Rather than a smoothie recipe followed by dozens of links to other smoothie recipes – this article is all about building a list of your favorite smoothie combinations for you to hang on your fridge or add to your cookbook to inspire your own smoothie creativity.
We are on the downhill slope of June, now, and it is hot, hot, hot in the Rocky Mountains. When we get to this time of year – when summer weather descends, and you wake up feeling uncomfortably warm and know it is only going to get hotter as the day goes on – the desire to cook a hearty breakfast goes by the wayside.
Personally, I want something filling, but nothing that will fill me up so much that I feel hotter. And if I don’t have to turn on any heat unit (like the oven or stovetop), all the better.
Hot outside means all I want is cool things inside. And smoothies for breakfast (or a midday snack) are my go-to in these hot summer months.
Light, yet Satisfying
Am I a smoothie drinker? The answer is an emphatic yes!
I love having a smoothie for breakfast.
When I was probably middle-school aged, my mom and I started having a simple smoothie with a side of toast for breakfast every morning before we headed out to change water during the summer.
When the weather started to cool in the fall and I was busy with school and sports, that breakfast usually changed back to something a little heartier like pancakes, eggs, and bacon. But during those hot summer months, a smoothie and toast was all we needed.
Smoothies were fast and easy, and we had plenty of work to do and no time to kill if we wanted to finish our daily irrigating before noon.
We knew we didn’t need something heavy to eat – heavens, our bodies didn’t want heavy. It was likely to get up to triple digits, and we just needed something to hold us until we made it back to the house for lunch.
A smoothie for breakfast and bottle of water for the road. That was my summer breakfast routine.
Working on ranches years later, when a 12-hour day under the hot Nevada sun was a short day, a smoothie for breakfast was my go-to then as well.
Light, yet substantial.
And now, as a busy mom of littles with taking care of the home and garden, the simple smoothie is still my go-to breakfast meal of choice on the hottest of days.
Simple Smoothies
I think making smoothies is often seen as a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
We see restaurants, coffee shops, and even entire businesses dedicated to making and selling prepared smoothies.
And when we get online for some Smoothie Inspiration, we find ourselves bombarded with recipes, techniques, and “must have supplies” like overpriced blenders, stainless straws, and spillproof lids.
But really, smoothie making doesn’t have to be complicated. Like most things, there are plenty of gadgets and people out there marketing this and that of smoothies. And while some items are helpful, there are a lot that are just more stuff.
In the end, though, a smoothie is just a hodge-podge of yummy things, nutritious things, and other things you found lying around that sounded good that all go together in a blender to create something tasty and satisfying.
And you definitely don’t need a fancy or expensive blender to do it. I make smoothies a lot at my house, and this Osterizer Galaxie is the only blender I own.
I found this at a second-hand store about 8 years ago for about $6 (and at the time, you guys, money was so tight – it was a conversation between my husband and I if we could spend the $6 to buy the blender), but let me tell you, it is maybe the best six bucks I have spent. I use my Osterizer for canning, grinding oatmeal, blending baby food, and of course, making smoothies.
I’m not sure what it’s life was before it made it’s way to the thrift store, but it has certainly had a workout these last 8 years, yet still runs great. (If you can’t tell, I’m a kinda proud of my little old blender 😊 ).
Daily Different
When I say having a simple smoothie is my daily hot weather summer-time preference, you gotta know that I do not eat the same ol’ thing every day for breakfast. That would be boring.
No – I have a smoothie, but what is inside my smoothie changes daily.
Every day, my smoothie uses different ingredients. The texture is different, the color is different, and the flavor is oh so different than the day before.
After all, it’s summer… summer is supposed to be full of fun, adventure, and dare I say pizazz! And that goes for what you eat for breakfast as well.
P.S. Like these homemade smoothie lids I made for my kids (and myself!)?! Check it out here.
What’s in a Smoothie
The options of what you can pack into a smoothie are endless. Truly.
From berries to veggies, nuts to dairy.
Milk based, water based. With ice or without.
Using canned goods, frozen, or fresh.
Adding a protein power, or keeping with raw ingredients.
It doesn’t really matter. There’s so many good things that you can toss into a smoothie.
