Delicious and creamy. Sweet, satisfying, and quick! How healthy are these bowls really?

Smoothie bowls are fruit-based which means while it’s all-natural sugar they can contain far more servings of fruit than you’d typically eat in one sitting. In its blended form, the fructose hits the bloodstream quickly and all at once. All that fructose can spike insulin and get you riding the blood sugar roller coaster.

And because smoothie bowls are carbohydrate-based you can end up hungry again very soon after.

The trick is to make sure there is enough protein, fat, and fibre to balance out the carbs and get a slower release and stable breakdown in the body.  This is why I always recommend including things like nuts, seeds, yogurt, and protein powder to slow down that fast release.

Smoothie bowls topped with lots of fruit are popular and make the bowl look very pretty and Instagram worthy but I try to limit the fruit toppings for more fat and protein-based toppings like nuts, seeds coconut flakes or shreds and my homemade granola.

The same goes for your regular ol’ smoothies like this Choc-Banana Nut Butter Smoothie and Ginger Mint and Green Apple Smoothie. 

In the recipe below you’ll see how I make my smoothie bowls with one of our favourite combinations.

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Berry Smoothie Bowl

Prep Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup your favourite frozen berries or you can replace berries for frozen mango
• 1 banana, frozen and sliced
• ¼ cup mixed raw cashews and chia seeds or macadamias and almonds work well too
• 2 tbsp natural or Greek yoghurt
• 1 scoop protein powder optional
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1/4 cup milk of choice add extra if needed

Toppings

• 2-3 tbsp homemade granola
• 1 tbsp coconut flakes or shredded coconut
• fruit sliced paw paw, banana, berries or your fruit of choice (optional)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tbs peanut butter optional

Instructions

• Blend up nuts and seeds until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on low until smooth
• Serve into bowls with toppings

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Other recipes you might like are Anti-oxidant Smoothie and Super Smoothie. 

Once you’ve given this recipe a go, try a different combo of Notella and Banana Wraps. Yum!

Get the kids in the kitchen to help make them!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh, and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Raw Honey
Nut butter
Cinnamon
Coconut Oil

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Golden Honey & Ricotta Wraps

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 8 slices of Mountain Bread
• Raw Honey
• Fresh Ricotta
• Banana sliced
• Nut butter
• Cinnamon
• Coconut oil ghee or butter for frying

Instructions

• Lie Mountain Bread on kitchen counter
• Spread honey and nut butter at the end of each slice
• Next spread the ricotta cheese
• Place slices of banana on top
• Sprinkle with cinnamon
• Roll it up remembering to fold in the ends as you go
• Heat coconut oil, ghee or butter in large frying pan on medium heat, when hot fry the rolls for approx 3 minutes each side or until lightly golden.

TO SERVE

• Allow to cool slightly and serve warm with a side of sliced fruit or berries

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my popular ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar-free, sweet and savoury recipes that have all been kid-tested and approved, and take the guesswork out of what delicious, healthy food to pack your kids for lunch!

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise, feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other easy breakfast ideas you might like are Gingerbread Smoothie and Brenda’s Big Batch Bircher Muesli. 

The warming spices in this creamy Gingerbread Smoothie provide so much comfort against the rain and cold. Not to mention it’s oh so nutrient dense!

It’s high in fibre, protein, and calcium, and a good source of vitamin C (banana) and iron (molasses and chia seeds), protecting our immune system and keeping us healthy and strong.

And because of the blended nature of smoothies they are really gentle on our digestion which makes it that much easier for our bodies to assimilate and utilise all the nutrients.

This Gingerbread Smoothie can be enjoyed for breakfast, as a snack, or packed in an insulated drink container and sent to school.

If you’re looking for some lunch inspiration, take a look at my recipe ebook,  Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Cinnamon powder
Ginger powder
Cardamom powder
Nutmeg Powder
Chia Seeds
Oats

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Gingerbread Smoothie

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 7 minutes

Servings 1

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk of choice I used unsweetened almond milk
• 1 large banana
• ¼ cup cashews
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• ¼ cup rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon yoghurt optional
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup or 2 Medjool dates
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 x 1 cm fresh ginger peeled
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or powder
• pinch of allspice
• pinch nutmeg

Instructions

• Pop all the ingredients into a blender, blend for a couple minutes or until smooth

Notes

I like to let the smoothie sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the chia seeds to swell and thicken the smoothie. You can also store this smoothie in the fridge.

If you make this smoothie please do take photos and send them to me.

If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

Some other warming recipes you might like

7 Soups To Soothe the Soul
10 Warm and Hot Meals to Pack for School Lunches

Bren x

Most kids love pancakes for breakfast and they are super handy to pop into lunchboxes for a healthy treat.

It is enough for breakfast, and to pop into kids lunchboxes with a spread of raw honey and/or for savoury lunch pancakes. You can cook up the whole batch or save the wet ingredients in the fridge to cook up later.

If you’re looking for some lunch inspiration, take a look at my recipe ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Sunflower seeds
Chia seeds
Spelt flour
Buckwheat flour
Cinnamon
Aluminum-free Baking powder
Raw honey
Milk

The standard pancakes I make my kids use low- gluten flour, good quality eggs, milk and butter, which are all full of wonderful goodness.

As an experiment, I decided to add in some extra protein/good fats/healthy carbs in the form of ‘seed-meal’ (my term for ground-up seeds). Adding in some ripe banana  and cinnamon proves to be a great way to reduce the amount of sweetener required, whilst boosting that all important tryptohphan which helps to keep their spirits up for the day. The experiment was a success with the kids gobbling these down with glee!

To save time, you can even make this mixture the night before, ready to be turned into these tasty little delights in the morning.

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Banana Cinnamon Pancakes

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons raw honey optional
• 1-2 cups milk we do 1 cup because we like a nice thick pancake
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 2-3 medium ripe bananas mashed

Instructions

• Process seeds in a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs
• In a bowl mix the mix the seeds, flour, baking powder and cinnamon
• In a separate bowl mix honey, milk, eggs and bananas
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
• Pop a medium frypan on medium heat and melt some butter or coconut oil (I like using a mix of both)
• Ladle in the pancake mixture and flip once sizzling
• Serve on it's own, in lunchboxes or with some whipped cream and berries.

If you make these pancakes please do take photos and send them to me.

If you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek. Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook. I get a total kick out of seeing you bring my recipes to life.

You may also like to try my Favourite Granola Recipe too.

Enjoy!

Bren x