What yogurt is good with

I seldom buy flavored yogurt. Don't like it much (although Brown Cow makes a fine product with cream at the top that you can toss if you're being good or mix in if you are feeling like a treat. Try the vanilla; it's flavored with maple syrup.). I can create fruit-flavored yogurt by mixing in a few spoonfuls of jam.

You'll want to start with good quality plain yogurt -- Nancy's or Trader Joe's French Village or Brown Cow plain. The cheap supermarket stuff tastes nasty. Or buy a yogurt maker and make your own. I used to do that, using Nancy's as my base.

Today I experimented with texture, mixing in chopped roasted almonds for crunch, dried cranberries for sweetness and chopped candied fruit peel (it's in the 2004 recipe set, for those of you who get my yearly mailing) for chewiness.

Other candidates are granola, chopped dates, raisins (especially golden ones), other types of dried fruit and other varieties of nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. I suppose you could add mini chocolate chips--they were in the breakfast condiment trays everywhere when we visited Germany--but I resist the idea of candy in yogurt.

And of course, there is always fresh fruit or berries, or even applesauce. My favorite is bananas, with brown sugar. That is an intoxicating combination.