I gave up eating cereal for breakfast over a year ago and lost 15 lbs since then.  I started eating a high protein yogurt with a small amount of fruit and nuts/seeds stirred into the yogurt.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that the big containers of yogurt are far more economical than the little cups.  Problem is you only have a limited flavor choices….mainly plain or vanilla.  In examining the nutritional aspect of the cartons I was shocked to see how much sugar and how little protein some brands contained.

Then I discovered Oikos Triple Zero from Dannon.  Their vanilla has twice the amount of protein to sugar.  No added sugar and extra fiber from chicory root.  I was amazed that it actually had less sugar per serving than most plain Greek yogurts on the market.

Well I can only eat vanilla for so long, so in the summer months I started adding fresh fruit and that was great.  Well it isn’t summer anymore and I still wanted flavors.  Enter dried fruit.  Yes dried fruit!  I make a fruit combination, add a little water and stew for a few minutes.  Add some additional flavors, cinnamon or ginger for my tastes and then toss it all in my food processor.  Pulse a few times and you have a chunky fruit chutney-like add in.  A spoonful of this with my yogurt and pumpkin seeds and my tummy is happy for almost 6 hours.

There are so many dried fruits available that the combinations are almost mind altering. I use dried apples as my base flavor because they are easy to find and relatively inexpensive.  They also pair well with almost any other fruit flavor.  My first one was apple blueberry with a little cinnamon and orange juice.  (Seen below) It was delicious.

Today’s mix is apple, mango and golden berries with a piece of candied ginger and clementine zest and juice.  Even better than my first mix!

You’ll need: Makes about 1 pint

I cup dried apple rings

1 cup of dried fruit of your choice (I used 3/4 cup dried mango and 1/4 cup golden berries)

Additional flavors (optional)  1-2 cinnamon sticks, about 1 Tbs size piece of candied ginger,  citrus zest

about one cup of water or juice

additional liquid (water or juice as needed) for pureeing. I used the segments of the clementine I zested.

In a small soup pan, place the dried fruit pieces (no need to chop them up).  Add additional flavor ingredients if desired and liquid.  Simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes-you don’t want to boil away the liquid, just get it good and hot to soften the dried fruit.  Turn off heat and let everything cool, there should be almost no liquid left in the bottom of the pan.  Remove cinnamon stick if using. Put the softened fruit and any remaining liquid into your food processor. Add additional liquid or fresh fruit if desired.  Pulse until well combined but still a bit chunky.  Store refrigerated until use.

I add 1-2 Tbs of my fruit mix to about 2/3 cup of yogurt and toss in 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds or nuts.  Stir all together and enjoy.

You could also spread over toast, biscuits, ice cream, with a soft cheese and crusty bread….whatever you want.  Enjoy!