Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lucky’s Market. The Newlywed Chefs were paid for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% our own.

Ah, January. The time of year where our jeans and budgets have somehow become a little more tight. Neither of us made resolutions, but this time of year, like the rest of the world, we seem to watch what we eat a little more. We’ve tried a lot of “cleanses” (read: diets) over the years, but my goodness, food and drinks bring us joy, and when you take away that joy completely, it’s just sad! For us, cooking is a way for us to reconnect with each other and the ones we love. We break hot crusty bread and pass the soft butter across the table to a couple we’d like to get to know a little better. We clink wine glasses in celebration of our new neighbors and their first house purchase. We grab coffee with friends at a local coffee shop to hear about their adventures as first-time parents. For us, food and drink go beyond simply food and drink.

So, that’s the hardest part of dieting for us. When you limit the food, the craft, the joy of cooking, you also limit other things in our life that we don’t so easily want to sacrifice.

That being said, we can’t eat dessert every night. We can’t make mac and cheese every weekend. We can’t split a bottle of wine too frequently. Why? Because it’s not healthy. Hmm… now we’re faced with a difficult situation: how do we balance a healthy diet, enjoy the culinary world, and not sacrifice the other aspects of life associated with food and drink? We’re still trying to figure that one out. The best we’ve come up with is that as with most things in life, it’s about balance.

The diets that work for us are the ones that still allow us to feel like we have some joy while balancing the satisfaction that what we ate was actually healthy.

Smoothie bowls are all the rage on Instagram. They’re pretty. They’re healthy. They’re easy to make. The flavor combinations are endless. Maybe they’re a little too trendy. As Neil put it, “I really didn’t want to like that smoothie bowl… but I really like it.”

They’re a great way to pack in your serving of fruit and also sneak in healthy seeds such as flax or chia. After watching our sugar intake the past few days, fruit tastes incredibly sweet. I feel like even though these bowls are healthy, we actually are cheating and shouldn’t be eating them.

The frozen produce at Lucky’s is perfect for making smoothie bowls. They have a new line of private label frozen fruit that comes in premixed flavors so you don’t have to buy a bunch of random fruits. In this recipe, we used their tropical mix, “Life’s a Beach!” (clever). When you buy private label items at Lucky’s, 10% of the profits from the purchase are reinvested back into the community. Also, all of their organic produce is 10% off on Sundays (our preferred meal planning/grocery day) through the month of January.

We hope you enjoy this simple recipe and enjoy a healthy, yet delicious start to the new year.

Tropical Smoothie Bowl

Prep Time: 15 min. Cook Time: 0 min.

Smoothie Ingredients:

1 (heaping) cup Lucky’s Market Tropical Blend frozen fruit

1 fresh banana

1 cup almond milk

Suggested Toppings:

Shredded coconut

Fresh fruit (Kiwi, strawberries, mango, pineapple, etc.)

Seeds (Flax seed, chia sheed, etc.)

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour smoothie in a bowl and top with suggested toppings.

Makes 1 large smoothie bowl