 Jeff fell in love with a smoothie bowl at a local place a few months ago. While we love giving small businesses help, it was turning into an expensive habit. What it is? Essentially a thick smoothie with toppings, eaten with a spoon, that costs $11-13 out...and I made in five minutes with ingredients we already had. You can throw in pretty much anything you have in and make something yummy happen. If you want low cal high protein, easy. High cal, carb, and protein for building muscle and/or making a full meal out of it, easy. What follows is what I put in the pictured smoothie bowl-- which can of course be made into a drink as well, more on that below-- and then some more ideas of using what you may have in the kitchen already or can pick up via online or at the store. What I put in this one--
...I think that is it…? The next one I made was similar, but I added --
On both, I topped with a, I’ll call it, ‘lazy granola’ mix. I took almonds (I smashed them to make smaller but you can do what you’d like), oats, and coconut oil, put them in a pan on the stove while I put everything else together. Stirred every so often, and then dropped the mixture on top of the bowl. Nice crunch! For me, I like to try to make the lowest calorie option with the highest protein kick (that’s just my prerogative), so mine looked like this:
And then, as I wanted to drink this one rather than eat it in a bowl, I added a bit of water to liquefy it more than Jeff’s versions. Bowl- less liquid added, Drink- more liquid added. Blend, and voila. Just top with granola, coconut flakes, cinnamon, whatever you’d like.  There are a lot of ingredients listed above, I know! Do you have to make it that complex? Absolutely not! Can you still make a delicious smoothie or smoothie bowl with minimal ingredients? Yes! You can make it as ingredient-complex as you want. The key things are: -have something to make it sweet-- for me, that’s banana, blueberry, pineapple, apple, and/or mango. -have a source of protein. For me, that’s either a plain collagen or pea protein, which then makes the above sweet adds more important, or the new Clean Lean one, which is flavored enough that you can honestly just mix with milk and go. And, -a dash of fat. Perhaps more if you either a, need this as a meal substitute, or b, have an overall lower intake of fats and could use the extra, then add some or some more of the following--- as much or as little as you need/want:
You can see in Jeff's, to increase carb intake for him, I used more banana and also added oats. Always be conscious of portions, but this is not a ‘one cup of this and a tablespoon of that’ type of creation. Once you have enough of an idea of what a serving is, or how many calories approximately are in that handful/spoonful, you are good to go-- and this becomes a fast and uber-nutrient-rich snack or meal. It is definitely worth taking the time if you are new to these foods and/or reading a nutrition label to learn these elements of what you are putting into your smoothie bowl. (I feel this will be a blog post on its own eventually! In the meantime, if you need some pointers, holler.) Jeff’s and my smoothie bowls can sit next to each other and look similar, but are often the difference of about 400 calories. That’s a big difference-- something to take note when you are creating yours. What does your body need today? It may seem overwhelming, but trust me, small bits of knowledge really add up FAST here! Check out some of these supplies on your next grocery trip. Most of these don’t spoil anytime soon (freeze the fruits and veggies!). Stock up so you are ready to go when you need something quick or on-the-go! Have some smoothie bowls or smoothie drinks that are your favorites? Let me know! Better yet, send a photo, and I’ll share it here! Kate   
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