No matter how hard I try, every summer I put on a few uncomfortable pounds. I tend to refer to them as the Summer 6. This year is no different than previous summers. The struggle is real people! I’m not really all too worried about it – I love ice cream and white wine in the hot summer months way too much and won’t give that up, however the excessive snacking on potato chips and other daily salty crunchies has got to go. Eating out more than a few nights a week has to stop too! The reality: summer break is over for us in just a couple of weeks (sad face) and a more structured routine is on the horizon. My discipline is much better with structure and routine so all will be well soon enough.

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Over the summer break, I had a little more time in the mornings to play around with breakfast. I introduced my kids to parfaits and they loved them. I know it’s not a novel idea, but I’m more of a spooning granola over a bowl of yogurt and fruit kind of girl versus layering it up all pretty in a parfait. But there’s nothing wrong with changing it up sometimes!

I’ve always loved the flavors of cherry and almond together (hence, why I love this holiday candle so much!!) – it’s the perfect combination in my opinion. I picked up a bag of dried cherries recently thinking I was going to make a Michigan inspired chicken salad like this one, but they ended up in granola instead. I guess I need to get more, because I can’t stop thinking about Sheila’s salad on that croissant – kinda wishing I had it for lunch today.

I’ve shared recipes for homemade granola on the blog before, and this one is not much different. The great part about granola is you can stick to a standard recipe, then just change up the flavors a bit each time. For this granola recipe, I used honey for the sweetener (as opposed to maple like I tend to use) and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.

As for the parfait, it’s simple once you have your granola cooked up. The granola is layered up between sliced fresh cherries and plain or vanilla yogurt (we like to switch up between regular and Greek yogurt). That’s basically all it takes to make a pretty little parfait – and a healthy snack. My kids were over the moon excited when I presented them with one – made me feel like Mom of the Year for a second. 🙂

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The post Cherry Almond Granola (and Summertime Cherry Parfaits) appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.