How To Make A Healthy Yogurt Breakfast Bar :: A simple weekday breakfast idea!

Letting the kids serve themselves with nourishing, power packed yogurt toppings will become one of your weekday breakfast staples with this easy, healthy yogurt breakfast bar!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A fresh new summer

I’m sitting here writing this post trying to figure out where the last 9 months have gone! Moments of this past school year seemed to be never ending, while most of it really and truly feels like a blur to me! Regardless of how the last year has looked for you, I invite you to look at summer a little outside the box than most.

Relaxed, yes. Taking advantage of summer energy – totally!

I don’t know if it’s the sunshine that my body so desperately needs, but summer always brings a renewed energy toward fresh projects, organizing previously unorganized spaces, and, as a blogger, a flood of new ideas to use this space to help others. While many use the summer to take off work, take it easier, and back off on things, I tend to have more creative energy in the summer, and really find it is a good season for me to knock out new ideas. Will there be relaxing beach days? More than you can count! You bet! But between juggling my 3 girls, getting our feet in the beach sand, and home life, I’m hopeful to stir things up over in this space a bit more in the next few months.

With the season change this year, comes a brand new season of life for this momma.

Nine years. The last 9 years of my life have literally revolved every minute of every day around the little people here in our home. I wouldn’t trade the last 9 years for anything! But this fall, all THREE of my babies will be in full time school, and quite frankly, I am SO many things. I am literally all the above. Happy, sad, joyful, terrified, lost, accomplished…relieved to have made it this far and still have kept all 3 alive.

A new kind of busy

While I completely and utterly bow down to my newborn momma readers here today (I do promise you, sweet momma, that they will sleep someday!), I always imagined this season of life as having a more time to play in the kitchen with new ideas. That has really proven to be false, as I’m outside of the home way more now than when I was a newborn mom! It really is all about perspective and priorities. My health goals and priorities are always a non-negotiable, but I’ve figured out some “short-cuts” to allow some of my other “outside of the kitchen” priorities still happen – in other words…balance. Right?!

Self Serve Yogurt Breakfast Bar!

Once your littles get to the age of being able to self serve (don’t underestimate this – I’m not talking 9 or 10! I’m talking 3 years old, and for those little “responsible beyond their years” first borns…you could probably start this around 2), this breakfast idea will become one of your weekly menu rotations. The possibilities for loading these bowls up is literally endless. The kids will be full and focused for a full day of play and school starting their day off on this foot!

First things first! The yogurt!

So let’s talk yogurt! Dairy free or non-dairy, homemade or store-bought, you have so many options. There won’t be any claims of one right way, or superior yogurt style here. Only what works best for your family, their digestions, and your schedule. We want a sane momma – that is the end goal. If store-bought yogurt means momma feels more on top of her day, then grab that {quality, non-sugar added} store-bought yogurt. If making your own yogurt makes your heart feel full and accomplished! Girl, you make that yogurt then!

If you are going for store-bought yogurt here are some things to make sure you look for:

• Plain/No Sugar Added. Sugar or sweetener doesn’t need to be in the ingredient list. You can add fruit or control your own sweetener like honey this way. Many store bought sweetened yogurts are worse than candy bars when it comes to grams of sugar.
• Full Fat/Whole Milk. Low fat or fat free isn’t don’t anyone any good. Our cells, organs, hormones, blood sugars all need fat to survive and thrive. It will make the kids feel more satiated, and it will feed their ever growing brains the fat they need.
• Dye Free. If you are meeting the above 2 points, you probably don’t need to look out for this, but I’m just mentioning it in case! Yogurt shouldn’t need fancy colors – they mess with kid’s brains and moods. Just be mindful of it, and watch those labels.

Safe Store-Bought Yogurt Options (Dairy & Dairy Free):

• Any local whole milk yogurts. The area I live in is pretty abundant in either Amish farms, or all grassfed farming practices that also make yogurt. This is really going to vary where you live. I would recommend if you would like to find local yogurt, to check farmer’s markets or local health food stores. Ask around!
• Maple Hill Creamery Full Fat Grassfed Yogurt
• Organic Valley Full Fat Plain “Grassmilk” Yogurt
• Stoneyfield Full Fat Plain Grassfed Yogurt
• {Dairy Free} SoDelicious Full Fat Coconut Yogurt (Plain or the Vanilla both don’t have added sugar). Our local grocer and health food stores carry the 32 oz tubs of plain and vanilla which is great on the budget buying in that size. If you don’t see it where you live, ask for it! It can never hurt to ask for your stores to carry something!
• {Dairy Free} CoYo Full Fat Coconut Yogurt
• {Dairy Free} The Coconut Cult Full Fat Coconut Yogurt

Homemade Yogurt Options:

Here are some great recipes for yogurt if you would like to try making your own! It is so rewarding, and I still do this some of the time!

• How to Make Raw Milk Yogurt (Nourished Kitchen)
• Homemade Matsoni Yogurt (Nourished Kitchen)
• Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt

Now the FUN part!

