A Healthy Breakfast or Snack

I love a good smoothie bowl for breakfast or afternoon snack. It’s like a smoothie but thicker (similar texture like soft serve ice cream) and topped with fruit, seeds and nuts. Kind of like an Acai bowl, but obviously made without the acai. The base of this smoothie bowl is made with:

• frozen strawberries
• banana
• almond milk
• vanilla (my secret ingredient!)
• and honey

A high powdered blender (like this one) is a great investment and makes getting that thick and creamy texture for your smoothie bowl really easy.

The Difference Between a Smoothie and Smoothie Bowl

So, both smoothies and smoothie bowl recipes are extremely similar. The difference lies in the finished texture and toppings. A smoothie is served in a cup or glass with a straw. It’s drinkable. A smoothie bowl is much thicker and served in a bowl with toppings such as fresh fruit, nuts and seeds. You eat it with a spoon.

How to Make a Smoothie Bowl

The total time for this recipe is about 10 minutes. No cooking is required since this is a frozen treat. You might want to slice some fresh fruit for the top of your smoothie bowl, but generally, you should be in and out of the kitchen. Here’s how to do it:

Add Ingredients to Blender

Measure and add the frozen strawberries, banana, almond milk, honey and vanilla to the bottom of a blender. Add the lid and place onto the base of the blender.

Blend

Blend the smoothie bowl base. Be sure to start with 1/2 cup of almond milk and use the damper from your blender to really get the frozen fruit blended before adding more almond milk. Since we want a thick and creamy finished product, you want to add as little almond milk as possible so it stays thick…hence why a high powdered blender is so important. Blend the smoothie bowl base until it is completely smooth and all the fruit has been blended.

Top with Fruit

Spoon or pour the blended smoothie into two serving bowls. Top with any desired fresh fruit, nuts, seeds or granola. Whatever you think would be delicious could work! Serve immediately and enjoy! My kids love this as a snack because it tastes like ice cream! Little do they know just how healthy and nutritionally sound this is!

Our Favorite Toppings

We’ve been making these on repeat for the past few weeks and these are our favorite things to top our smoothie bowls with. My kids are picky, but these all seem to be winners across the board:

• fresh sliced strawberries
• raspberries
• blueberries
• sliced pineapple or kiwi
• sliced fresh banana
• sliced peaches (if in season)
• really ripe pear
• pepitas, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds or chia seeds
• shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• granola (homemade or store bought)
• walnuts, pecans or toasted almonds
• mini chocolate chips

Troubleshooting

If your smoothie bowl recipe is too thick or too thin, here’s what to do:

My Smoothie Bowl is Too Thick!

If you are having a hard time blending your smoothie bowl and the consistency is still too chunky, try adding in a little more almond milk. Also, use the damper for your blender (if you have one). If your blender didn’t come with a damper, remove the top, stir and try blending again.

My Smoothie Bowl is Too Thin!

If you’ve come to the end of this smoothie bowl recipe and your finished product is too runny or thin and won’t hold fruit on top, you can either enjoy it as a smoothie with a straw OR add in more frozen strawberries to thicken it up. Ice can also help, but that has a tendency to water the taste of the smoothie down which I don’t love. But that is totally personal preference.

Other Healthy Snacks to Try:

• Berry Banana Smoothie
• Tropical Smoothies
• Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake (protein!!)
• Homemade Acai Bowls
• Homemade Lara Bars

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as me and my crew did! Healthy, quick and so tasty. Be sure to pin, print, save, bookmark and share this recipe. It’s a good one. Have a great day, friends!

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Smoothie Bowl

This strawberry banana smoothie bowl recipe is a sweet and delicious breakfast or snack. Like healthy soft serve with yummy toppings. Similar to an Acai Bowl, but made with frozen strawberries and bananas.

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Smoothie Bowl

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 2 smoothie bowls

Calories 125kcal

Equipment

• high powdered blender

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 whole banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk or more, to get it to the desired thickness
• 2 tablespoons honey optional
• desired smoothie bowl toppings: banana, berries, granola, nuts, seeds, etc..

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Place all ingredients into the bottom of a high powdered blender. With the blender on, use the damper to stir to create a really thick and smooth finished smoothie. Add almond milk as needed to get a thick consistency.
• Spoon the smoothie between two bowls and top with any desired toppings. Serve immediately.

Notes

Nutritional information does not include toppings.

Nutrition

Calories: 125kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 84mg | Potassium: 236mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Vitamin C: 85mg | Calcium: 100mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Healthy Smoothie Bowl Recipe appeared first on Lauren's Latest.

