Spiced Autumn fruits salad with low-fat Greek yoghurt and crunchy granola

Nutritious post-exercise snack

This fruit salad makes a really tasty breakfast served with Greek yogurt and crunchy granola. The fruit is high in fiber, antioxidants and minerals, and eating it with yogurt and granola gives you a light, balanced and delicious breakfast with protein, calcium, slow-burning carbohydrates and good unsaturated fats from the nuts. You can make the fruit salad in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to a week to snack on when you fancy, and the granola will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Method

For the spiced Autumn fruits salad:

1. Put all the ingredients except the apple into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for about 10 minutes, adding the apple after about 6 minutes, until the dried fruit becomes plump and the fresh fruit is tender, but not too soft.
3. Spoon off the fruit into a bowl and boil the syrup at a high heat for 2 minutes. Pour the reduced syrup over the fruit and leave it to cool. You can serve it warm or cold. The compote keeps well (and the flavors improve) for up to a week in the fridge.
4. Serve in a nice glass bowl, with a good spoonful of Greek yogurt and some crunchy granola sprinkled over the top.
For the crunchy granola:
1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix together the oats and nuts (whatever you fancy — I like flaked almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, walnuts and pistachios. Pecans and hazelnuts are good too ...) with the spices and the honey, oil and water.
3. Spread the mixture evenly onto a large baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown, turning the mixture around every 10 minutes or so for it to brown evenly.
5. Leave to cool and crisp up and add the dried fruit if using (raisins, crystalised ginger, dried apricots, figs and or or dates (optional)).
6. Store in an airtight container.

Ingredients

For the spiced Autumn fruits salad:

• 1 large hard pear, cored and cut into wedges
• 1 good quality, sharp apple like coxes, cored and cut into wedges
• 2 plums, halved and stoned
• Approximately 12 pieces of whole dried fruit — prunes, apricots or figs
• 2 cloves (optional)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• Zest of half an orange
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp preserved ginger syrup
• ½-1 tbs soft dark brown sugar
• 200ml apple juice
• 150ml water

For the crunchy granola:

• 200g unrefined porridge oats
• 250g mixed nuts
• 100g mixed dried fruit, chopped
• 2 tbs honey or maple syrup
• 2 tbs water
• 2 tbs sunflower oil or melted butter
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger

Vital Statistics

Serves: 2
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Good for: Weekend brunch, post-exercise snack or light meal. Nutritious and sustaining, this dish will provide a balance of protein, essential vitamins and minerals and cholesterol reducing omega-3 fatty acids
Calories (kcal): 173.3
Protein (g): 1.5
Carbs (g): 39.8
Fat (g): 1.1
Fiber (g): 4.7
http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/spiced-autumn-fruits-salad-with-low-fat-greek-trans-yoghurt-and-crunchy-granola/