Acai Berry Recipes

By Jane A Moore

I just saw the Rachel Ray acai berry show, and since Rachel Ray has such spectacular recipe ideas, I was a little disappointed that she didn't try to incorporate acai berry juice into a fun recipe. Since then I have tried a number of acai berry juices, which are fine on their own, but I thought that it was time that I try to experiment and see if I could create some interesting acai berry recipes.

My most popular dish at home is a baked chicken breast with a spicy citrus marinade, so I thought perhaps I could invent a chicken dish with acai berry juice substituted in for one of the citrus juices I normally use. As long as I kept my marinade time the same as usual (at least 6 hours in the refrigerator), I thought I couldn't go wrong trying out a citrus acai marinade.

I start by halving the chicken breasts because I find that being able to cook smaller pieces for less time on the barbeque decreases the chance that I will overcook or dry out the meat. Add all the chicken to a glass bowl, and add cold pressed olive oil, some ground sea salt, ground white pepper, minced garlic, acai berry juice, and lime juice as the citrus flavor. I thought the sour lime would balance the sweetness of the acai berry juice. As it turns out, the chicken turned out quite well, but not quite as good as by normal marinade. I also doubted that very much of the acai goodness made it into the chicken, as most of the sauce is burned off or dripped in the bar-b-q any way.

Let's think of something else that might be Rachel Ray acai berry recipe worthy. I thought of an acai berry frozen yogurt that was quick and simple to make, but this one turned out delicious! First, because I am going to add juice to the yogurt, we need to drain some liquid so it won't form too many ice crystals once it's frozen. Start by draining a pint of plain (low fat) yogurt with a colander and cheese cloth in the fridge for a day. Once it's has drained, discard the liquid, and now whip in 1/2 a cup of acai berry juice. At this point it actually makes a wonderful spread or dip.

So once the yogurt and acai berry mixture has been mixed and whipped, put it in a Tupperware and freeze it for a minimum of 6 hours. Once it is frozen to your taste - some people prefer just a chilled version, others like really hard frozen yogurt - serve, and enjoy! This recipe so far is the favorite, and versatile as well. You can use it as a non-frozen bagel spread, or throw it in the freezer for a frozen version perfect for a hot summer day.

Finally, I tried my own version of the old standby, the fruit smoothie. Actually there are a lot of acai berry juice mixes that have a creamy consistency and are called 'smoothies' on the label, but I like to make my smoothies fresh so I get the little bit of ice chips right in the smoothie. I mixed ice, banana, yogurt and acai berry juice in my blender, and blended until smooth. A trick I like to use is to freeze the banana before adding it, which makes the smoothy even creamier. In any event, as predicted, this was pretty delicious.

So my first attempt at acai berry inspired recipes turned out not so bad. I'm happy with two out of three successful recipes for my first attempt. Granted, my acai berry inventions are not nearly as delicious as what I imagine an acai berry recipe from Rachel Ray. I'll keep trying though and perhaps I will eventually come up with some amazing recipes to use this amazing super food in. - 17269

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To find out more about acai berry & Rachel Ray go to my acai berry blog.