A healthy Tropical Smoothie recipe that is made with just 5 ingredients and is perfect for when you need that taste of summer sun. Drink as a sweet breakfast or snack, you can customize this smoothie recipe to your liking and nutritional goals.

Tropical Smoothie Recipe

Here’s how I made my tropical smoothie! For the actual increments and specific directions, be sure to scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of my post. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Tropical Fruit – I used frozen mango, pineapple, and peaches here. This flavor combination is so so good!
• Coconut Milk – this is to help give this smoothie that creamy texture you see in the images. Note: I used the kind of coconut milk that separates in the can so shake well before opening and measuring.
• Orange Juice – add as much or as little as you like to get the consistency you like in your smoothies.

Other Fruit Combinations

This tropical smoothie recipe is not just limited to how I made it. There are tons of tropical fruits and liquids to try and test. Here are just some suggestions.

• Liquids. Instead of using orange juice try pineapple juice, mango nectar or even, pineapple-orange-banana juice! There are lots of different fruit blends available. Use what sounds good to you.
• Fruits. This is where you can be super creative! Try to pick fruits that you think will go well together. Some examples are strawberry and kiwi, papaya and mango, or bananas (they taste good with anything).

How to Make a Tropical Smoothie

Other Add-Ins

If you want an extra boost to your tropical smoothies but don’t care about the color, try adding some other add-ins!

• Kale or Spinach- Nutrient-dense kale is one of those superfoods you definitely want to eat. If your kids get squeamish with green food, maybe skip this.
• Banana- my original recipe doesn’t include banana, but it would add an extra creamy and sweet element that would be delicious.
• Protein Powder – Just a plain vanilla protein powder would go well with any of the fruit combos mentioned above. Or you can buy plain, unflavored whey protein powder here. It’s a great option to add protein without the flavor/sweetener.

More Smoothie Recipes to Try!

• Berry Banana Smoothie
• Homemade Acai Bowls
• Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake
• Strawberry Milkshake
• Smoothie Bowl Recipe for Kids

If you loved this Tropical Smoothie recipe, check out my other smoothie recipes.

Printable recipe card is below, enjoy!

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Healthy Tropical Smoothie Recipe

Made with tropical fruit, coconut milk, and orange juice, this Tropical Smoothie Recipe is perfect for a sweet breakfast or as a snack.

Course Breakfast, Drinks, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword smoothie recipe, tropical smoothie, tropical smoothie recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 3 servings

Calories 248kcal

Author Lauren's Latest

Equipment

• Blender

Ingredients

• 3 cups mixed frozen tropical fruit I used 1 cup each peaches, pineapple and mango
• 3/4 cup coconut milk* about 1/2 a can
• 1 cup orange juice approximately

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Place frozen fruit and coconut milk into a blender. Start to blend while slowly streaming in orange juice. Only add enough orange juice to get the consistency you want.
• Once it's blended and completely smooth, pour into glasses and serve.

Notes

*I use a full fat canned coconut milk. This is the kind that separates! Shake the can well, then open with a can opener and measure (or pour out half). 

Nutrition

Calories: 248kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 567mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 1951IU | Vitamin C: 102mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 2mg

The post *AMAZING* Tropical Smoothie appeared first on Lauren's Latest.

Let’s discuss this Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake. Firstly, I have a weird obsession with fat-free cottage cheese.  I added it into this cheesecake recipe a few weeks ago and it was divine. And I’ve started in on adding it to this recipe too BECAUSE YOU CAN’T TELL IT’S THERE. Also, I need to have a truckload of protein every day, so this is how I do it without hurling. Turn it into milkshakes.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.

Orrrrr something like that.

You need to try this and like it. Forreals. Here’s how you make it: Start by measuring out some fat-free cottage cheese {trust the Lauren}, all natural peanut butter, vanilla, cocoa powder, and protein powder into a high-speed blender. Add in a scoop of ice…and a tiny little splash of almond milk to help make it nice and milkshakey.

That’s a real word……Press the milkshake button {or just the on switch} and blitz until completely smooth. At first you’ll wonder if the chunks of cottage cheese will actually blend and you’ll start to question your existence.

Then they’ll go away and all will be right in the world again. Ahhh, hello thick and creamy milkshake. Pour into two glasses and glug glug glug it down. At first, my husband was like “it’s not very sweet” so I did mix in a little bit of Truvia. But for me {a girl who hasn’t had sugar in weeks} thought it was just right.

