Berry Banana Smoothie Bowl

This berry banana smoothie bowl is such a light and refreshing way to start the day. Just a simple strawberry, blueberry smoothie, with some sliced fruit, coconut flakes and granola sprinkled over. Fresh basil adds an unexpected pop of herbaceous flavor.

We make lots of smoothies for breakfast at our house but I’ve never really understood the point of the smoothie bowl. It always sounded odd to to me to have big chunks of fruit swimming in what is essentially fruit soup. However, with one small suggestion, my preschool-going-on-frat-brother son managed to change my mind. You see, Max is obsessed with all things dippable. His dips of choice are typically hummus, ketchup or ranch, paired randomly with tortilla chips, baby carrots or pizza, but at breakfast he suggested using Angelic Bakehouse Raisin Crisps in his smoothie. The idea was a game changer. Instead of a weird bowl of chunky fruit soup, you now have a bowl of smooth-and-chunky fruit dip matched with crunchy crackers. Totally my style.

With the exception of a batch of Lucky Charms Waffles for St. Patrick’s Day last Friday, I haven’t really made anything for breakfast besides cold cereal in a while. The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. I spent four days in California for the Natural Products Expo with Angelic Bakehouse two weekends ago, then Jon and I spent this last weekend in downtown Chicago to celebrate his birthday and attend the International Housewares Show (we’re asked to attend every year as part of our gig as contributors for The Inspired Home). On top of all that, Jon and I spent part of the weekend very seriously considering putting in an offer on a 125-year old Victorian fixer upper. After lots of number crunching and a walk through with a contractor we realized the amount of work the place needed was a bit more than we could stomach. I had total sticker-shock when the contractor suggested that a kitchen remodel could cost as much as $100,000 (thanks HGTV for completely warping my budget expectations….pretty sure Chip and Joanna could gorgeously renovate and furnish an entire house for that much). But I digress.

Anyway, after all of the craziness happening in our lives the past few weeks, it was nice to just stop and enjoy bright and healthy breakfast with my boy this morning. This really isn’t a recipe so much as it is a roadmap. The smoothie is totally customizable. For this one I did a very simple blend of frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, a handful of broccoli (because I’m always looking for a way to get one extra veggie into my kids without an argument), half a banana and lots of orange juice. For the toppings, I just threw in whatever looked colorful and sounded yummy. Granola, banana slices, clementine segments, strawberry slices, coconut flakes and some fresh basil all worked nicely.

Berry Banana Smoothie Bowl
Serves 2

Smoothie ingredients
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup broccoli florets
1/2 fresh banana
2 cups orange juice

Suggested garnishes for smoothie bowl (customize as desired): granola, sliced fresh strawberries, sliced fresh banana, clementine or orange segments, dried coconut, yogurt, fresh basil leaves, drizzle of honey, fruit and grain crackers for dipping (such as Angelic Bakehouse Raisin Crisps or other sweet/grain crackers)

1. Combine all smoothie ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Divide smoothie evenly between two bowls. Top with fruit, granola and other garnishes as desired.
3. Serve immediately with whole grain crackers for dipping.

Disclosure: I work with Angelic Bakehouse as a culinary consultant. I was not paid for this post but they are a client. This recipe and all opinions about their products are my own and genuine.