All Blended Up: 3 Easy and Delicious Smoothie Recipes!

If you know me, you know that I love a good smoothie. And for a while now, I have been obsessed with making smoothies at home! They are so easy to make, delicious, healthy (or indulgent when you want it to be), and the options are endless! I love experimenting with different fruits and add-ins to make the perfect smoothie. So with that being said, today I thought I'd share a few of my favorite smoothie concoctions with you all.

Tropical Smoothie's "Beach Bum" Copycat Recipe: 

I love Tropical Smoothie but unfortunately the closest one to where I live is about 45 minutes away so I don't get to go too often.  Lucky for me I have figured out a way to get the delicious flavor of their "Beach Bum" smoothie at home.  Disclaimer: it's definitely not quite up to speed with Trop Smooth (they have a magic touch, I think.) BUT it is still SO good and SO easy to make! For a few weeks I think I made one of these every day (oops. not sorry.)  Here's how I do it!

Ingredients:

• 5-6 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 banana sliced (freeze the other half for a future smoothie!) 
• 1 serving Carnation Breakfast Essentials nutritional drink mix (rich milk chocolate)
• 1 cup milk of your choice--I have used both vanilla almond milk and 2% milk, both are delicious!
• (optional) 1 tbsp peanut butter--this is not an ingredient included in Tropical Smoothie's "Beach Bum" but I do like to add in some peanut butter from time to time as an extra source of protein! You can never go wrong with PB, am I right?!

This Carnation Breakfast Essentials mix is a great way to get in that delicious chocolatey flavor without compromising the healthiness of your smoothie. In fact this is a great source of nutrients like protein, calcium, and vitamin D and C! 

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to your blender!
2. Blend until smooth!
3. Grab a straw and enjoy!

Notes: The ingredient measurements are very flexible to how much you want to make and based on your personal taste preferences. For example, I usually end up using a little less than half of a banana because I prefer a stronger taste of strawberry.  I also don't measure out my milk when I make this smoothie. Rather, I just pour the milk last and eyeball it, making sure it covers all the other ingredients. You can also change the amount of milk you pour in based on how thick you want your smoothie's consistency to be. Like I said, lots of flexibility with making smoothies! 

Post Workout--Vanilla, Strawberry, Banana Protein Smoothie:

This is the smoothie I always go for after a tough workout! Protein is such an important part of your diet especially after working your muscles! It's important to replenish yourself with lots of protein so your muscles can rebuild. If you're not up for chicken or just need something quick, a protein smoothie is a great option for getting that replenishment! And I think this goes without being said but, it's DELICIOUS. This recipe is almost the same as the "Beach Bum" copycat smoothie but the chocolate is replaced with vanilla protein powder! 

Ingredients: 

• 5-6 frozen strawberries 
• 1/2 banana sliced
• 1 scoopful of Pure Protein vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 cup milk of your choice 

I love this protein powder! It's a healthy whey protein and is so delicious! I definitely recommend and it's sold at Target and Walmart so check it out next time you're there. 

Directions: 

1. Add all ingredients to your blender!
2. Blend until smooth!
3. Grab a straw and enjoy!

Easy and Delicious Smoothie Bowl:

Acai bowls are all the craze these days! Recently I tried an acai bowl for the first time when in Las Vegas. SO delicious. Acai has tons of health benefits and the bowl is basically like a really thick smoothie with fresh fruit and granola as toppings.  This bowl inspired me to try making my own. It came out so good and is super customizable to your own taste preferences. Mine did not have acai in it but is still really healthy and a great breakfast option! I basically used a smoothie recipe that I liked and used less liquid so that it came out really thick--something you would eat with a spoon! This recipe makes two servings so it's perfect to share! Here's what you do!

Ingredients:

For the bowl,

• 4-5 frozen strawberries
• 4-5 frozen mango chunks 
• small handful of frozen raspberries 
• 1/2--3/4 cup orange juice (be careful not to add too much juice or your bowl won't be thick enough! Eyeball it, try a little at first, and add more if needed!)

For the toppings,

• small handful of raspberries
• 1/2 banana sliced
• small handful of pineapple chunks 
• 1/2 cup of granola 

other delicious options would be,

• sliced strawberries
• blueberries
• shredded coconut
• chia seeds
• blackberries 
• honey or agave nectar
• basically anything you want!!!

Nature Valley's crunchy granola is a great granola option that I love! (can you tell by all the bags?) I used the Oats N' Dark Chocolate for this recipe! 

Directions: 

1. Add all smoothie ingredients to your blender!
2. Blend until smooth! (should have a thick consistency)
3. Scoop into two bowls!
4. Add your toppings to the top of your bowl!
5. Grab a spoon and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out some of my favorite smoothie recipes! Try them out and let me know what you think in the comments! I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do!