Invigorating berry love smoothie bowl

This invigorating berry love smoothie bowl was created as part of Nature’s Path Love Crunch Smoothie Bowl series. This simple smoothie bowl packs a ton of goodness. Topped with Love Crunch Dark Chocolate and Red Berries granola (because CHOCOLATE), it is the healthiest and easiest way to turn a smoothie into a meal!

Before I met my husband, I was fiercely independent. As soon as I finished high school at the age of 18, I moved away from the comfort of my small hometown to start a new adventure in the big city of Toronto. I had dreams of being more than what was possible where I grew up and having the freedom to become the person I knew I was capable of being.

I thought of it as a fresh start into adulthood, a new me, and I loved being on my own.

Finding love and settling down was not on my priority list. I didn’t realize until after a couple of not-so-fulfilling relationships that learning to love myself had to come first. The storybooks and romance movies I grew up with never mentioned this, and it took a long time to come to the realization that you can’t love someone else until you learn to love and care for yourself first. That can be a difficult thing for a lot of people, including me.

I’d like to think love is easy, no matter who you’re giving it to, but it is definitely a work in progress, like a very important project that constantly needs to be monitored and maintained. Because it’s worth so much more than anything else in the world. These days, self love is a term that gets tossed around but I’m not sure many people understand what it entails. I guess it means different things to different people, but I’ve found that when I feel my lowest, when I’ve failed at something or have days when I’m bombarded with negative thoughts, the only thing to pull me out is to practise self love.

For me, that means being around people who cheer me up, taking some much-needed “me time” to have a bath, read a book, or go for a run. It also means nourishing myself with healthy food that makes me feel good, which is something I aim to do every single day.

And here’s where this invigorating berry love smoothie bowl comes in. Smoothie bowls have become one of my favourite ways to nourish myself because they are an easy way to pack in several servings of fruit and veggies first thing in the morning. My ideal smoothie bowl includes a handful of greens, a tablespoon or two of nut butter or seeds for protein, colourful berries for antioxidants, frozen ripe banana for sweetness, and a splash of nondairy milk or yogurt. Blend them up and pour into a bowl, and add a variety of fun toppings, like nuts, seeds, coconut or granola and you’ve got yourself one seriously substantial meal.

One of my favourite toppings as of late is Nature’s Path Love Crunch granola. I’m always inspired to come up with a fun twist on a smoothie flavour based on the flavour of granola I have on hand and I can’t get enough of the smooth/crunchy combo in each spoonful of my smoothie bowl. While a few of Nature’s Path products contain honey, I adore the ones that just happen to be vegan–Dark Chocolate Macaroon, Apple Chia Crumble, and Dark Chocolate and Red Berries are just a few of my favourites.

I’ve been a big fan of the Nature’s Path company ever since I learned about their passion for organic farming and sustainability, and their aim to use high-quality, certified organic, fair trade, non-GMO ingredients in their products. And, despite how large and successful the company has become, it is still owned by the family who founded it back in the 1980s—it just feels good to support a family-owned business in a world overtaken by conglomerates. For every bag of Love Crunch sold, Nature’s Path also gives the equivalent in food and cash to food banks across North America as part of their Bite4Bite program. How awesome is that?

I wanted to share this berry love smoothie bowl in time for Valentine’s Day. The berries, banana, lettuce, zucchini, and nondairy yogurt together are enough to make me feel invigorated from the inside out. I hope this recipe inspires you to get out your blender and nourish yourself with a Love Crunch smoothie bowl, too. Don’t forget to top it with a big handful of Dark Chocolate and Red Berries granola—I promise you won’t be disappointed.

You can find Love Crunch at your favourite grocery or natural food retailer, as well as Well.ca (Canada) or on the Nature’s Path website (US).

This post is sponsored by Nature’s Path. All opinions are my own, and I think this Canadian-based company rocks.