Parfait- A Perfect Breakfast

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Mango Parafait

Parfait- A perfect healthy and balanced breakfast option every morning

People on the go, and busy in the mornings always tend to compromise on their breakfast and skip it. Some think missing the breakfast aids in weight loss, these are completely fad and bad health habits. In order to get our metabolism going, we must eat something within half-hour of waking up. It is the healthiest of practice to eat a full balanced and healthy breakfast every morning before kicking off your workday. 

Now the questions is what makes a breakfast; A breakfast that contains a good and healthy selection of complex carbohydrate, protein and some fruit or vegetable is all we need to make it nutritious and balanced.

Strawberry Parfait

When I am selecting food for breakfast every morning, the complex carbohydrate have to be something high fibre, one portion of good low fat or fat free protein, and some fresh fruits/vegetable packed with minerals, vitamins specifically phytochemicals and antioxidents. 

Of course being a working women, my mornings are busy checking all the emails compiled during the night from all over the world, organizing the meetings and the days schedule. Racing the clock to reach office by 9:15, yet ensuring everyone leave home with stomach full of balanced and healthy breakfast for the day. 

Fruit and yogurt parfait is an answer.
It is quick and easy, 

 nutritious, and  all in one bowl meal and keeps all of us going until lunch time without need for a snack or thinking about food. It has become  an all time favourite at my home, their presentation attracts the most picky eaters specially children and adolescent and people in hurry to be out the doors, they can grab and go a cup/bowl of freshly prepared parfait.

Parfait is a French word meaning “Perfect”, and traditionally used by most part of the world for a frozen desert made with cream, icecream, preserved fruits. I have eaten many variations of Parfait around the world, and my favourite are the United States and Canada, parfait that are made with yogurt layered with nuts or fresh fruits and when served at breakfast also includes some wholesome cereal.

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Pakistan is blessed with the bounty of nature in the form of a wide variety of colourful, sweet, juicy fruits. There are a good selection of mostly organically produced fruits available year round, and they dont event travel overly long distances to reach you. Including seasonal produce is an important  aspect of eating healthy. So, ideally choose fruits that are in season in your region, are fresh and ripe and not processed, frozen, preserved or imported.  

Peach Parafait

These breakfast parfait can be simply made with any most seasonal fruits zero/low fat yogurt, whole wheat cereal and some added fibre if you want

-       Fresh Seasonal Fruits: ½ Cup Season Fresh Fruits like strawberries or blue berry, rashberry, mulberry, banana, mangoes, peaches. I personally prefer using the fruits in season. However, I don’t use melons, or any citrus fruits the texture and taste wont compliment yougurt, beside citrus makes the parafait watery and very tangy.

-       Yogurt; use low or zero fat yogurt, I use locally available Adams or Nestle Acti Plus which works very well providing the protein and the very much required Probiotics. Avoid fruit flavoured yogut or the ones with jams or preserves in it, they only add that unwanted sugar in your meals and the empty calories. 

-       Complex Carbohydrate; you can select a couple of table-spoons of any whole grain cereal e.g museli, granola, wholewheat flakes, wheabix, cooked and cooled oats (I use steel cut oats), bulgar wheat (dalia).

-         Fibre:  add a teaspoon of any fibre that can be flax seed meal (I use that), physilum husk- Isphagol, or Wheat Bran. 

-       Nuts: I often toss a few slivers of almonds, or dried rasins, blue berries, raisins, cranberries as well.
 

Cherry Parfait

Layer these in a wide glass or bowl with the top layer always fruits. Children generally like the colorful fresh presentation, appreciate easy one bowl meal to eat before they climb the school buses and you run out of doors for office.  

Lychee Parfait topped with dried cranberries and blueberries