Simple food // 01

I have never really been much of a cook, with a mother and grandmother at home most of my childhood. But the last couple of years I have been experimenting more with food and this past months I have actually enjoyed cooking more at home. To my disbelief, my time alone in the kitchen ended up being one of the most relaxing and stress relieving parts of my day.

And to help myself into a big effort to eating healthy, I wish I continue spending more and more time in the kitchen. This means you will hopefully see a few food posts around here from time to time and I hope you enjoy them. But don't forget how I started this post and expect real simple dishes.

Let's go with the first one, a fruit and nut parfait. Many of us feel bloated after the holiday season, so what a better time to make this refreshing parfait for yourself. Here are the ingredients you will need. Feel free to adjust the quantities to your liking.

- 1 cup creamy yogurt (Greek or plain - mine was a bit tart but balanced perfectly with the toppings)
- 1/3 red apple
- 1/2 banana
- 1/4 cup nuts (I prefer walnuts, but you can use anything)
- 2 tbs. butter
- 2 tbs. brown sugar
- 1 tbs. honey
- cinnamon
- 2-3 kumquats (optional)

Chop up the apple and banana into small cubic pieces. Heat a pan on the stove with the butter. Add the chopped fruit, walnuts, brown sugar, honey and sprinkle some cinnamon. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until they get soft and golden but not too gooey. For this purpose you can leave out the banana, but I needed it for sweetness because my yogurt was a little tart.

In a glass/cup/mason jar put half of the yogurt. Add half of the fruit mixture on top of it. Repeat with the remaining yogurt and top with the fruits again. You can add more fresh fruit or nuts to your liking. I added 2 kumquats to make it more exotic. Feel free to adjust the ingredients to what you have on hand, just make sure the yogurt is creamy so it doesn't let out water when in contact with the heated mixture.

That's how easy it is. Enjoy it as breakfast, snack, desert or even dinner. Will you be trying it anytime soon? Let me know what varieties will you create please!

| Love, Lisa |