If you have yet to experience a smoothie bowl, but the concept and the beautiful images have enticed you... you have come to the right place. 

I think a big misconception of smoothie bowls is that they are a lot of work, expensive to make, and only for plant-based eaters. But I am here to assure you that all of those assumptions are false. 

Now, let's get started...

You always want your smoothie bowl to have a nice, thick base. Thicker than your average drinkable smoothie, and more similar to the viscosity of yogurt. This is accomplished by combining large pieces of fruit, milk or juice of some sort, honey, and perhaps even some yogurt. You can also thicken your smoothie bowls with protein powder or nut butter of some sort (peanut, almond, or sunflower works well).

  

The best fruits for thickening, are bananas (especially frozen), strawberries, apples, and avocados (are avocados a fruit or a vegetable?)

Freezing your own fruit, or purchasing pre-frozen fruit doesn't really make much of a difference. I've found that I never finish a whole bundle of bananas on their own anyways, so freezing half of them is really efficient for me.

Same goes for strawberries... I don't think I've ever finished an entire carton of strawberries by myself. Anyone else have that problem? 

Then comes greens. It's not necessary to put greens in your smoothie if you really don't want to. But I definitely advise it. Most of the time, the flavor of them is masked anyways, but you're still getting all of the amazing benefits. Spinach and kale are two staples I use in almost all of my smoothies. But if you're feeling really adventurous, lettuce, cucumbers, and celery have also been utilized in smoothies. 

Once you have your base ingredients gathered, you're gonna want to blend them on a low setting on your blender, so that again, it is still a thick texture. I like to blend for 10 or so seconds, stop, stir it around with a spoon, and then continue until I am satisfied with the consistency.

Next, grab a deep bowl, because you're going to be packing this baby with a lot. Depending on what you put in the base, you can now choose complimentary items to go on top. 

There's a few distinct categories of toppings I like to distinguish.

Extra Fruit: 

If you're doing a berry-based smoothie bowl, I recommend putting fresh raspberries, strawberries, or bananas on top. For more refreshing bowls/green bowls, I suggest sliced kiwi or blueberries. But really, you can never go wrong with any fruit, if we're being honest.

For the price effectiveness, I suggest buying only 1-3 types of fruit at a time to last you. Since you can get the most use out of using the same fruit every day until it runs out, instead of buying too much and letting it go bad before you can utilize it.

Oats/Grains:

Oats are pretty essential, in my opinion, because it provides a break in the fruitiness. With a fruit base, and extra fruit on top, it can get pretty overwhelmingly fruity, so things like oats are super satisfying. Dried oats and granola are always worth while to me. 

Buying a big container of oats is usually no more than $4 at your local grocery store, and should last you months at a time, since you're really only using about 1/4 cup or less with each bowl.

Seeds/Nuts:

Here's where you can really incorporate health benefits into your concoction. Seeds like Flax Seeds, Chia Seeds, and Poppy Seeds are excellent sources of fiber, antioxidants, protein, and omega-3's. Nuts I would recommend, are crushed almonds, roasted sunflower seeds (yes, these are seeds, but this seemed like a better grouping), raw walnuts, and shredded coconut.

Do research on the seeds/nuts you're thinking of incorporating-