This post was originally about the fact that I’m not a good snacker. However, my mother’s enthusiasm for one aspect of that topic meant that the post became a saga to rival Gone With the Wind. So, I decided it deserved its very own blog post (although I haven’t told her she’s now in a leading role in this particular production! Hi Mum!).

A couple of weeks ago I was provided with a box of goodies from Chobani. My US readers will be well aware of the company – indeed I’d been reading about it in their blogs for yonks before the company launched in Australia last year. I LOVE that the company has long-supported bloggers and recognised the strength and potential of our voice. In fact, after I was contacted by the company, my mother (aka the yoghurt freak) went out and bought Chobani yoghurt, rather than her usual fare.

As an aside, I try to make the same statement with other purchases (not re their support of bloggers, but of those with allergies!). I try to support companies like Hans and Gravox which choose to make their products gluten-free. If bacon, ham, soy sauce, stock powder or gravy mixture can be made gluten-free without losing its taste then why don’t all bloody manufacturers make the effort?! (Rant over!)

Back to the Chobani Greek Yoghurt. When being healthy (and snacking), yoghurt is one of my go-to snack options… although I’ve really only ever liked flavoured yoghurt. And… confession time again… my disdain for fruit means I don’t actually eat fruit yoghurt! So when offered the yoghurt by Chobani I wondered if I could say no to the fruit flavoured yoghurt and only go with their natural greek yoghurt.

However, in the end I shared with my yoghurt-freak mother the fruit flavoured yoghurt. She’d already bought a large tub of no-fat (0%) yoghurt and the passionfruit yoghurt. Her trick is to mix them together for a less sweet / less sour combo. She’s been doing this with yoghurt for years. She loved both the Chobani yoghurts, saying that the passionfruit yoghurt was much thicker than many on the market. (Did I mention she eats A LOT of yoghurt?!) As well as eating it on its own or with fruit salad she likes to have it on her cereal for breakfast.

You will note that I captured her taste test of the strawberry yoghurt on film. Again she thought it thicker and creamier than most and told me it contained more fruit. (Apparently the thickness comes from Chobani’s ‘straining’ process!) I also shared some with my aunt and uncle and then endured a lunchtime conversation about the fruit placement – top and bottom – which they found pleasing. (As a non-fruit eater I tried hard not to gag!) Although… I had a couple of teaspoons of the strawberry yoghurt and quite liked the taste though was nervous about accidentally ingesting some fruit! (After all, I have eaten two apples in 2012 so I don’t want to set the bar too high!)

I sent mum off with some more samples and as a lover of summer fruit, she was particularly keen to try the mango flavour and pineapple flavour.

Because I’m on the lookout for summertime snacks, I was excited to receive a Chobani popsicle pack in my parcel. I’d already made up some cordial iceblocks for summer, but the notion of some healthy yoghurt CHO pops was even more exciting. Suggested recipes included the fruit yoghurt with extra fruit (and some lemon juice and honey to taste). Oh… be still my beating heart! NOT! Fruit schmoot! I mixed my low fat (2%) yoghurt with some honey; and the Yogopops (as I like to call them!) are scrumptuous. I feel quite justified in having one at breakfast time after a walk, or in the evening after dinner.

My mother – an avid baker and cook – also suggested I ‘whip up’ a dessert using some of my yoghurt. (She’s trying to encourage me to not forage for chocolate after dinner!) Although I hate jelly and find it too sweet, my mother promised that combining some jelly mixture with yoghurt would offer me a sweet (though not too sweet) dessert option which is a bit like a blancmange (or junket – ie. very 1970s!).

So she offloaded onto gave me some low-calorie jelly (is that jello in the US?!) and I set about making this complicated recipe – ie. mix up jelly and before it starts to set, mix through yoghurt. Did I mention I’m not much of a cook?!

My end product was still a bit sweet for me, so next time I’ll use more yoghurt but it was an easy, handy and healthy dessert to have on hand in summer.

On a roll, my mother then sent me a photograph of the lunch she made herself yesterday using her Chobani no-fat yoghurt (this ‘taking pictures of your food’ habit is catching! She’ll be blogging next.).  The mustard crumbed fish recipe she found in the Woman’s Day is also simple enough for me to make:

• 3/4 cup of yoghurt
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 4 x 150g of firm white fish
• cornflake crumbs

Basically you just combine the yoghurt and the mustard; dip the fish into it; then coat with crumbs and bake for about 20mins in a hot oven until cooked through and lightly browned. The recipe she used was accompanied by a spinach dish which she conveniently ignored. It looks pretty good to me, so gluten-free breadcrumbs or similar are now on my shopping list.

I’ve seen people making muffins and all sorts of things from yoghurt – shocking to me given that I’d only ever seen it as a snack or dessert!

Are you a yoghurt fiend?
Do you eat it straight or make stuff from it?

By the way, my Aussie readers only have one day left to enter the competition to win a $100 voucher from The Athlete’s Foot!