Usually, my breakfast looks like porridge of some kind: oatmeal, rye, millet, wheat, buckwheat – you get the picture.  Occasionally however, there’s a hankering for something sweeter and fruitier which kicks in and for those days, there’s the smoothie bowl.  Delicious and sustaining, this bowl will likely have you going till noon.  Hefty appetites can pair it with some whole grain toast or a generous helping of home-crafted granola like the coconut and apricot granola here, or the almond-pumpkin granola here.

Yield: 1 large bowl

What you need:

• 1 large banana
• 10 large pitted sweet cherries (frozen organic cherries work just fine, and this is one of those ingredients it’s worth going organic for)
• 1 tablespoon hemp oil (or flax)
• 1 cup of water or almond milk (I usually use water)
• herbs (optional; the bowl you see here has a dose of shatavari, an herbal balancer for women.  Alternatively, the green drink mix here. is a great choice, although it will make your smoothie a nice bright green.)
• 2 tablespoons chia seed
• coconut strips for garnish (optional)
• granola for garnish (optional)

What you do:

1. Put the banana, cherries, hemp oil, water and herbs if using in the serving cup of a Magic Bullet or personal blending system of some kind (a blender works too).
2. Process until smooth.
3. Transfer the smoothie to a serving bowl and stir in the chia seed.  Let sit for 15 to 45 minutes, until the chia seeds have bloomed and the mixtures thickened a little.
4. Stir again and garnish with coconut strips and granola if desired
5. Serve.