Create Your Own Healthy Yogurt Bar

I guess all good things eventually come back into vogue. I remember the frozen yogurt fad in the 1970s, when my parents tried to convince me that frogurt was as good as ice cream. But I remained loyal to Baskin & Robbins. Now, however, my kids beg me to take them out for frozen yogurt, but I think what they mostly crave are the toppings at the new yogurt shops. One local hot spot has a giant bar with a myriad of toppings to put on the low fat yogurt (sold by weight), but once you load your cup with candy, crushed cookies, sweet cereal and caramel syrup, you have a sugar bomb that can easily weigh in at $6 - $10!

Another local shop that I prefer only serves tart yogurt and wholesome toppings like berries, nuts and mini chocolate chips, but taking a family of four there for dessert can easily top $20.

Then there are the yogurts many of us pack in school lunches. These single serve yogurts are convenient and relatively affordable, but they often have heaps of added sugar. Im slightly ashamed to admit that my kids favorite brand has 25 grams of sugar per serving, as opposed to 9 grams in the plain Greek yogurt I prefer.

I usually sweeten my yogurt with a little honey or fruit jam, and top it with fresh fruit and walnuts. So I thought, why not make our own yogurt bar at home and let the kids create their own healthy concoctions. We started with plain yogurt (you could also use tart frozen yogurt), which they sweetened with honey or jam, and topped with fresh fruit and granola. A healthy sweet snack was born. The kids actually had so much fun visiting our own yogurt bar, that I think this would be a great idea for parties or play dates, too.

Here are some of the toppings we put on our yogurt bar:

• Plain nonfat yogurt
• Honey
• Fresh fruit jam
• Pecans, walnuts, almonds, peanuts
• Raisins, dried cranberries and other dried fruit
• Mini dark chocolate chips
• Fresh seasonal fruit like strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, bananas
• Granola and other favorite cereals