Hi everyone and please click on the title of this post to read more. Today I would like to touch on the challenge of providing healthy snacks for our kids when we are on the run. It is so easy to blame the poor nutrition on not being able to find anything healthy that you can buy, but we really can get prepared, think ahead, and pack some healthier items so we are not riddled with guilt because our kid (or ourselves) have only eaten pretzels and gummy bears that we had at the bottom of our bag.
Well, you’ll see in the photo that I am very happily purchasing some Pinkberry frozen yogurt which is the latest craze in New York. My husband has not stopped raving about it for weeks and I finally got to try it. It is fantastic and so reminiscent of one of my childhood favorites, the Dannon lowfat frozen raspberry yogurt on a stick that was coated in chocolate. Finally, real frozen yogurt has returned!!
I would rather have my own snacks in my bag like little bags of popcorn, granola bars, nuts, raisins, etc. (see my friend Barbara in the video below with her version of a healthy snack on the run), but it is really nice to find a tasty and somewhat healthy frozen treat that the kids and I will like and can buy when we are out and about. Well, I was thrilled to find that even my kids will eat Pinkberry as a snack, even though it tastes yogurty.
I was even more thrilled to find a recipe for homemade pinkberry from a friend’s new blog, www.wickedgoodfood.com. It is a great recipe and a WHOLE lot cheaper than buying the extraordinarily expensive pinkberry from the shops (and without the crazy lines). Her blog is also very good and very funny-check it out. I hope you like the yogurt as much as we did:
Frozen Blueberry Yogurt:
17 1/2 oz Total Fage no fat yogurt (can get at most supermarkets)
12-16 oz frozen blueberries
2-3 TBS sugar(add more or less depending on your need for sweetness-I was fine with one and a half TBS but my kids needed (wanted) more)
(Also try pureeing 2 1/2 cups frozen mango chunks, 2 TBS agave syrup, one TBS sugar and Total Fage fat free yogurt, mix and freeze for one hour)
In a blender, chop the blueberries which must be frozen until they are in tiny chunks
In a large bowl, stir the yogurt, sugar and bluberries together until fully combined. Transfer to a plastic tupperware with lid and freeze for 30 minutes to an hour. DO NOT freeze for much longer than that because it will become inedible- hard as a rock and gritty! Feel free to put in popsicle molds for you and the kiddies. I am eating some right now-I swear.
http://www.youtube.com/get_player
P.S.This is what a friend emailed me about the weight watchers points of my mango yogurt…
“OMG, your recipe was DEEEE-Lish!!!
I calculated the weight watchers points value on www.weightwatchers.com, and it came out that each 1/2 cup serving of your recipe is onle 1 POINT!!!!! what an awesome low points, high nutrition, low glycemic index snack/dessert!! market it!!!”
4 Responses
Alma, does this kind of frozen yoghurt have calcium like the not-frozen kind? I have always heard that frozen yoghurt, like ice cream, does not have a lot of usable calcium in it. I'm betting you know why…
Ariel (who never feeds her child unhealthy food on the run–ha!)
I just made this for my kids. I added frozen bananas ( I freeze my over ripe ones as you suggested) to the blueberries, and added honey instead of sugar- because one child is complaining of a sore throat (beware). The color and taste is extraordinary. They are LOVING it. Thanks so much for all of your wonderful ideas Alma!
yes, it has calcium , Ariel. And Rachael, I am so glad your kids liked it!
"OMG, your recipe was DEEEE-Lish!!!
"I calculated the weight watchers points value on http://www.weightwatchers.com, and it came out that each 1/2 cup serving of your recipe is onle 1 POINT!!!!! what an awesome low points, high nutrition, low glycemic index snack/dessert!! market it!!!"
This is what someone just sent me-pretty cool!