Smoothie Bowls

If I had to live off one type of meal for the rest of my life I'd choose smoothie bowls, without a doubt. They're so versatile, incredibly easy to make, and once you get the hang of them you'll looooove them!

"What the heck is a smoothie bowl?!" I hear you ask...well it's pretty simple...

It's a smoothie (a bit thicker in consistency than a normal smoothie) in a bowl, with loads of things on top!

You can turn any smoothie into a smoothie bowl, the trick is to add less liquid than normal, more frozen fruit, and ice if it needs thickening.

Once your smoothie is in a bowl, you have to choose toppings! I usually go for slices of banana, granola, nuts, seeds, and then a drizzle of maple syrup before eating.

One of my favourite things about smoothie bowls, apart from decorating them and taking a picture for Insta (obvs), is getting a spoon and mashing all the toppings around in the bowl and destroying the nice design ahaha, it's so satisfying!

When I have more time for breakfast I'll usually make a smoothie bowl and decorate it with anything I can find! Smoothie bowls are absolutely amazing during the summer, they're so refreshing! I love having a smoothie bowl during the winter too, I don't know why but it's just cool!

Another thing I love about smoothie bowls is that they're so filling! Whenever I have one for breakfast I don't have to eat again for a while because I'd be so full!

I always make a massive smoothie for a smoothie bowl and then to make it even more filling, it top it with a banana, homemade granola, and a good dollop of peanut butter.

Obviously you can make a lighter smoothie bowl too, if you're not that hungry, just use less bananas and use lighter toppings like seeds and berries.

I'm not gonna lie, I never follow any recipes when I'm making a smoothie bowl, I just go with whatever I feel like that day! But for the purpose of this blog post I said I better put together some recipes at least that you could get started with!

You can turn literally any smoothie into a smoothie bowl, here are some tips:

• For a smoothie bowl you want the consistency to be thicker than a normal smoothie, you want it to be almost like ice cream! - Use more frozen fruit than fresh fruit in the smoothie
• Smoothie too runny? - Add more frozen fruit
• Smoothie too runny? - Add ice cubes
• Smoothie too thick? - Add more liquid (e.g orange juice or rice milk)
• What I always do is add liquid to the smoothie as it's needed, i.e don't pour it all in at once! So start with a bit of liquid and if the smoothie isn't blending then just add more! It's much better than adding the liquid all at once cuz if you do that the smoothie will probably be too runny and ya don't want that!

Here are my 2 go-to smoothie bowls...

Berry Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 banana (not frozen)
• 150g frozen mixed berries
• 100mls orange juice

Method:

1. Add everything to a smoothie maker and blend until smooth.
2. Add more fruit/orange juice/ice until you get the consistency you're looking for.
3. Top with whatever you want! E.g fresh blueberries, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, banana slices, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Tropical Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 banana (not frozen)
• 150g frozen pineapple and mango
• 100mls rice milk

Method:

1. Add everything to a smoothie maker and blend until smooth.
2. Add more fruit/rice milk/ice until you get the consistency you're looking for.
3. Top with whatever you want! E.g passion fruit, coconut, mint leaves, granola, and a dollop of coconut yogurt.

I actually can't put into words how much I love smoothie bowls, like if I could marry a smoothie bowl I would ahahaha!

Here are some more photos to get you inspired to make your own...

Maybe it's just me but whenever I make a smoothie bowl, I always seem to make a mess as well! Now, I don't spill things or break things, but there always seems to be so many jars and containers all over the place by the time I'm finished decorating!!!

I know it might sound silly but just a remember that just because you see someone's perfect looking smoothie bowl on Instagram, it doesn't mean their life is perfect either! A photo of a smoothie bowl only captures the bowl itself, it doesn't capture the mess that goes with it haha!

So, if you make a smoothie bowl that's too watery and all your toppings sink to the bottom of the bowl (believe me, it happens!), don't worry about it, it's happened to all of us!

Anyway, enough of me blabbing on, here are some photos that show what happens behind the scenes of making a smoothie bowl look nice...

If you've never heard of a smoothie bowl before or if you weren't sure how to make one, then I hope this blog post has helped you some bit! I'll probably do blog posts in the future on individual smoothie bowls and stuff like that cuz I could genuinely talk about them all day!!!

If you've never made a smoothie bowl before, why not try one now?! Let me know how ya get on! Email me at plantpoweredhuman@gmail.com or let me know on my Instagram!

Happy smoothie bowlin'

Big love,

Darragh