All you folks who aren’t eating a higher protein diet might think cottage cheese in a milkshake with not a whole lot of sugar is a little nuts and/or gross.

BUT I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t taste bad…and you can add as much sugar/honey/maple syrup/agave/sweetener as you want. Heck, throw in a bunch of chocolate chips. Go crazy with it.

ORRRRRRR, if you’re really concerned about it, just make a regular chocolate and peanut butter milkshake.

As long as you blend the heck out of it to make it thick and smooth {and cold!} you should be golden.

Here’s the recipe! Try it out and let me know what you think

MORE SMOOTHIE RECIPES TO TRY!

• Berry Banana Smoothie
• Homemade Acai Bowls
• *AMAZING* Tropical Smoothie
• Smoothie Bowl Recipe for Kids
• Strawberry Milkshake

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Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake {high protein}

This Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake is not only delicious but is also so good for your body. Made with only 9 ingredients! Enjoy!

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Keyword Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake, healthy

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 servings

Calories 238kcal

Author Lauren's Latest

Ingredients

• 1 cup fat free cottage cheese
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder I use Cytosport protein powder from Costco in the black bag
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons truvia sweetener
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons all natural peanut butter I use Adams
• 1 scoop ice
• splash unsweetened vanilla almond milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Measure all ingredients into high powdered blender and blitz until completely smooth. Divide evenly between two glasses and top with chopped peanuts if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 509mg | Potassium: 430mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Calcium: 206mg | Iron: 1mg

Other healthy recipes you might like:

Peanut Butter Energy Balls

Cocoa-Nut Almond Energy Balls

Healthy Caramel Corn Recipe

Chocolate Almond Granola {healthy!}

The post Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake appeared first on Lauren's Latest.

I’m kind of in love with these Acai Bowls you guys. It’s a problem?! Ok, not really. But based on how boiling hot I’ve been with this little furnace of a baby growing burning inside of me, I’m guzzling all sorts of liquids and eating all the cold things. Smoothie bowl? Right up my alley. Considering it’s getting harder and harder for me to eat sugar, this frozen-fruit-turned-into-soft-serve-thing has become all the more appealing.

Before I ever really knew about Acai {pronounced ah-sigh-ee} Bowls, I kept seeing pictures of these gorgeous fruit filled smoothie bowls on Instagram. After a little more digging, I was able to find out WHERE to buy what I needed to make these, HOW to make them good {ie how I like them} and WHAT I needed to add to make them completely child-friendly so my kids would willingly gobble these up for breakfast or lunch.

Turns out you don’t need very much stuff to make these amazing bowls AND there are lots of options and variations so you can make them how you like.

Here’s how I make mine:

Start out with a blender {high powdered preferred!} and add in 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 banana. Feel free to add in unsweetened almond or coconut milk in place of the OJ {or just regular milk is fine too}. I like using a banana because it makes the finished product more soft-serve-like, but any fruit will do.

**If you don’t like the taste of banana, try using an underripe banana.

Then you’re going to want to add in two of these bad boys: Sambazon Acai Berry + Guarana fruit packs {found in the freezer section at Whole Foods}.

The kind I bought came in individual single serving pouches, but I think you can buy them in larger quantities, though, Whole Foods only had these…that I saw.

In retrospect, I DID have both my kids with me running amok all over the store {and each other} with their tiny carts so I was basically on survival mode.

Kill me. Good times.

ANYWAYS. Use 7 oz. of this frozen puree no matter what form it comes in. {Find it on Amazon here.}

It helps to run the frozen packs under hot water for a few seconds to loosen before dropping them into the blender.

So now comes the fun. Puree and blend this up until completely smooth. I first used the ice crush button to really chop up that frozen Acai puree and then finished it off with the smoothie button to ensure a super smooth and thick concoction. Yum yum!

Once you have your puree, pour it into a shallow bowl and top with any and all goodies you’d like! I think I added raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, sunflower seeds, pumpkin granola, chia seeds and toasted coconut. Honestly, anything you add that has good texture would be good in this. I love the cold, creamy Acai smoothie with the crunch of the seeds and coconut. Pretty dreamy, considering how darn healthy this is!

And the best part is my kids cannot get enough! #winningatmotherhood

Anyways, they are the latest and greatest thing that seems kind of fancy, but couldn’t be easier to make! You just need the right ingredients and BAM. Breakfast heaven

Enjoy, friends!

More Smoothie Recipes!

