Fruit and Granola Parfaits

Thick, creamy sweet yogurt with fruit and crunchy granola...

I didn't reinvent the wheel here- parfaits are not a novel idea. And for good reason! As Donkey says on Shrek, "ain't nobody who doesn't like parfait!" I'm glad fast food joints are trying to provide healthy alternatives. But most commercially sold parfaits, like Starbucks, McDonalds (page 6), Einstein Brothers (page3), and Chick Fil-A versions, have whopping amounts of calories and as much sugar as a soda in them- pretty frustrating when you're thinking your eating healthy on the go. And, the numbers on their nutrition information may not reflect what's actually being given to you- numbers are per serving. Yikes.

The culprit is the addition of sugars and sweeteners in the yogurt, fruit, and granola. Yogurt's claim to fame nutritionally is calcium, protein, and probiotics. But sweetened yogurts, which is what is in most pre-made parfaits, are loaded with sugar or sugary byproducts. Granola has this health halo, when many versions are far less innocent their appealing organic looking packaging claims, thanks to added oil and (you guessed it) sugar. In spite of this, there's no reason why you can't have your parfait and eat it too. Swap out a few ingredients, and your in the honey hole. I reclaim parfait for health food!

Fruit & Granola Parfaits

Ingredients:

0% Fage plain greek yogurt

Fruit(s) of choice, fresh or frozen

splash of vanilla

honey, agave, stevia, or Splenda

healthy granola, such as Nature's Path, Bear Naked fit, or Bob's Red Mill. Kashi GoLean also has a nice crunch.

1. Make your yogurt flavor.

• flavor ideas:
• vanilla yogurt (splash of vanilla+ stevia+ yogurt)
• strawberry (microwave frozen strawberries, smash + stevia+ yogurt)
• blueberry (microwave frozen blueberries, smash + stevia + yogurt)
• honey (honey + yogurt)
• lemon (lemon zest and juice + stevia/honey+ yogurt
• peach, pineapple, etc...

2. Add your fruit

• fresh or frozen berries- any kind

3. Sprinkle with granola

• don't go overboard here, be aware of your serving size

When you heat fruit, especially frozen, the natural juices run out, which flavor and color your yogurt base. Layer your yogurt, fruit, and granola in a pretty glass, and feel like your being spoiled!

The cup pictured above has about 4 oz yogurt, 2 tbs blueberry pomegranate juice, 1/2 cup blueberries, and 1/4 cup granola

207 cal, 4 g fat (3.5 unsaturated), 28.5 g carbs, 3.5 g fiber, 17.5 g sugar, 15.5 g protein

high inVitamin C and Calcium, good source of Vitamin K and Iron