Papaya Breakfast Boat

Today, I have a quick and easy breakfast idea for you. Personally, I know I always fall into the same breakfast routine: smoothies and yogurt bowls. I struggle to call it a rut, because there are so many ways to shake both of those meals up flavor-wise, but regardless, this recipe is a welcome change to the rotation. 

Don't the starfruit look adorable? Like they're sliding down a yogurt slide! Love it. (Yes, I am a 5-year-old at heart. Speaking of such, this would probably be a cute breakfast idea for your young ones.)

The idea is simple: Take a chunk of papaya, size depending on your appetite. I used about 1/4 of a large papaya. Squeeze some lime juice over the coral-colored flesh. Mound on some greek yogurt of choice. I used 0% plain, but vanilla, or even key lime, if you can find it, would be wonderful. Then sprinkle on some ground flax for a punch of omega-3s, and some raw oats for texture, and line up your starfruit slices. Layer on some almond butter, or your favorite nut-butter (macadamia or coconut butter would be fun to keep with the tropical theme), and drizzle on some honey or agave. Bam- your Papaya Breakfast Boat is ready! 

If you can't find star fruit, which is also known as carambola, kiwi slices or banana slices should also go well with the papaya.

Speaking of papaya, this fruit is extremely good for you. 1 cup contains 144% of your daily Vitamin C, 31% of your daily Vitamin A, 13% of your daily folate, and 10% of your daily potassium. In addition to having these micronutrients, papaya also contains something very unique, an enzyme called papain, which helps digest proteins. Because of this, papaya has been used as a meat-tenderizer for thousands of years by the peoples of South America, and is used in creating digestive enzyme supplements. Also because of this, I sometimes develop a (very short-lived) skin rash if I do not immediately wipe off papaya juice from my hands when I am slicing and dicing them. Guess the papaya is trying to tenderize me! Clearly, this does not discourage me from being a papaya fiend.

Papaya Breakfast Boat
Serves 1

Ingredients

• Chunk of papaya, seeds removed
• 1/2-1 lime
• 3/4 cup 0% plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp ground flaxseed
• 1 tbsp raw oats
• 1/2 starfruit, sliced
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1-2 tsp honey

Directions

1. Juice the lime over the papaya.
2. Scoop the yogurt into the papaya "bowl". Sprinkle on the flax and oats.
3. Line up the starfruit slices, and top it off with almond butter and honey. Add more lime juice on top, if desired. Have a happy breakfast!

Notes: Feel free to use your favorite greek yogurt. I highly recommend sticking with greek, though, because traditional yogurt would be too runny to stay in the papaya. If you do not have starfruit, kiwis or bananas would go well. Coconut butter or macadamia nut butter would be a fun almond butter replacer, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand. You can substitute agave for the honey.