OUR FAVORITE SUMMER SMOOTHIES

In preparation for this blog post, I’ve turned on the heat, chucked on a big sweater, found my slippers and the kettle is boiling.

If you’re in the middle of summer and it's hot, you’re concerned, and I thank you for that. However, I’m smack dab in the middle of winter in Australia and it’s cold and wet and feels nothing like summer. It does feel like a good old Alberta spring. It feels like May when you’re thinking it’s about to get hot so you wear fewer clothes but then you step outside and after a few minutes it starts to feel like it could snow. 

The truth is, now that I’ve gotten this many sentences into the blog, the kettle was not actually boiling. It wasn’t even on, for the sake of honesty. But since writing said sentence, it started to feel like a really good idea so I got up, started the kettle, did a handful of other things (that didn’t need to be done, obviously), and here I am now, with a hot Milo in hand (I even added a scoop of cookie dough protein powder to curb my hunger until my wife gets home and we can have dinner).

Speaking of adding protein powder to drinks to fill me up, did you know that protein and collagen are two of our favorite things to add to already delicious smoothies??

The secret to a good smoothie is not protein though, for us, the secret to a good smoothie is vegetables! It should come as no surprise that even if you’re eating a ton of veggies in your day, chances are it’s still not enough. None of us are eating enough vegetables so when an opportunity arises to get them in? We suggest getting them in! However you can, wherever you can, even if you’re drinking them!

Summer especially is such a good time to utilize smoothies as a way to fuel your body. Summer is a time where most of us are on the go, taking advantage of the weather and the longer days, so being prepared and fueled is extremely important. We believe that smoothies are a great way to make sure you’re giving your body what it needs as it takes you on all your adventures, whether they’re up and down a mountain, with friends and family at the lake, or at the park with your kids until all hours of the evening!

Summer also is a time when produce is in abundance! There are tons of fruits and vegetables available, and if you can get your hands on them when it’s available, you’re off to a good start. Smoothies are also a great way to use up your produce when it is nearing the end of its shelf life - because let’s be real, everyone gets busy and forgets to use the bananas before they’re brown, and everyone (literally everyone) struggles with understanding the life of an avocado - one day it’s hard as a rock and the next day it seems like you’ve missed the window!

On that note, I’ll get to the point - our favorite summer smoothies. But before I do, please know that your freezer can be, and should be your best friend. If you find that your bananas are going brown, slice them up and freeze them and use them later. You can do this with all sorts of fruits and vegetables! Depending on the strength of your blender, you’ll have to play with the size at which you freeze things - sometimes chucking a whole frozen banana in a cheap blender is going to start your morning off on the wrong foot - but if you’ve got something like a Blendtec or another restaurant grade blender - feel free to keep some of those chunks bigger!

And, if you wanna go real boujee, you can even portion out a mixture of fruits and vegetables so that you can just grab one, throw it all in the blender, and voila! So whether you’re looking for a summer smoothie to assist you in your weight loss journey, or a summer smoothie just because it’s summer and why not, here are some that we love and suggest for you!

But wait, I have some things to add first because I used to work in a cafe where smoothies were sort of my specialty and I’d make almost 30 in 30 minutes some days - and I have some tips.

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Tip 1 - Make sure you have enough liquid. Sure your blender might be a superhero, but no one likes to work without all the appropriate tools - including your $500 blender, okay? Make sure you have enough liquid, whether it be milk or water or what have you. There is NO SHAME in stopping the blender and adding more if it looks like it’s needed, nobody is judging you.

I’m also not a HUGE fan of measuring or even trusting measurements, so you’re going to have to work with your blender specifically and make sure that it delivers what you’re looking for. 

Tip 2 - Layer! The worst thing you can do is put a bunch of frozen small things closest to where the blade is. For example, if you have a Blendtec and you’re putting frozen banana, frozen blueberries, and what have you in the bottom first and then top it with a bunch of other fresh stuff - when you go to start that bad boy up, its going to be like ‘wtf - where is the rest of what I need to make this magical thing’. Think smooth and steady, and help your blender out. Make sure there are some hard things and soft things as well as some liquid all at the bottom so that when you start the blender, it can actually get started, vs get stuck on a heap of frozen-together berries! I like to add blueberries and spinach and some nut butter, then some liquid and protein powder, and the rest of what I’m doing so that the blender has something to work with.

Obviously, you do you - you know your blender best, but at least try to set it up for success, okay?

Tip 3 - Emulsifiers are quite literally the things that make your smoothie stick together and look like a fluffy piece of creamy art (if fluffy creamy art were a thing). There is nothing worse than making a smoothie and the end result is a liquid that looks more like a bunch of ingredients separating in a jar after being blended. You know what I mean if it happened to you, and you know how hard it is to enjoy the smoothie when in reality it makes you want to gag a bit.

Emulsifiers! Simply put, emulsifiers are anything that makes two or more ingredients stick together! YAY. What can you use in your smoothie? Well, bananas are a great option and so are things like milk, coconut milk, honey, agave, avocado, frozen mango - and so on. 

Tip 4 - Frozen fruit is often a better idea than ice cubes if you’re going for that really cold feeling - ice cubes just add more water and in turn change the consistency of your smoothie especially if it may sit for a while. 

Tip 5 - If you’re traveling and want your smoothie to be good in five hours, we suggest making it the night before and freeze it. A smoothie doesn’t really want to be left out for five hours and if it is, it is likely not going to look or taste the same as it would if it was consumed right after making it. 

Tip 6 - Have fun and experiment. Add things like nut butter, protein powders, collagen, and anything else you want to try! Once you find a smoothie that you love - enjoy it. Don’t feel the need to run around and make a bunch of different ones to fit in - just do what works for you and embrace it. All of the recipes I share will not have protein in them - but they all obviously go well WITH protein (vanilla is a crowd favorite) and we encourage you to use it if you have it! Smoothies also don’t have to be a whole meal. Sometimes we fall into a trap of thinking that a smoothie will replace a meal and that we won’t have to eat for a few hours. Sometimes, that is the case, sure - but not always.

A smoothie can simply be a smoothie, a snack, or something you drink with your sandwich. Have some fun!

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And I could likely go on forever, but the truth of the matter is, I trust that you’ll figure it out, and if it goes wrong a few times - don’t worry. It’s not the end of the world. Smoothies are tricky beasts to master and you’ve got time to get it right. Trust me.

Here are our favorite summer smoothies:

Hopefully, you can see yourself making at least one of these smoothies this summer. Remember, you can switch out ingredients you don’t like, and add in ones that you think are missing whenever you want. Smoothies are meant to be fun, and they’re meant to please you!

So, with that beings said, make sure that you find a way to make a smoothie work for you, if making a smoothie work for you is what you’re after.

If you’re not into smoothies then thanks for reading this far anyway. There is no way that I’ll try to convince you that smoothies are going to be the answer to all your questions, because they’re not! However, they do add a lot of value and save a lot of time, if you like them. If you don’t, I’m sure they don’t add any value and should be omitted at all costs!



Your relationship with foods and beverages is unique to you, but as always, we encourage you to experiment and have fun doing it! If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments! If you try one of these and you think ‘damn, that was good and I’ve got to let Kelsi know’, please do - words of affirmation are sometimes my thing.

Thanks for coming, see you next week!