On a busy morning, which at our house means any morning, I like to grab some nuts, seeds, or grains from my Bookshelf Pantry, toss it in with some yogurt, milk, or water, and finish it off with sweet fruit and healthy veggies.
Enter: the List
There really is no limit to what you can put in your smoothie. But really, knowing that anything can go into your smoothie isn’t actually that helpful when your staring in your freezer first thing in the morning.
I mean really, saying the sky is the limit doesn’t help sort matters down here on the ground level.
Enter in this handy little list of smoothie combination: My Smoothie Combinations List
Not a Recipe, an Inspiration
There’s a lot of blog posts, even entire websites dedicated to smoothie recipes. Companies who publish recipes in magazines and entire books published packed full of recipes for what to put in your smoothie.
With all those yummy pictures and tasty sounding recipes, I have found it easy to open my freezer on an early morning and feel my eyes gloss over as I stare at all my wonderfully stored food items, and then freeze (pun intended) not knowing what foods to actually put in my smoothie.
And amidst the rush of the morning trying to get hangry kids fed, lunches packed, husband out the door, etc. – it is no time to scroll someone’s block looking for a smoothie recipe so you know the correct ingredients and the right amount to replicate a picture you clicked on that looked appetizing.
I mean, come on, it’s a smoothie.
If you ask me, a smoothie should be more about tossing a bit of this in and adding a bit of that as opposed to measuring out ingredients.
It’s a smoothie! You shouldn’t need a measuring spoon or measuring cups when your making a smoothie. In fact you shouldn’t even have to count.
Just toss the stuff in!
In the end, it just needs to taste good and look edible.
BUT.
On those early mornings with glossed over eyes – even though I am not looking for a recipe to follow and measure along with exactly (per my previous rant) – I find myself needing some extra inspiration as to what to put in my smoothie.
Then comes the downpour of questions:
What foods taste good together?
Do oranges go with mangos? What about adding oatmeal? If I blend them all together, will it taste good and will my hangry bunch waiting not-so-patiently around the dining table actually eat said ingredients???
And if my family doesn’t like the ingredients in this smoothie, what else do I make them for breakfast? Will I have time to make a second smoothie if the first one flops? What about the extra dishes?!
These are the types of questions that haunt me early in the morning. And frankly I just don’t like being haunted with ridiculous, yet totally valid (as any other mom or parent in charge food prep can testify), questions like these so early in the morning.
I want inspiration, not perspiration.
Inspiration to ignite creative breakfast-making, smoothie shaking genius.
And looking up a recipe for a smoothie is no where on my to-do list.
Which is why…. I put together this simple Smoothie Combinations List that hangs on the side of my refrigerator to help me get past those morning breakfast smoothie slumps.
And it is a huge help.
https://penniesanddirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smoothie-Combinations-PDF.pdf
Again, it’s not a recipe, just a simple list that I can print off and hang on the fridge to help bring me inspiration on those early mornings (… or late ones) when I need it.
And check it out – no measuring utensils needed.
Just whatever you have around the house (that’s edible, mind you) and a blender. That’s it!
Use Mine or make Your Own
This is just my list of smoothie combinations. A list of foods we often have on hand or those odd-ball foods that occasionally you run out of ideas on how to use them up (like table grapes, especially after they’ve lost their firmness) .
A list of ingredients that we like, that my kids like, and that I know my kids will eat combined with the other foods in that combination set.
You are welcome to use this list – to print it off and use in your home. But I hope this article also inspires you to make your own list. To handwrite or print it typed. To put it somewhere you can find it (easily) on those crazy busy mornings when you need it.
Because so often, I don’t think we need someone to baby-step us through every tiny thing in our kitchen. We just need a little push in the right direction, then let our own experience and creativity take over.
So keep a list. For smoothies or any other meals you need to have just written down to help you maintain sanity.
And it doesn’t have to be strict.
As a non-recipe, these food combinations are not meant to be followed to a T.
My house is not a Jamba Juice, and my smoothie flavors don’t need to be the same consistency standards as one.
This list, my list, is meant (simply) to spark direction when I need it. Everything else just adds a bit of pizazz to our summer as we blend our way toward cooler weather.
