Papaya Sunrise Breakfast Bowls

Talk about waking up to something beautiful. I am not Beyonce. So I do not... "woke up like dis". Okay, neither do these bowls, there is assembly required. However, if you cut some fruit up the night before, the assembly is super simple in the morning. Because if you are anything like me (aka not as cool as Beyonce) then morning beauty takes a bit of work.

The extent of my productivity in the morning includes brushing my teeth and putting clothes on before coffee. After that, I increase ever so slightly, but still not that impressive. Really, after having 2 kids and not being in my 20's, everything really went down hill on the "with it" front. Hey, I have my fading looks to fall back on for at least 20 more minutes. I should be good.

I really am so in love with this dish. As someone who is non committal to random concepts, I love how customizable it is. The base is of course the beautiful papaya. But then you can really pick and choose toppings at will. And I think that is really quite wonderful. Why commit to strawberries over kiwis? Chia over pepitas? For real though, these aren't even real life choices, so the pressure should be off on this one. If this stresses you out, you're doing it all wrong. All. Of. It. This is supposed to be a nourishing, beautiful breakfast. It is supposed to evoke thoughts of a tropical paradise and fields of fruit trees. Here in Hawaii, one of my favorite resorts, Turtle Bay, serves an alluring papaya bowl. And there is a stand on the North Shore that sells these babies. Although, I am not fortunate enough, I have plenty of friends with these papaya trees in their back yard. So if you're somewhere gloomy, just picture yourself here in Hawaii with me, picking papayas off of trees in the perpetual sunlight of tropical paradise.

We have discussed how beautiful these bowls are, at length, but lets get into how healthy they are! I never lead with healthy. Although in reality, a lot of the food that I cook isn't wildly glutinous, the world still has a negative connotation to some people. I really don't understand why. I love melty, gooey, covered with cheese, butter, carbs and sugar as much as the next person; but I don't want to bathe in it. This papaya bowl, for example, is filled with fresh fruit, whole milk yogurt, almonds, chia seeds, and are drizzled with luscious honey. You are not left wanting for anything here. It is also healthy and tasty. It is the lazy mans dream nutritous breakfast. .

I will let you in on a secret. On any given day I am running around in the morning to get the kids ready for school. I typically eat hard boiled eggs with hot sauce or string cheese as my first meal of the day. Yes, I know. It ruins the romantic view of the food bloggers who lovingly wakes her family up with smells of bacon and hash browns wafting upstairs. Everyone comes together in their matching pj sets and mom and dad sip coffee while the kids laugh. On the weekends we always cook breakfast together, but Monday through Friday teeters the line of sleeping in as much as possible and getting out the door. If you scoop the seeds out the night before and cut up your fruit as well, then you have an easy breakfast treat. Or, if your life is the exact opposite of mine and you're off to a leisurely start, sipping your tea, singing with the birds as woodland creatures help you clean your home... then you can 1) suck it and 2) do it all in the bright and cheery morning.