This post is sponsored by my friends at General Mills just in time for their newest addition to the Big G cereal family: Cheerios + Ancient Grains!
First things first: the red in those pomegranates just makes me feel all PARTY.
Breakfast party? Extra coffee? Yes?
Lately breakfast has had me completely wrapped around its tasty little finger. First it was the eggs, and now it’s this yogurt parfait with crunchy cereal, chewy quinoa, and snappy pomegranate seeds.
You guys, this is getting really awesome and a little bit weird.
Like, where’s my lifetime breakfast of oatmeal?
What has food blogging done to me?
I used to think breakfast was exclusive to a big, warm bowl of oatmeal with almond butter and honey and fine, okay, I’ll take a touch of cream if you’re going to twist my arm like that.
But I’m coming to terms with some sad personal food news: I think I ruined my desire to eat hot oatmeal during our year in the Philippines.
I forced it when it shouldn’t have been forced, when the early morning air was already heavy and sticky and I was a regular hot morning mess, and now I’m just not that into it. I’M SO SORRY, SELF.
But with the exit of oatmeal comes the new found love for cold breakfast things like green smoothies and muesli, overnight oats and grapefruit, and granola and milk and coffee. And most importantly, yogurt parfaits that scream happy, vibrant, morning joy right into my face.
Doesn’t it just totally makes sense that I would be into these things now that I’ve moved back to my frozen Minnesotaland? Totally.
Okay, so cold breakfasts –> cereal.
Cereal –> hard to find when you’re trying to reduce sugar.
Remember how Bjork and I are playing around with this 60-day sugar free challenge thing? THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROBLEM I had when we did the challenge this summer was finding a good tasting cereal that kept the sugar under control. There are so so SO many bad-tasting no-sugar cereals out there in the world, which is a complete joy-killer for cereal lovers like mehself. I pretty much swore off cereal altogether during our last 60-day sugar free challenge.
Enter Cheerios + Ancient Grains: what I love about it is that, besides being a mainstream cereal that is easy to find at the grocery stores where you already shop and making you feel just a little extra-hip because of the addition of quinoa clusters and spelt and Kamut wheat, it is just barely sweetened with just over one teaspoon of sugar per serving. For me, it is the perfect amount so that it tastes Super Cereal Good while still helping me maintain my reduced sugar goals.
Thank you thank you thank you!
So I am now your friend who makes a batch of quinoa for the week, keeps it in the fridge, and whips up these colorful, nutritious five-minute honey yogurt quinoa parfaits at every possible occasion, from a quick and crunchy pre-coffee bite to a nightly TV-watching munchie to a pretty layered treat at brunchtime.
I think it’s actually called obsessed.
5-Minute Honey Yogurt Quinoa Parfait
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
Description
5 Minute Honey Yogurt Quinoa Parfait – super colorful and full of nutrition, crunch, and lightly sweet flavor. Quick go-to breakfast!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- a few teaspoons honey (to taste)
- 1/2 cup Cheerios + Ancient Grains cereal
- 1/2 cup pomegranate arils or other fruit
Instructions
- Mix the Greek yogurt with the quinoa and the honey.
- Layer half of the yogurt mixture into the bottom of a round glass. Cover with half of the cereal, half of the pomegranate arils, and repeat layers once more. Serve immediately!
Notes
I recommend making a batch of quinoa (about 1 cup dry) for the week and just keeping it in the fridge for quick and easy prep throughout the week.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: quinoa parfait, yogurt parfait, honey parfait recipe
Thanks to Cheerios + Ancient Grains for sponsoring this breakfast beauty!
I just made this Quinoa Parfait and it hit the spot for all things I like in breakfast. But, the addition of the cheerios was what I liked best and really added to the texture of the parfait. ThNk you!!!
I would be careful with Cheerios, the use BHT for freshness and it’s a synthetic product used in , household product ingredient, industrial additive, personal care product/cosmetic ingredient, pesticide ingredient, plastic/rubber ingredient. I would find a natural cereal that doesn’t contain BHT, BHA or TBHQ. They are all synetic and bad for our bodies. You will hear it’s ok in small amounts but it’s in everything so how can you. It’s best to just stay away from it. There are some that don’t have it.
I love it! Eating healthy and it’s delicious!
Awesome, Anne!
I haven’t quite graduated to using quinoa in a dessert or breakfast! But this looks like a really easy starting point for me, ha! They look awesome. Photos are perfect, too!
Your photos are SO GORGEOUS. Please tell me that you teach people how to take these photos in your Tasty Food Photography book. Because I sooooooo want to figure out how to make awesome food LOOK like it tastes awesome. All your photos are so clean and crisp and white. I just love them 🙂
Thank you Danielle! I actually took these photos with my artificial light – here’s more on how I do that: https://pinchofyum.com/5-ways-to-improve-your-food-photography-with-artificial-light
Definitely a good way to start the day!! 🙂
https://justsem.wordpress.com/
I’m out to buy the Quinoa today. Years ago when I used to import dehydrated fruit & nuts into the UK our Peruvian supplier was trying to promote Quinoa and it was an uphill struggle to get people to understand it. This recipe would have been a great introduction!
