I've been making these yogurt parfaits for Brian for a few months now. I started making them because most yogurt has so much sugar in it, which to me kind of defeats the purpose. I mean, if you're eating it for the probiotics (or Good Tummy Bugs, as they're known in my house), then adding a bunch of sugar that just feeds the Bad Tummy Bugs doesn't make much sense, right? Plus alot of popular brands contain additives or other stuff that's not great for you. And also, most yogurts are either low fat or non fat, and the fat in dairy not only helps you feel full and makes it taste better, it also helps you digest it better when you consume the whole food. And grass fed dairy fat has an even higher nutrient content.
So, I wanted a whole milk, low sugar yogurt, preferably grass fed when possible, and it's cheapest to buy yogurt in a larger tub. But that isn't super convenient for Brian's lunch at work. Mason jars work nicely for portioning it out, and since I was already doing that, might as well add some more good stuff to it! Adding the fruit was also to help him eat it, since at first he wasn't used to the lower sugar content. Wild blueberries are extremely good for you, (which is why is I eat them in my smoothie, even though I don't like them), and whole fruits, even though they contain sugar, don't affect your blood sugar the same way as added sugars do. Plus all the vitamins and minerals in whole fruits. I use Wyman's wild blueberries, $11.99 a bag at Safeway.
The oats were added partly for health benefits like fiber and minerals, but also for texture, and to help stretch the yogurt a little further, to make it a bit more buget friendly.
I often make the parfait the night before, so the oats get nice and soft, but it doesn't have to sit that long. I use Trader Joe's GF rolled oats ($3.99 a bag) because Brian really likes their extra chewy texture.
I have a few different yogurts that I like to buy, including: Grace Harbor Farms (local!), Organic Valley Grassmilk, Stonyfield, Brown Cow, and Nancy's. I usually buy the vanilla flavor if they have it, sometimes the honey flavor, but plain has the lowest amount of sugar. If it says cream-top then you know its whole milk and non homogenized, which is best in my opinion.
For fruit, I use fresh or frozen berries or bananas. The kids and I always go to a U-pick berry place a couple times each Summer, so we usually have bags of local strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in the freezer.
Aside from just using one fruit, some flavor combinations I've made are:
-Strawberry Blueberry
-Blueberry Banana
- Raspberry Lemon Curd
The lemon curd is homemade by my sister-in-law, and it is out of this world delicious! (Thanks Jessica!) Brian loves it.
Once in a while I buy single serve containers of the good yogurt if they are on sale, but last week, after eating a blueberry one, Brian told me "they're too sweet, they hurt my teeth." I was surprised and delighted; I love it when I win him over with healthier foods. :)
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