The toppings and add-ins! Not only is this part fun for the kids, this is the part that will add even more nourishment to their bowl to make this a full, balanced meal that will stick with them all morning. Here are some ideas:

• Fruit. This can be seasonal for sure. In the winter I do a lot of bananas. In the summer it is usually berries. Wintertime means some dried fruit occasionally as well when most fruit is out of season. The fruit also helps add a bit of sweet to the bowl. If you have really little guys at home, I’d skip the honey all together and just keep them used to fruit and the sour taste of yogurt. All 3 of my girls still eat yogurt without honey (ages 9, 7, and 4). They just have never had it any other way. It is possible to train their palates to loving the tart yogurt taste.
• Seeds. Rotate these around each week to change up nutrients! Chia seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds – so many options!
• Nuts. Again, rotate these around to change up nutrients. I think the nuts do best with yogurt when you chop them up a bit just fyi.  Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios  are all great, and places like Costco are now starting to carry their nuts in organic too! That is awesome on the budget!
• Grassfed Collagen. This is a no-brainer to me now, but might not be something you would think of right off the bat at first! Grassfed collagen adds a great little protein punch to your yogurt bowl (10 grams for per scoop!), and especially for those using coconut yogurt which is lacking in protein, it is a fantastic addition. This real food source of grassfed protein is tasteless and also has a gut healing component to add as well.
• Granola. There are a number of granola recipes on the blog here, and if you need pre-made, I found a bunch of great granolas to try on Amazon if you just search “sprouted granola” or “paleo granola.” Here are a few of the more popular recipes on my blog (I do make our granola for our household to save on the budget since we go through it pretty fast) :: Grain Free Apple Cinnamon Granola, Simple Cinnamon Granola, Morning Glory Granola, and Honey Cluster Granola (this uses rhubarb but you can sub for apples).
• Other “superfood” boosters. My kiddos LOVE the Acai Berry Powder from Perfect Supplements. Not only does it make their yogurt a super cool purple color, it makes the yogurt a bit more berry in flavor. They love it, and it is a great superfoods berry with loads of antioxidant power for them. I also think this is a great spot to add in probiotic powders, vitamin C powders for immune boosting, etc if you have a hard time getting your kiddos to swallow/accept those items. My girls all swallow caps, but as babies, I used yogurt as a vehicle for supplements a lot!
• Real food sweeteners. This is super optional, but if you have older kiddos used to sweeter things, do not try to force them on the no honey train. It isn’t worth it. Raw honey is loaded with minerals and enzymes that are great for them, and you don’t need a ton of it to make the kid’s sweet tooth happy. Raw local honey, pure maple syrup, or coconut sugar is just fine in small amounts.

Tips for keeping the “self serve” part {ahem!}…mess free…

I know, I know. Seriously, I get it. It is SO much faster and less mess to just do it yourself. But I promise you, that if you do a few of these tips, you can have a really streamlined yogurt bar flow even for a Tuesday school morning that won’t leave you with a big mess to clean up when they are done.

• SHOW them and practice (and not on a school day!). So plan your first and second yogurt bar on a day that the kids don’t have to be out the door by 8am. Set it up on a Saturday morning so you can demonstrate and help them practice how to serve themselves appropriately.
• Use the right sized serving bowls. If they are too big and cumbersome, you are sure to have a mess.
• Use the right sized serving utensils. This will help with portion sizes.
• Give them portion specifics. “You may take 1 teaspoon of chia seeds.” “You may take 4 spoonfuls of yogurt”. If you use the same serving bowls and utensils each time this will make this part easier. I typically serve the yogurt, for example, right out of the yogurt tub (most of the time I get the SoDelicious coconut yogurt in the 32oz tubs) with the same serving spoon. The girls know that my youngest gets about 3 “scoops” with that spoon, and my oldest knows she takes about 6 “scoops”. I have teaspoons or tablespoons set out for seeds and nuts or other toppings. They  have learned appropriate portion sizes this way, so they don’t under-fill or overfill their bowls and end up with an unhappy amount of one thing or another. I have a bunch of these little teaspoons and these tablespoons so I can set them out easily to serve.

Balance is the key to sustainability.

When it comes to eating real food in the time and space we live in today, keeping it going without quitting a month in all boils down to balance. YES our society needs to take a step back, get out of the drive through, and step into the kitchen a little more. We need to turn off the TVs and phones and turn on the stove. Put some boundaries around extra events and get around the table with family more often. BUT…we also don’t live in the same world our ancestors did. We do have different responsibilities and lives than they did. I’ve been going at this real food thing for well over a decade now. What constitutes sustainability for that long? Making sure there is some grace in my meal plan. I cook breakfast from scratch a good portion of the week, but I *big puffy heart* love my Wednesday morning yogurt breakfast bar! I hope this breakfast idea gives you some inspiration to keep at your real food goals! XO, Renee

More real food breakfast ideas you might like ::

• GF Lemon Breakfast Cookies
• GF Simple Cinnamon Granola 
• Instant Pot Mini Egg Fritattas To-Go!
• GF Mini Pancake Muffins
• Paleo Fig Breakfast Bars 
• GF Baked Oatmeal Cups
• The Ultimate GF Breakfast Cookie
• Paleo Mini Banana Muffins