Rachel Ray Acai Berry Recipes
Rachel Ray acai berry recipes are hard to find. After searching off and on for a number of days I gave up searching but I hadn’t given up hope. I decided to experiment in my own kitchen. Often some of my favorite recipes are those I’ve stumbled across when I’ve had to switch one ingredient for another in a pinch.
The first recipe I wanted to try is “Acai Berry Marinated Bar-B-Q Chicken”. As a starting point, I used one of my most popular marinade recipes, which includes a lot of citrus and white pepper. I thought that I could replace the citrus with the acai berry, and add a few other ingredients to balance the different taste the acai would have.
First I cut the chicken into strips and added a mixture of olive oil and acai juice. Then I thought that would be too sweet on its own so I added some capers, and finished by adding sea salt. If I leave the marinade on the chicken in the fridge for at least a day, I find that along with extra flavor, the salt will tenderize the chicken. I made the marinade in the morning, and we barbequed the chicken for supper that night. It turned out ok, although I still prefer my other versions better. I figure that it might not be the best use of the acai since a lot of the marinade is lost, making this a fairly expensive marinade where a lot of the healthy acai is wasted.
So my second recipe that I came up with actually turned out a lot better. It maintains all the health benefits of acai as well, so that is good. Start with a container of plain yogurt. You can use low fat if you want to reduce the calorie and fat levels of this dish. Add one cup of some sort of acai drink – either juice or a pre-mixed smoothie, and mix well. Then take this and put it in a strainer with 2 layers of cheese cloth and set it over a dish to drain. Let this sit in the fridge for 24 hours to allow all the liquid to drain off.
I pealed the acai/yogurt mixture off the cheese cloth and into some Tupperware. I then froze the mixture for 8 hours. It was delicious! It was tangy from the yogurt and had the rich berry taste of acai. The amount of freezing depends on how you like to have your frozen yogurt. I prefer it softer rather than harder and therefore 8 hours worked well for me.
Finally I tried my own version of the classic fruit recipe – the smoothie. For my version I added the following to a blender: 3 ice cubes, 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup low fat yogurt, and 1/2 cup acai berry juice. Blend this on high until the ice has been blended and the whole thing is smooth. Freezing the banana beforehand ( I cut it in chunks before I freeze it) makes this drink extra thick and creamy. If you want to add some additional healthy ingredients, add some wheat germ or flax meal. Both add some fiber and a nice nutty flavor.
With a little imagination acai can be incorporated into many different recipes. Without much thought I was able to create a main course, desert and a smoothie. Although Rachel Ray acai berry recipes do not seem to currently exist I will continue looking and in the meantime I will be creating and writing about my own recipes.
Find more articles on recipes for acai berry by visiting Acai Berry.
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