Homemade Fruit-Flavored Yogurt Snacks are Perfect for Back-to-School Lunches

It’s back to school time for kids and I know that parents all over are looking for healthy, quick and easy ways to put something in their lunch boxes (and maybe even their own) and for good afternoon snacks, too. That’s why I’m suggesting a few options using the wonder food, yogurt.

I’ve partnered with Mountain High Yoghurt, a US-based company that is now halal-certified. You can read more about our partnership here. 

Next, you might be asking, why is yogurt halal-certified? Well, for starters, yogurt should only have a couple ingredients- yogurt starter/culture and milk. That’s usually what is added when it’s homemade, but on a commercial level there can be many things added for ‘flavor’ and to keep the consistency a certain way. Gelatin is one of those ingredients. It’s used to keep the shape of a product or keep it sort of molded together when it goes through temperature changes during transport, so it’s quite difficult to find things like ice cream and even yogurt products without some sort of added ingredients, unless they are hyper locally-sourced. This is why I like Mountain High Yoghurt– none of the funny stuff included- plus, it tastes great and it tastes homemade! In these recipes, I use it as a base to make my own fruit-flavored yogurt snacks. See my photos, videos and recipes below to make your own- fast! 

Peach Yogurt Cups (or Mango or any other Fresh Fruits)

To make the fresh fruit yogurt cups, choose fresh and seasonal produce for best results. In the past I’ve used mangos because they were super-ripe at the time of my writing (in my cookbook), but now it’s peach and apricot season so those would be fantastic to use. Pretty soon we’ll have pears and apples in the Fall- how delicious those will be on fresh and creamy Mountain High Yoghurt! 

There are two ways to do this- or a combination, which I’ve also done recently and loved that, too. One way is to simple add fresh fruit and use a blender to combine the fruit and yogurt for a nice blend. You could also just add diced fruit and leave it at that. Another way I’m loving to enjoy it is to make a fruit sauce, in this case a peach sauce similar to pear or apple sauce, and then swirling that into the yogurt, with or without freshly diced fruit. 

Fresh Fruit Yogurt

Ingredients: 

1 cup plain whole milk Mountain High Yoghurt

1/2 cup freshly diced fruit such as peaches, apricots or mangos

2 tablespoons fresh fruit puree (optional)

Directions:

In a small container with a tight-fitting like or a Mason jar, place the yogurt. Using a fork or small whisk, blend in the fruit and/or fruit puree. Store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Coconut Yogurt Cups

Coconut yogurt is one of my favorite flavors ever, and it’s hard to find ready-made at the grocery store. Who wants that anyway when you can make it on your own. Since there are a lot of different ways to get coconut products, you have a lot of options. I’ve played around with lots of ingredients: coconut extract (homemade, with the recipe in the My Halal Kitchen cookbook), coconut cream, desiccated coconut, coconut flakes and now, dried coconut which turns out to be one of my favorite ways to make it. You can find dried coconut in the dried goods or nut section of many grocery stores. 

Coconut Yogurt Cups

Ingredients:

1 cup plain whole milk Mountain High Yoghurt

1/3 cup dried coconut pieces

1 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)

Directions:

In a small container with a tight-fitting like or a Mason jar, place the yogurt. Chop or dice up the dried coconut into bite-size pieces. Add coconut extract, if desired. Stir thoroughly. Store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Strawberry Jam Yogurt

This is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to flavor yogurt. You don’t even need a blender for it! Just choose your favorite low-sugar or no-sugar jam. I’ve done this with apricot (the recipe in my cookbook), sour cherry preserves (my absolute favorite) and now the summer strawberry jam because it looks and tastes so good! 

Here’s how to do it:

1 cup plain whole milk Mountain High Yoghurt

2 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves

Directions:

In a small container with a tight-fitting like or a Mason jar, place the yogurt. Add the jam on top. Stir and swirl thoroughly into the yogurt when ready to consume.  Store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

*Recipes like these were also demonstrated during my participation at the Halal Food Fest in Fremont, CA a couple months ago. Check out my Facebook page to see the live demo, as well as on my Instagram page. Also, check out Mountain High Yogurt’s Facebook page for more details on recipes and how to use their delicious halal-certified yogurt in your halal kitchen.