to rock the boat (among other things), this Valentine's Day, skip the cafe queue and give this smoothie bowl in bed a go instead!

Mocha + Banana Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 30 ml (1 fl oz) shot of espresso coffee or dandelion tea
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon Love Your Gut Powder (optional)
• 1 frozen banana, sliced
• 40 g (11F2 oz/1F4 cup) hazelnuts (or any nuts of your choice), soaked and roasted
• 125 ml (4 fl oz/1F2 cup) Coconut Milk
• 125 ml (4 fl oz/1F2 cup) Almond Milk, or other non-dairy milk of your choice
• toppings of your choice, to serve

Method;

Pour the coffee or dandelion tea into a small bowl, add the chia seeds and let them sit for a few minutes. Transfer to a high-speed blender.

Add the cacao powder, diatomaceous earth (if using), banana and hazelnuts.

Pour in the coconut milk and almond milk and whiz until there are no lumps; the mixture can be quite thick. If your blender is struggling, add extra almond milk or water in small amounts to help it along.

Pour the smoothie into a bowl or serving vessel; we’ve used half a coconut shell. Garnish with your choice of toppings — fresh banana slices, a sprinkling of mixed nuts and seeds, shaved fresh coconut, micro herbs — and dig in!