I don’t claim to have a sweet tooth, but I do enjoy a good dessert now and then. For me, a good dessert needs to be worth the calories. Not because I’m a calorie nazi and am super strict with my diet, but I figure, if I’m going to eat a piece of cake that contains more energy than two of my meals put together, it better taste AMAZING! Otherwise, it’s just not worth it.

Most desserts – cakes, pastries, dairy confectionary etc are very calorie dense and nutrient poor. This means they give you lots of energy but very little nutrition in the way of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. This is OK on occasion as part of a well-balanced diet, but these foods eaten regularly can cause havoc with our health and weight loss goals.

What if there was a sweet dessert or snack that you could eat that wasn’t loaded with calories and also offered some nutrition? I’d say “Please share this amazing recipe with me” and thats exactly what I’m going to do! This little yoghurt parfait has relatively low calories for a dessert and is also a good source of B vitamins, magnesium, calcium and phosphorous. It’s carbohydrate and protein ratio also makes it a great post-workout snack!

I can’t take credit for this recipe at all. I actually found it on Pinterest, of all places, and you can find the original recipe over on a blog called Something Swanky. It’s a dessert blog so make wise choices!

One more thing. I make this recipe with the greatest yoghurt of all time (not an exaggeration, they win awards), Lush Yoghurt by Country Valley Milk. And just to be clear, they don’t pay me to say that, I genuinely love it that much! To me, no other yoghurt comes close and in fact tasting Lush has ruined every other brand of yoghurt that I liked before. Not only does it taste great, heres the kicker – it’s ingredients are simply milk and cultures. Thats it. No milk solids, gelatines, stabilisers, thickeners – just milk and the bacteria that makes it yoghurt!

I use the sweetened version of this yoghurt for this recipe which adds a third ingredient, sugar. Not an artificial sweetener, just regular table sugar and in much smaller amounts than other yoghurts on the market. If you would like to try this incredible yoghurt, you can’t get it from supermarkets. If you live in Canberra you can get it delivered, along with amazingly fresh fruit and vegetables, from Vegies to Your Door. Check out Country Valley’s website for other stockists in Canberra and Sydney.

Ingredients (Makes 12)

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of golden syrup or honey ( I prefer the flavour of golden syrup, none is more healthy than the other, they’re both sugar)
• 120g mini dark chic chips
• 1kg of Lush Natural Yoghurt (sweetened or unsweetened depending on your preference)

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180g Celsius. Prepare a baking tray by lining it with baking paper.
• Place the golden syrup or honey with the peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 secs. Whisk together until smooth. Add the oats and stir until they are completely coated in the peanut butter mixture. Spread the oat mixture evenly across the baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Increase the time by 5 minutes or so if you prefer the oats to be crunchy rather than chewy. Remove from the oven and allow to completely cool. Once cool, store in an airtight container.
• To make the yoghurt parfaits, layer the yoghurt, oats and choc chips in small glasses. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

If you want to keep track of your calories each serve of yoghurt parfait equals about 80-90g of yoghurt, 30-40g of parfait and 10g of choc chips. If you are losing weight, I recommend weighing it all out so you don’t overeat.

Nutrition Information

• Energy: 1130kJ (270 Calories)
• Carbohydrate: 27g (sugar 20g)
• Protein: 9g
• Fat: 13g (saturated 5g)
• Fibre: 2g
• Sodium: 136mg

Lose Weight for Life

If you are following my weight loss plan, Lose Weight for Life, each serve of this recipe is equivalent to:

• 1x carbohydrate serve
• 1x fat serve

This recipe is proudly brought to you by Vegies to Your Door.