Galaxy Smoothie Bowl for the Wolf Moon

The January full moon is most commonly known as the Wolf Moon. Various North American tribes have different names for it, but names for this moon largely evoke coldness or lean times. The Algonquin people call it the “Sun has Not Strength to Thaw Moon, the Arapaho refer to the “When Snow Blows like Spirits in the Wind Moon, and the Lakota people use the most concise “Hard Moon.” The only direct wolf reference I could find was from the Sioux people who call this moon the “Wolves Run Together Moon. Interestingly, the Farmer’s Almanac doesn’t cite any sources for the Wolf Moon name, it just refers to wolves howling this time of year. My favorite interpretation of the name relates it to the Wolf Trail or Road—a traditional Blackfoot name for the Milky Way. 

In northern climates, the stars in the winter sky are much brighter and clearer than during the rest of the year because there is so much less humidity, meaning no haze to obstruct your view. This is a great night to dream about journeys into the stars while gazing at the moon. Bundle up and throw a stargazing picnic, or explore constellations and myth making. Or make a galaxy smoothie bowl that tastes like space…

Galaxy Smoothie Bowl that Tastes Like Space

For real. Scientists have determined that the center of the Milky way tastes like raspberries and rum. Yes this is totally real even though it sounds like something I would make up. In 2009, astronomers were able to identify a chemical called ethyl formate in a cloud at the center of the Milky Way. Ethyl formate is responsible for both the flavor of raspberries and rum. I have previoulsy made space macarons with this information, but in addition to being pretty fussy to make, it’s January and I am tired from the holidays and want something easy and reasonably healthy. Enter the smoothie bowl. Yes I know it’s so ten years ago, but it tastes like space! The recipe below will make one large or two smaller bowls.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas in chunks (you can leave a small piece unfrozen to cut star decorations from if you want)
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup oat milk (or your preferred milk)
• 2 TBS honey
• 2 TBS black tahini (this is a bit of a speciality ingredient, I love both the color and flavor, but if you can’t find it you can sub regular tahini or any nut/seed butter and up the charcoal instead)
• 1/2 tsp edible charcoal powder
• 1/4 tsp rum (you can sub vanilla if you prefer, but it’s a small amount)

For Topping:

• 1/2- 1 cup vanilla greek yogurt
• blue butterfly pea powder
• beet powder
• edible star glitter
• banana slices cut into stars
• frozen blue berries
• frozen raspberries

Method:

First get the topping read to go. Divide the yogurt into four small bowls. You can make as much or as little as you wish, I just ballpark a few spoonfuls. Add the blue butterfly pea powder to one bowl until you like the shade of blue you have achieved. Do the same with the beet powder. Next add both blue butterfly pea and beet powder to the third bowl to make purple. Leave the last one white.

Place everything except the topping ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. You’ll probably have to stir it around a few times to get everything to blend. You can add more oat milk if you can’t get it to blend or prefer a thinner smoothie bowl.

Pour your smoothie into a bowl and then dollop the colorful yogurt on to and swirl around with a toothpick. Add any fruit you are using and sprinkle with the edible stars.

Enjoy!