Would never have put Cheerios into my slimming diet. Yum! I can join the kids.
Pretty damn easy and nice way to get quinoa into me without thinking too much, will be defintely be doing this again!! had to substitute honey nut cherrios cause we dont havee the other brand and just put in blueberries instead of pomegranate as i had none but was also pretty class
blueberries! I wish I had some – they’re so dang expensive this time of year, and usually not that great here in MN.
OMG! I rarely get cereal, which is odd because I used to eat it all the time, but this looks awesome! I am so going to have to try this.
I have been stuck in oatmeal world here in WI too, mostly because it’s quick and I can keep a bag of bulk oats in my snack box at work and just heat up some water in my teapot 🙂 Way to get me out of my winter breakfast funk 🙂
I am a HUGE fan of breakfast parfaits and I especially love the addition of quinoa in this one. Gorgeous photography, as per usual!
How funny, due to reading and writing food blogs I changed from eating cereals and yoghurt to overnight oatmeal, fresh porridge and eggs. Kind of the opposite of what you are going through. My current obsession: Scones with flax seeds. But I must say I may return back to cereals when I see your recipe here!
http://www.globalspicedblog.tumblr.com
Super idea for a quick and easy delicious breakfast. It’s making me hungry!!
Truth time: I very rarely eat cereal, at least AS cereal. I’m a huge fan of using it for other things, like a crunchy coating for fish, on top of a casserole, or in a parfait like this. It’s a pantry staple for me, just not in the same way it’s a staple for most people. Cheerios + Ancient Grains seems like such a versatile flavor that would be a great addition to my pantry! Lovely recipe.
I hear you on eating sugary cereals for breakfast. I stopped for awhile because they secretly weren’t good for you, and although I love eating oatmeal, I can’t do it every single morning either (hello, oatmeal burnout!). I just love the beauty of these parfaits and never would’ve thought to use Cheerios instead of typical granola.
that parfait looks fantastic! I love pomegranite so wherever I can sneak it in i will!
Love that you could make this in 5 minutes! Looks very toothsome for something that you can whip up in almost no time. Lovely photos too!
Thanks Jennifer!
The pomegranate totally pops in these pictures, I love the idea of using cheerios instead of granola for this easy breakfast or dessert!
I love this idea… I love breakfast food of all kinds, but usually only indulge on weekends due to work schedule – I rotate through lots of breakfast ideas and often have it for the evening meal…. wonder if you could take a twist on this blog of mine with scrambled eggs… I’m sure you could amp it up and make MUCH better pics… https://blog.sdprairie.com/2014/01/26/scrambled-eggs-all-dressed-up/ ..
Thanks for all your great ideas and fun pictures.
This looks amazing and love the bright colour!
Umm, never thought of mixing quinoa with my yogurt in the parfait. Very intrigued, I must try, since I love quinoa! You probably cook it plain, huh? The reason I ask is that I usually cook it in a broth with bunch of seasoning for flavor. 🙂
Yeah – usually I do that too! but for this I cook it plain.
Love this cereal! Feel like such an awesome mom giving it to my toddler for snack time instead of the other processed junk out there =)
Lindsay:
This looks like a beautiful recipe, but I do think you need to be careful calling it “nutritious.” Between the sugar content of the Cheerios and the few teaspoons of honey (that’s three teaspoons by my count) you add to this parfait, that’s FOUR teaspoons of added sugar. When you consider the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars to 6 teaspoons a day for women and 9 for men, you can quickly see how this recipe, no matter how you cut it, should be viewed as a treat vs. something truly healthy or nutritious. While I’m perfectly cool with the idea of treating yourself, that’s certainly not how this post reads … and framing it within your 60-day sugar free challenge (when the cereal itself has sugar in it) is even more misleading.
Sorry if this sounds too judgy … that’s not my intent. I just think you need to be clearer so people aren’t misled. There’s WAY too much deception going on in the world of big food companies. After all, our integrity and ethics are one of the most important things we’ve got!
I do enjoy following you and Bjork. Congratulations on all your success! And kudos to both of you for sharing your success and contributing to the children’s shelter in the Philippines! That’s very cool!
Bruce
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Bruce!
Good points here… I just know that the less sugar I eat, the easier it is to lose weight or maintain it. Though I feel, from my perspective, if you eat mostly unprocessed foods (which these recipes appear to adhere to), a bit of sugar here and there is ok. Sorry, Lindsey and Bjork, you’re too young to deal with this :-)… just my 2 cents worth…
Am I the only one who can’t get on the quinoa gravy train? I just can’t get behind the texture. But this recipe has me wanting to try it again!
I’ve recently discovered my love for quinoa; sooo delicious! Haven’t tried it as part of a breakfast, but this parfait would be a good one to start with!
I would take this beautiful parfait over sweet cereal any day! Just drooling over the pomegranate!