• Berry Banana Smoothie
• *AMAZING* Tropical Smoothie
• Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake
• Smoothie Bowl Recipe for Kids

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Homemade Acai Bowl Recipe

This Acai Bowl recipe is a gorgeous fruit-filled smoothie dish that your family will want to gobble up for breakfast or lunch.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword acai bowl

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 1 serving

Calories 251kcal

Author Lauren Brennan

Ingredients

• 7 oz frozen acai puree fruit packs two packs, Sambazon brand preferred
• 1/4 cup orange juice fresh is best
• 1 ripe banana

toppings:

• strawberries raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, banana, any fresh fruit
• granola
• chia seeds
• chopped nuts
• coconut

Instructions

• In a high powered blender, add in the frozen acai puree, banana and orange juice. Puree until thick and smooth. Pour into a large, shallow bowl. Top with any desired toppings and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 251kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 610mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 40g | Vitamin A: 452IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Homemade Acai Bowl Recipe appeared first on Lauren's Latest.

This is not a sponsored post and I was not paid to write nice things about ReSqueeze. I was sent their product and chose to write about it. All opinions expressed here are my own. 

Well happy Friday, friends. Hallelujah and amen. We made it to the weekend! TGI-friggin-F.

It’s been a long week, yo……glad its over

I’m kinda-sorta already in weekend mode because it’s taken me over 2 hours to buckle down and right this darn post. I’m in pajamas and my velvety red {ugly as sin but super comfy so I don’t care} robe sitting at my desk watching clips of Jimmy Fallon talking about celebrities. Damn you hulu!! You get me every time…..

In my defense, I was trying to get ideas on what to write in my post. Except Drew Carrey getting kicked off dancing with the starts didn’t exactly cut it. Womp womp.

Soooo that was a good use of my time.

…………

ANYWAYS. Because I’ve been so limited with my time {good segue, Lauren!}, I made a super-fast recipe to match. My recipes seem to follow the patterns of my life. Get used to it.

Also doesn’t everyone loves a good smoothie? Say yes. I like making these because they’re healthy, easy and fast plus every single person in my family has no clue they’re drinking straight up fruit. Down the hatch it goes with no problemo. #winning The beauty of these smoothies is you can add in whatever you have on hand and it’ll usually taste amazing. Berries and bananas are things we always have hanging around, so that’s the one I’m sharing with you all today.

Here’s how you make it:

Start off with a few pretty common ingredients: frozen berries, ripe banana, blueberry greek yogurt and ice. You will also need a couple splashes of milk. And a blender, but that’s sort of a given.

Sooooo, all you do is throw everything into the bowl of your blender and puree your little heart out. Add in splashes of milk as necessary to get it going and before you know it…

a smoothie is born! I like mine pretty thick and icy, but you can make it whatever consistency you’d like.

Now comes the fun part. Pour the smoothie into your glasses OR grab a few of these babies and fill ’em up.

They are just like any other pouch you’d get from the store, but are heavy duty and made for multiple uses. Just open up the bottom and pour in some smoothie.

Be sure to mark them before you fill them! Things get sort of awkward if you wait until after…

So, once all mine were full, I stored a few in the fridge and gave two to the kiddos. Brooke was pretty thrilled. Blake was a little horrified with the cold temperature. Lol! It was pretty fun to watch him make his funny faces the whole time he was eating his smoothie

My husband thought this could have used more sugar {typical}, but I thought it was just fine as is. Feel free to add in a drizzle of honey to make this as sweet as you’d like. It was a tasty an healthy afternoon snack for us a couple days ago Here’s the recipe! Have a lovely weekend!

More Smoothie Recipes!

• *AMAZING* Tropical Smoothie
• Homemade Acai Bowls
• Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake
• Strawberry Milkshake
• Smoothie Bowl Recipe for Kids

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Banana Berry Smoothie

With only five ingredients you will be enjoying this refreshing Banana Berry Smoothie! Perfect for a cool snack.

Course Beverage

Cuisine American

Keyword Banana Berry Smoothie

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2 servings

Calories 116kcal

Author Lauren's Latest

Ingredients

• 2 cups ice cubes
• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/2 very ripe banana
• 6 oz blueberry greek yogurt 1 container
• splash milk to get to consistency you want

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Place all ingredients into bowl of blender. Puree until completely smooth and desired consistency. Pour into glasses and serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 116kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 44mg | Potassium: 267mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 36IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 107mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Banana Berry Smoothie appeared first on Lauren's Latest.