Fruit and Yoghurt Parfait

I am a sucker for sweet treats. When I eat out I always flick to the back of the menu first to look at dessert to plan my whole meal around it. I often remark I have a separate stomach for dessert no matter how stuffed I feel. This might have spawned from being deprived of desserts all my life as my family does not have them due to it not being a big part of our culture. The closest I got was fruit. So when I discovered the land of pretty desserts, pastries and chocolate, it became very hard to control myself!

It was actually my 11yr old sister that told me about parfaits. She told me that in French class she learnt parfait is french for the word perfect. When I google imaged the word parfait I came across a myriad of pretty pretty food! I couldn't help myself, had to make it!!

Most American parfaits called for a lot of cream, gelatin and ice cream so I looked more favourably on the ones with fruits and yoghurt.

Parfait Ingredients

  • Yoghurt
  • Muesli/Weetbix/nuts
  • Lots of fruit!!

It's VERY simple to make it doesn't even need a recipe. Just experiment with what looks the most tasty to you and voila! A restaurant quality dessert!

I had a lot of fun making this with my sister and she loved it!







My cup is a plastic one I got at the Wicked show and it lights up! I kept it and now it's come in handy!



This is the one my sister made all by herself!





Use your best crystal or fancy glasses and it really looks like a $15+ dessert at a restaurant!

For my treat I added a bit of low fat whipped cream to the top in an attempt to make a peak at the top and failed! I also put a dusting of cocoa powder. Other things you can add include dried fruit, honey, wafer biscuits,chocolate shavings, frozen berries, chia seeds, crushed nuts etc!! Endless possibilities.

One of my dietitian friends recommended adding Weetbix to yoghurt and I've never looked back! The weetbix adds a little extra nutrition kick and gives the yoghurt some texture. As an added bonus the weetbix won't go soggy in yoghurt. 

Importance of Calcium
One of the other things I've been doing lately is trying to get my sister's calcium intake up. As she is in her growing stage I want her to be tall! Hopefully taller than me and I'm sure everyone knows of calcium's importance in nurturing bone growth. She has slowly incorporated milk but another fun way to do it is through yoghurt! And this dessert is a fun way to do it. Each of our desserts used 1 tub of yoghurt (we used the single serve ones of 175g). 

I usually choose Yoplait Forme as they have sticky date, cheese cake and apple pie flavours! Don't be fooled by the names, they actually only have 0.2g fat, <1% added sugar, use halal gelatine and have 315mg calcium.

For a comparison, a normal adult (19-50yr old) requires 1000mg calcium so this 175g tub of yoghurt can provide over 30% of the requirements for the day.

A 250ml glass of milk provides about 300mg of calcium so milk is also a great source of calcium. Soy milk in Australia is also fortified with calcium but some organic ones do not so make sure to check the label. 

Yoplait forme compared to other low fat yoghurts (based on single serves)
  • Yoplait Forme: 315mg/175g serve
  • Vaalia: ~230-369mg (depending on flavour and size of serve (150g/170g))
  • Ski D'Lite: ~ 318mg/200g serve
  • Nestle Diet: ~164mg/150g serve
As you can see calcium content can vary greatly between different yoghurt products and even between different flavours of the same brand so check the calcium content when buying!

Please note I am not sponsored by any of the above brands and my choice of yoghurt is a balance between flavour preference and nutrition between all the yoghurt consumers at home. The comparisons I made were solely based on calcium content alone and did not take into account any other claims by the different yoghurts companies.

Oh and almost forgot to mention: 
  • Fruit: Fruit in the parfait adds to your vitamin C intake, soluble and insoluble fibre, potassium (depending on fruit) and lots of antioxidants!  
  • Muesli/nuts: Contributes towards your fibre and good fats and depending on the type of nuts used can also be good sources of B vitamins, Vitamin E, selenium, magnesium, manganese and other trace vitamins and minerals   

    Isn't it great to end a day with a pretty and tasty dessert and knowing it will be good for you? 

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    The information presented on this blog acts as general nutrition advice and is not tailored to meet individual needs. It should not be used as a replacement for any medical advice you have recieved from medical practitioners. Please discuss any concerns for your health with your doctor or Accredited Practicing Dietitian before starting a new dietary or exercise regime as they can give more personalised recommendations.

    I make every effort to ensure information on Nutrition with Wendy is correct and up to date however nutrition is an evolving field and discrepancies can arise. If the information here appears incorrect or out of date please let me know and I will do my best to update my posts.