If you’re anything like our new clients, you may think that as registered dietitians and personal trainers who help people to lose weight and improve their health, that we don’t love delicious food—and that we probably never eat it. This actually couldn’t be further from the truth! 🙂 In fact, just the opposite is true! We love scrumptious food, and we’re all about loving the food that we eat! After all, who wants to eat food that’s just blah?! Not us! And although we create healthier versions of heavier foods for most our meals, we make sure they are super delicious. Plus, we believe small daily indulgences are part of the key to keeping us sane! 😉
So we’ve made it part of our mission to create scrumptious, healthy food (like this parfait! –and hello Veggie Frittata Bites), that doesn’t break the calorie bank and can help stave off binges and overeating. After all, not only have we learned what works and what doesn’t from our years of schooling, but from testing the research on our clients and on ourselves.
When we were in college, we thought we were doing the “healthy”, waistline-friendly thing by eating toast and fruit for breakfast; a veggie and brown rice stir-fry at lunch, and a piece of fruit in the early afternoon for a snack. But we found ourselves ravenous by mid-afternoon and wanting to eat everything we got our hands on (and often times we did!). Now we know what we were doing wrong and it’s made all the difference—phew!
The secret to staying satisfied, preventing binges and not overdoing it is to be sure that all meals and snacks contain fiber and protein (like nearly all recipes on our blog—including our snacks like our Skinny Spinach and Artichoke Dip Bites, our Skinny Tex Mex Bean Salsa and our Simple Crunchy Kale Snack! This fiber/protein combination provides a longer lasting energy boost and helps to prevent hunger, so it’s ideal for weight loss since you won’t be starving an hour after eating like you would if you were to simply consume only carbohydrates, such as a bagel. What’s more, this combination fills your stomach and keeps your blood sugar stable. It’s when your blood sugar dips that you crave energy (think food!) and the quickest pick-me up you can get—sugar! So snacks that contain fiber and protein will help you to fight sugar cravings too! Woot, Woot!
So today we have a special treat for you! This sweet, crunchy, rich and creamy yogurt parfait is perfect. With homemade granola and three different berries, it is irresistible.
The yogurt helps to pack in the protein, and the granola and berries provide fiber and phytonutrients to keep you healthy and satisfied!
Granola Berry Parfait
Makes 1 Parfait (Save extra granola for more parfaits!)
Ingredients
Granola
4 cups rolled oats
½ cup wheat germ
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup finely chopped pecans
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar free maple syrup
¼ cup honey
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
(Granola makes about 5 ½ cups, so you can make this parfait for weeks to come!)
Parfait
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
¼ cup raspberries
¼ cup blueberries
1 large strawberry
2 tbsp homemade granola
Directions:
Granola
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine oats, wheat germ, almonds, and pecans in a large bowl.
3. In a saucepan, stir together brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, olive oil, and vanilla. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a couple minutes. While still warm, pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and coat thoroughly.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until crispy. Halfway through the baking process, stir the granola. Let cool, then store in an airtight container.
Parfait
1. In a small parfait glass, add about half of the Greek yogurt.
2. Top with the raspberries. Then, add a tablespoon of the granola.
3. Add the rest of the Greek yogurt.
4. On top of this layer, add a layer of blueberries and top it with the second tablespoon of granola. Then, add the strawberry on top. Enjoy!
Calories: 182
Carbs: 33 g
Fat: 2 g
Protein: 8 g
Cholesterol: 3 mg
Sodium: 75 mg
Sugars: 21 g
Fiber: 6 g
- 4 cups rolled oats
- ½ cup wheat germ
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar free maple syrup
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup raspberries
- ¼ cup blueberries
- 1 large strawberry
- 2 tbsp homemade granola
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine oats, wheat germ, almonds, and pecans in a large bowl.
- In a saucepan, stir together brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, olive oil, and vanilla. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat. Then, pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and coat thoroughly.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until crispy. Halfway through the baking process, stir the granola. Let cool, then store in an airtight container.
- In the bottom of a parfait glass, place about half of the Greek yogurt.
- Top with the raspberries. Then, add a tablespoon of the granola.
- Add the rest of the Greek yogurt.
- On top of this layer, add a layer of blueberries and top it with the second tablespoon of granola. Then, add the strawberry on top. Enjoy!