Smoothie Bowls

These have become a sort of obsession of mine recently.  Every other photo on Instagram (follow me at emmaeatsandexplores) seems to be of some beautifully presented concoction topped with chia or cacao nibs or sliced fruit and they really are, works of art.  Deciding to give it a go I’ve been testing out a few different recipes.

Essentially, they are a smoothie in a bowl or a kind of ‘fruit-soup’ although that doesn’t sound particularly appetising.  Blended fruit and vegetables mixed with any other ingredients such as yoghurt, nut butters, protein powders, coconut water, fruit juices, the options are endless, as are the combinations.

The basic rules that I tend to follow are that I like to use a banana as the base to thicken the smoothie a bit and for the same reason a proportion of the fruit I use is frozen.  I usually add in some yoghurt for protein and for the liquid element I use coconut water as I’m not a fan of the added ingredients that are in commercially produced nut milks (and I don’t have time to make my own from scratch at the moment.)  Throw everything into the blender for a minute or so and make a pretty pattern on the top!  That’s all there is to it but I’ve written down a few of the recipes I used in case you’d like some guidance!Purely for aesthetic reasons, I’ve been trying out different colour combinations, hitting on pink, yellow, purple and green and these are the beauties I’ve come up with.

My recipes usually make enough for 2 bowls and a general breakdown of the ingredients in each is this..

The Pink One – 1 banana, handful of frozen strawberries, 1 mango, 2 peaches, 100g greek yoghurt, enough coconut water to get everything moving in the blender (prob about 150ml).  I then topped it with sliced banana, sliced mango, sliced strawberry, blueberries cacao nibs and dessicated coconut.

The Purple One – 1 1/2 bananas, handful of blueberries, handful of frozen blackcurrants, handful of frozen strawberries, 100g greek yoghurt and enough coconut water to get everything moving in the blender (prob about 150ml).  This one I topped with sliced banana, blueberries, cacao nibs and paleo granola.

The Green One – 1 frozen banana, 100g greek yoghurt, 1/2 avocado, a handful of frozen spinach, 2 kiwis, a squeeze of lime juice and enough coconut water to get everything moving in the blender (prob about 150ml).  I then topped this one with cherries, blueberries, raspberries, coconut and cacao nibs.

The Yellow One – 1tbsp almond butter, 100g greek yoghurt, a handful of frozen mango, a handful of frozen pineapple and enough coconut water to get everything moving in the blender (prob about 150ml).  I topped it with Brazil nuts, pecans, raisins, strawberries and cacao nibs.

They really are delicious and a great way to get a ton of different fruits and veggies into your body in one go, and because you’re blending the whole thing they have all the fibre of fruit, unlike a juice.  Adding in the protein element such as yoghurt, nuts, nut butter or a protein powder also helps fill you up and keep you full so they’re a great breakfast for curbing snacking.

They can be made vegan and paleo by leaving out the yoghurt, SCD by using SCD legal yoghurt, there really is no end to the way you can mix them up to suit whatever diet you follow.  As for my favourite one, I’d have to say it was the green one – purely because I really wasn’t expecting it to be!  I was putting making that one off (although I really wanted to make it for the colour) as I wasn’t convinced that the avocado and spinach would work but to be honest, it was the freshest one and less sweet than the others.  You couldn’t really taste the spinach and the avocado just made everything a bit creamier!  I’ll be less scared of adding veggies to the bowl in the future!!

Edit: I made a Superfood Smoothie Bowl with Matcha Green Tea which was absolutely delicious.  Find out how here.

Have a go experimenting with your favourite flavours and let me know in the comments below how it worked out or tag your photos with the hashtag #emmaeatsandexplores on Instagram!

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