Something disappointing yet glorious happens when you defrost frozen berries. Disappointing becuase once frozen you can never get that plump fresh fruit texture back. It's gone forever. However, it's glorious becuase you get something completely different yet tasty in it's own right.
I'm sure not everyone will agree but I kind of like the fruit soup you get when you leave the berries to defrost on the counter for a few hours.
It kind of reminds me of the yummy strawberry topping you get on bananas splits. YUMMM-MMY!
Anyway, I pulled out about a cup of frozen strawberries this afternoon becuase I KNEW I would be having a snack attack about 11 PM.
I always do.
Right on cue I started rummaging through the pantry until I remembered about the berries!
Instead of falling prey to the husband M&Ms, I grabbed some non-fat yogurt, the only cereal I can find, a pretty glass--everything is tastier in a pretty glass--and I started layering.
The result was amazing! The juice from the strawberries soaked into the yogurt. The crunch of the cereal played off the softness of the berries. It's was a tasty, guilt free midnight snack!
Here's what I did..
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen strawberries thawed in a bowl
- packet of sugar or sweetener of your choice (optional)
- ¾ cups non-fat yogurt
- ½ ounce high fiber crunchy cereal like Fiber One or Grapenuts or granola
Instructions
Taste the juice of the strawberries for sweetness and add a packet of sweetener if needed.
In clear cup or bowl start layering the ingredients, yogurt, strawberries, cereal, yogurt, strawberries, cereal, and so on and so forth.
Top with a dollop of yogurt and EAT! 🙂
📖 Recipe
From Frozen Strawberry Yogurt Parfait
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen strawberries thawed in a bowl
- packet of sugar or sweetener of your choice optional
- ¾ cups non-fat yogurt
- ½ ounce high fiber crunchy cereal like Fiber One or Grapenuts or granola
Instructions
- Taste the juice of the strawberries for sweetness and add a packet of sweetener if needed.1 cup frozen strawberries thawed in a bowl, packet of sugar or sweetener of your choice
- In clear cup or bowl start layering the ingredients, yogurt, strawberries, cereal, yogurt, strawberries, cereal, and so on and so forth.1 cup frozen strawberries thawed in a bowl, ¾ cups non-fat yogurt, ½ ounce high fiber crunchy cereal like Fiber One or Grapenuts or granola, packet of sugar or sweetener of your choice
Ashley@Bakerbynature
This is one of my favorite midnight snacks, but I never tried frozen berries before. I will give it a try, looks gorgeous.
Steve
Looks delicious! Nice pic!
You're so right, freezing strawberries is a bittersweet thing to do. But it's definitely one of the best ways to juice strawberries.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Amy @ A Little Nosh
A great use for the aging yogurt and Fiber One that I have no idea what to do with! Just called the husband to have him take out a bunch of strawberries from the freezer.
Kate
It's it awesome when you find a healthy alternative? Woo-hoo!!!
Now is a great time to buy strawberries fresh from the store and freeze them yourself. They are priced pretty low in the stores. I take the stems off and slice them and put them in gallon sized bags. It makes for even more accurate portion control, so you don't get these monster-sized strawberries for one bite, like you sometimes get in the bags of frozen fruit.
I recently started making parfaits a few hours before I'm going to enjoy them. I use Walmart's Low Fat Vanilla yogurt along with either my frozen strawberries that I've cut up or Walmart has a nice tropical mix of frozen fruit (strawberries, mangoes, pineapple, peaches...yum!) that go really well. I work 2nd shift, so I make my parfait in the late morning in a small thermos and the frozen fruit defrosts but also keeps the yogurt cool in the fridge. I enjoy it around 8pm for my dinner break. Yumm-o!
Ashley
YUM Roni! thanks so much for the idea. I am having such a problem with getting up early enough to eat a good breakfast most mornings- most mornings my stomach cant take anything too hard unless i wake up a few hours before work and wake up fully- most of the time i just settle for coffee until a morning breakfast-y snack around 10. this would make a good quick-ish and light breakfast and im sure a satisfying snack like you suggested. I SO appreciate you 🙂
roni
Just plain old non-fat yogurt. Nothing fancy.
Laura
Looks delicious! I'm just finishing up my breakfast right now, which was Grape Nuts, Silk, and strawberries. Wanted to tell you that you can also get that awesome juicy stuff by cutting up fresh strawberries and just letting them fester in a baggie for a day. The juice comes out and makes this beautiful sauce, with no sugar added at all. My mom always told me you HAD to add sugar to make that happen, but my deliciously pink milk this morning tells a different story! 🙂
Liz W
I actually do parfaits every week for breakfast. Due to time crunches, I pre-make about 10 of them. I get those little Rubbermaid take-alongs with the twist lids, 8oz. layer a bit of yogurt, berries (see below), a drizzle of honey (to sweeten things up), more yogurt, and then a bit of granola (cereal, of course, will work). These paired with a healthy muffin....mmmm!
I buy frozen strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries from Trader Joe's (organic, because berries have thin skins and lots of pesticides otherwise, and the organic blueberries are smaller) and I stick them in a tupperware dish in my fridge and let them thaw and bleed together and then mix them up. And when I'm done spooning them out, I sneak a spoonfull of the juice. And then whatever I don't use when it starts getting low or not so pretty, I blend in the Magic Bullet and put in popsicle molds. SO yummy!
MarathonSweetheart
The layering is super pretty. What kinda yogurt did you use???