frozen breakfast

frozen yogurt with agave nectar
A coworker and I have been talking about making frozen yogurt with just fat free greek yogurt and an alternative sweetener such as agave nectar or honey instead of granulated sugar---a sugar free and fat free froyo.

Chef Nancy makes a frozen yogurt at work which is ridiculously good. The recipe includes a Greek style yogurt, simple syrup (which is just granulated sugar and water) and corn syrup. During the summer, she adds fresh strawberry puree and vanilla bean to make the most outstanding strawberry froyo I've ever had.

Then again, it's not something you can have every day because of the fat and sugar content. And that's why I wanted to give a healthier version a try. With summer fast approaching, I can't imagine anything more delicious for breakfast than froyo with granola.

I ended up straining my own yogurt because I couldn't find fat free greek yogurt at the store (weird, right?). I strained 2 large containers of fat free yogurt (it ended up yielding roughly 4 cups of thickened yogurt, or as it's sometimes called, yogurt cheese) and whisked in a half cup of light agave nectar. While I waited for it to churn, I put together a quick granola to sprinkle on top.

I tossed oats, chopped pecans and sliced almonds with a little more agave nectar, a tiny pat of butter and lime juice and zest and baked it at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it came out of the oven, I tossed in dried cherries and raisins and let it cool to room temp before sprinkling it on top a few scoops of the yogurt.

Overall, I liked the yogurt's the flavor, though I thought it turned out a little icy. Without corn syrup, though, that's the risk you run. Corn syrup adds sugar without additional sweetness. The more sugar, the smoother and less icy your final product.

So last week I didn't post anything because I held a dinner party. You can read more about it, including the menu, on my friend Anthony's blog. I thought I'd include a picture of the table because it looked so pretty when I was finished setting it. I love hydrangeas and try to have them in my house whenever possible.