Spooky season is here and everything, including food, must now have a little nod to autumn. I mostly think of root vegetables when conjuring up images of autumnal foods, but eating sweet potato for breakfast doesn’t feel quite right. Enter our nutritious autumnal smoothie bowl! The beautiful leafy yellow is from the turmeric, and it glows so nicely next to juicy red braeburn apples and plump orange satsuma slices. Not to mention the crunch of the pumpkin seed granola and the sweetness of the chocolate. Both garnishes remind us of the festivities just around the corner.

Smoothie bowls are a delicious and easy way to help reach your five a day, and if you find you have a little more time on your hands it’s fun to create aesthetic toppings, which is exactly what we did. This chocolatey and fruity smoothie bowl is sweet and delicious, but the addition of flax seeds and turmeric means it also packs a big health punch too. Perfect for giving your immune system a boost this time of year.

Makes two smoothie bowls.

Ingredients:

For the smoothie –

• 2 apples
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 6 dried figs
• 50g oats
• 1 tbsp of flax seeds
• 250ml almond milk
• 1 tbsp agave syrup

For the garnish –

• 1 apple
• A sprinkle of granola
• A handful of dark chocolate, grated
• 1 satsuma

Method:

1. Chop up two apples and six dried figs before placing in a blender. Add one teaspoon of turmeric, one tablespoon of flax seeds and one tablespoon of agave syrup.
2. Juice one large orange and add the juice to the blender. Add 50g of oats and 250ml of almond milk. Blend everything together.
3. The smoothie should be a liquid yet thick consistency, as it needs to hold the garnish. If you’d like to thicken the smoothie, add a little more oats and/or chopped apple.
4. Pour the smoothie mixture into bowls before prepping the toppings.
5. Use a teaspoon to gently sprinkle granola around the edge of the bowl, on top of the smoothie. You can be as generous as you like, the granola adds a nice crunch to the whole dish. The pumpkin seeds in ours was part of the granola, so they’re none-essential. Any granola you enjoy is fine to use.
6. Peel and segment a satsuma. Remove as much of the pith as possible for a nice clean look for the garnish. Gently fan the satsuma slices next to each other, on top of the smoothie.
7. Slice an apple as thinly as possible – the thinner, the better the effect. Gently fan the slices out on top of the smoothie, as you did with the satsuma.
8. To finish off, grate dark chocolate (or any vegan chocolate) over the toppings for extra sweetness and texture.

This smoothie bowl is so quick to make, and is so tasty it didn’t hang about long either! It’s so fun to play around with toppings – why not great creative? If you’re lucky enough to find fresh figs near you, they make an even more stunning garnish for any smoothie bowl. A tip from me is that when working with apples for the garnish, make sure you do everything else first, because chopped apples do start to brown very quickly.

Sam xx