Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Morning Breakfast Parfaits

Parfait Love AffairImage by Josh Liba via FlickrAs one of our family goals, we've all been more committed to getting more fruits and veggies in our diets every day.  One of the easiest ways to do the fruit thing is having it be a part of breakfast.  This parfait is awesome as it's got yogurt, fresh fruit, and whole grain cereal to also boost your fiber and dairy intake.  The bed part about breakfast parfaits is two-fold; you can get the kids involved in making them, and (at least mine do) kids think it's like eating desserts for breakfast!

You can use any combo of yogurt, whole grain cereal, and fruits you like.  Think of the recipe as a template.  My family likes unsweetened vanilla flavored yogurt, Grape Nuts or Toasted O's oatmeal cereal, and fruits like bananas, strawberries, melon, and blueberries for one combo.  Your family might like different combos, so just experiment until you find what works for you.  A mom I know stirs natural peanut butter into her yogurt to give a bit more protein and flavor to the whole package.

This is such an easy breakfast and easy way to get your kids involved in 'cooking' even if all it is is layering the fruit, cereal, and yogurt. Also note that frozen fruit can work in this, though it is not my preference.  A lot of frozen fruits, when thawed seem to really water down the parfait, even with draining.  Also be sure to try it with seasonally fresh fruits for new flavor combination.  I hope your family likes parfaits as much as we do!  Try to stay away from artificially sweetened yogurts, and you can always experiment with plain yogurt since fruit has so much natural sugar.  Let us know your favorite combination's here!

Healthy Parfaits
Makes 10 child size parfaits

-20 oz vanilla yogurt, sugar free, low fat or both
-5 C low sugar, high fiber cereal  (Wheaties, Grape Nuts, Toasted Oats, granola, etc)
-5 C fruit

Layer the yogurt, fruit, and cereal in a cup until it is about a half inch from the top.  Get your kids involved in helping choose and then layer each parfait!

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