Açaí: Breakfast of Champions

Talk about a power breakfast.

I recently picked up some frozen packets of açaí on the Westside, at a little Brazilian plaza on Venice, right across the street from the original Cafe Brasil. There were recipes for açaí smoothies and açaí with granola written on the packaging, but my cousin Virgil, who is an up-and-coming MMA fighter and eats for a little extra power, shared his recipe with me. This wonder juice might eventually phase out my need for coffee.

Okay, that's not very likely. But it's delicious and packed with protein, fiber, antioxidants, and all kinds of other goodies.

Oh, and it tastes freakin' good. I highly recommend it. (Although I'd recommend buying your açaí from a Brazilian market and not from Whole Foods, since the big organic change charges you an arm and a leg for it.)

Virgil's recipe:

1 packet of frozen açaí
1 banana
A handful of strawberries, blackberries, or other fruit
1 cup soy milk or yogurt (I use half of each)
1/2 cup juice (mango juice makes it perfect)

Pop in your Magic Bullet and blend, and either drink it down or serve with a bowl of granola. For our last batch, we also toasted a tablespoon of flax seeds and blended them in, which added even more texture (and Omega-3s).