I’m sure you have seen beautiful pictures of your friend’s smoothie bowls on Instagram and Facebook. Or maybe you have had one at a restaurant and loved it. Did you know smoothie bowls are sooo easy to make?  It’s true!  I did not, or I guess I never really looked into it enough to know. But after staring at yet another beautiful pic of one on Facebook, I decided to go and make my own for my Fabulous Four Project this week.

Once I read a couple of recipes, I realized just how easy it was. I am now a little obsessed with eating smoothie bowls. You might become too, so just know -you have been warned.

How to Make a Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen fruit of your choice
• 1 frozen banana (peeled and chopped)
• Almond milk (or milk of your choice)
• Toppings (see list below)

Toppings ideas:

This is where you get to pick the things you love to eat or have on hand. For mine that you see in the pictures above, I chose sliced strawberries, sliced bananas, blueberries, chopped walnuts and pecans, chia seeds, and hemp seeds.

Other ideas:

• Chopped nuts
• Dried or fresh fruit
• Coconut flakes
• Sprinkles (with kids sometimes you have to make it a little more fun)
• Granola (we have a great chocolate one here)

Directions:

First get out all of your toppings. This is a frozen treat so you want to eat it right away. If you cannot, because let’s face it- life happens sometimes and kids needs you or animals need to go out, someone knocks on the door,etc.  Make the smoothie part of it and stick it in your freezer. Just don’t leave it in there too long or you will have to let it thaw slightly and blend again.

After you have all of your toppings ready, you are going to make the smoothie part of this smoothie bowl.

Another bonus of smoothie bowls- you can tweak it to whatever kind of fruit you like, have on hand, or works with your eating style right now.

This one in the picture was 1/2 cup frozen cherries, 1/2 cup of frozen peaches, 1 frozen cubbed banana, and a couple of tablespoons of vanilla almond milk. It was soo good!! I have used several different types of frozen fruit and all of them have been delicious. The combinations you could do are endless.

If you have a blender–

If you have a high powered blender then simply put your frozen fruit and bananas in there and pulse a few times. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time until it resembles the constancy of soft serve ice cream.

If you have a regular blender then you might need to add your milk first so it blends smoothly. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time and blend until it resembles the constancy of soft serve ice cream.

If you have a food processor-

If you have a food processor, then simply put your frozen fruit and bananas in there and pulse a few times. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time until it resembles the constancy of soft serve ice cream.

Want to ramp up the nutrition and taste in your smoothie bowl? Add a little of our favorite plant-based whole food protein powder (the vanilla tastes like white cake- yes I said cake, I love this stuff) or use one you love! Add it in now so it won’t be too grainy.

Once you get your smoothie part made, just pour it into a bowl. Now the fun part- put on your toppings. I think it looks better (and we eat with our eyes first) when it is in rows but you can sprinkle everything on or whatever floats your boat.

Enjoy right away!

These smoothie bowls are a great way to get more fruits and veggies in kids too! You can easily hide a little bit of pureed veggies in here. If you are curious about how I do that, send me a message on Facebook and I’ll share it with you!

What would you put on your smoothie bowl?