I go nuts for contrasting texture combinations – creamy and crunchy, battery and chewy, frothy with crunchy on top. My ideal breakfast bowl (usually with a creamy base like yogurt, oatmeal or a smoothie) has to have a good crunchy ingredient on top. I think this is because contrasting textures reminds me of loaded ice creams with cookies (soft chew), toffee (hard crunch), or cookie dough (chewy) inside!
My love for smoothies didn’t begin until I started eating them in bowls with spoons and adding a little something crunchy on top. (Remember the term SIAB? “Smoothie in a bowl” long before it was cool!)
Dough Boy Smoothie
The above is a Dough Boy Smoothie! This is simply overnight oats blended into a smoothie in the morning. The flavor and texture are both like batter! I should have been calling it a Batter Boy Smoothie all these years. Because the oats soak up a lot of the milk, the texture is super thick. And I love the tang from the yogurt. See – it’s thick enough to support granola.
Biscotti Crumble
Next up was this smoothie topped with the best chocolate almond biscotti from BreadWorks! And extra handful of ice made this one like ice cream (especially with the lovely topping.)
Granola Bowl
Granola is always my go-to topping when I have it on hand. I love it when it sinks to the bottom, and it takes a really long time to get soggy. This guy had banana, peanut butter, yogurt, oats, and milk.
Yogurt Crunch
Last in line in this breakfast parade was a yogurt bowl with banana, granola, biscotti, and cinnamon. Total texture heaven.
{Magic Shell}
Remember coconut magic shell? This is probably the best smoothie topping there is – I must get some coconut butter to do it soon!
Snack Smoothie
When I do have a “plain” smoothie without toppings, which I tend to do for a snack more than a meal, I really love the simple banana, peanut butter, milk, and vanilla protein combination. With optional spinach! The frozen banana makes the texture fluffy and the peanut butter + vanilla combo reminds me of the inside of a Reese’s!
What’s your all-time favorite smoothie topping or are you a straw gal?
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Granola is my favourite topping! Mostly because I just LOVE granola, haha. It goes well with everything and is so good on its own too! 😀
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Vera says
How do you make the simple banana snack smoothie?
KathEats says
Half a frozen banana, 1 tbsp peanut butter, half a scoop of Arbonne Vanilla, 1 cup milk.
Sissy says
Can you tell me how to make coconut magic shell?
KathEats says
Yes – I have a demo in this post: https://www.katheats.com/favorite-foods/all-about-coconut-butter
🙂
Tracy says
Dang Coconut chips and cacao nibs are my favorite toppings!
Brooke says
I have two questions: do you blend the oats before and after you refrigerate? Do you have a sociefic recipe if I wanted to incorporate protein powder (chocolate)? You have so many recipes linked on that older post but picture wise, hard to tell what is what.
KathEats says
You can just do after or both. I give them a little blend before just to mix everything and a big one in the morning to totally mix. And I’d just add protein as you wish – 1/2 to one scoop.
Andrea says
I have never had a SIAB. So I’m a straw girl! I hate contrasting textures in food!! Especially ice cream when you have to chew parts of it … So I’ve never topped my smoothie with anything. I usually just blend a carton of premade protein shake with a banana, or I’ll do banana, spinach, almond milk and peanut butter powder.
Ttrockwood says
I’m not a big smoothie person but i do need crunchy stuff on my yogurt. I’ve been making a batch of popped quinoa which is stupid easy and fast, and then i mix it with salted sunflower seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and sliced almonds. I top my yogurt with berries and the crunchy mix.
This is how to for the popped quinoa- literally quinoa and a hot pan with a lid
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-pop-andean-cereals-3029692
Haley says
They all look amazing.