(gentle music)
- Hey, guys, a lot of you have always been asking me
for healthy snack ideas, and I love this idea,
because as a mom of two little girls,
my kids are always looking for snack ideas.
Our house is like snack central,
and I get that when you're busy
sometimes it can be easy to grab something out of a bag
or something from a vending machine
and pop it in your mouth.
So to help you on your pursuit of healthier snacks,
I've come together with a few
of my favorite YouTube channels
for a playlist themed Take Back The Snack,
and we're gonna show you some healthy alternatives
to get you on the road to a healthier snack,
and for my part, I'm gonna show you how to make
one of my favorite little snacks that my kids go nuts for.
It is a yogurt parfait with homemade granola.
Let me show you how to make it.
So the first thing we're gonna do is make our granola.
Now if you've never made homemade granola before,
you'll be so surprised at how easy it is.
You can make a big batch of it, put it in a container,
and it'll stay on your countertop
at room temperature for at least a week,
if you can keep it around that long.
So in a big bowl, you're gonna take one egg white,
a quarter cup of honey,
and one tablespoon of brown sugar.
Go ahead and just give that a whisk,
and then to that, you're gonna add
two cups of old-fashioned oats.
Now you wanna make sure you get the old-fashioned oats,
not the quick-cooking or instant oats.
That's something else that have been processed
a little bit different.
The granola really only works with the old-fashioned.
Then you're also gonna add one cup of sliced almonds.
Now if you are feeding this to children,
you do want to make sure that there are no nut allergies.
My kids don't have any, so I do put the nuts in it.
I also think it's better to serve sliced nuts
as opposed to whole nuts 'cause you don't want to have
any choking hazards in your granola.
Go ahead and just whisk that up,
making sure that the oats and the nuts
are getting coated with your egg mixture.
Then you're gonna transfer this mixture
to a rimmed cookie sheet that's been lightly greased,
and make sure you spread it out onto a single layer.
Then you're gonna pop it in the oven at 350 degrees
for anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes.
About halfway you can go in with your wooden spoon
and just give it a good toss,
making sure that it's browning on all sides.
And then once it's done, you can take it out,
and then you're gonna add a cup of dried cherries.
I love to add the dried cherries at this point
because the warmness of that granola
will start to heat and soften the cherries,
and will just add to a really nice mixture.
If you try to put the cherries in with the granola
and bake the whole thing together,
the cherries just get too hard
and all of the sugars caramelize,
and you end up with a really hard cherry.
So I think it's better to add
once the granola is actually toasted.
Now at this stage it will still be soft.
Granola does actually not crisp up until it cools,
so not to worry, it will crisp up,
and it will turn into that texture
that you most associate with granola.
Then you can transfer it into an airtight container,
and again, it'll last about a week on your countertop.
Now to serve, here's what you're gonna do.
You're gonna take out a fancy glass.
Now one thing that I have learned about my children
is if I want to eat something,
I have to give it a fancy name like parfait,
and I have to serve it in a fancy glass,
so at our house, that usually means
a very sturdy sundae glass.
(chuckling) For them, it's fancy enough,
and I know that if it's gonna drop on the floor,
it's not gonna shatter.
In this glass, I'm going to put down
a little bit of the granola,
a scoop of some nonfat Greek yogurt.
I love the Greek yogurt
because it has a very creamy texture,
and my kids really love it.
Then you're gonna add a little bit more granola on top.
And then you can serve with some fresh fruit.
So when it comes to my eldest daughter,
she really loves strawberries and raspberries,
so I'll top that for her.
And the little one,
she really likes blackberries and blueberries,
so I will top hers with those.
My girls love these little yogurt parfaits.
They think they're fancy and elegant.
They love to say the word parfait,
and I love that they're getting something healthy
in the form of a snack.
Sometimes we'll have it after school.
Sometimes we'll serve it even for breakfast.
They also love it for dessert.
I'll also sometimes put it in their lunchbox,
so if you have a little container,
you can make a mini-parfait.
If you are taking it for lunch, though,
just make sure that you put it in some insulation
and that you have some ice packs,
because it is yogurt, it does need to be refrigerated.
So there you have it, yogurt parfaits with homemade granola.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think,
and I hope you also stick around
to watch the rest of the videos in this playlist.
There are some terrific snack ideas
that I know you guys are gonna love.
All right, I will see you back here next week
for another delicious recipe.
Until then, bye!