Yogurt is a great treat at any time of the day whether as a snack or part of a meal.

While yogurt, especially the ones ready mixed with fruit or fruit flavors, is great straight out of the container, it also goes well mixed with other things. For me this mixing works for both the flavored and plain yogurts.

I first got the idea of mixing yogurt with other foods years ago while reading James Michener's 1971 bestseller, The Drifters. At one point in that book the narrator, an American sales rep working out of Geneva, Switzerland, described his favorite breakfast as including granola mixed with yogurt.

Granola was just starting to be marketed in the United States at the time I read the book so I tried the combination and liked it. Since then I have experimented mixing yogurt with cereals and other foods with great success.

I have always enjoyed mixing yogurt and fruit and lately Costco has been offering a reasonably priced bag of fresh frozen blueberries. These are nice sized, almost as large as marbles, plump and tasty once thawed. The blueberries can be thawed quickly in the microwave or, they can also be placed in a covered bowl and set on the kitchen counter to thaw over night.

While great plain, I have been mixing them up with yogurt and other ingredients described below to make a nice breakfast dish.

- Thaw some frozen blueberries in a bowl

- Sprinkle a little cinnamon on the blueberries for added taste (optional)

- Add a generous helping of walnuts

- Mix in yogurt

- Sprinkle some roasted sunflower seeds on top (optional)

A market near us sells small bags of various types of sunflower seeds which my wife has been buying recently.

They have a number of different varieties but she has been purchasing ones that have been shelled and roasted but nothing added (they also sell them salted and roasted and roasted with other ingredients as well but we prefer the plain ones).

These make a great snack by themselves, but they also go well with blueberries, or other fruit, and yogurt.

Blueberries and Roasted Sunflower Seeds:

- Thaw some frozen blueberries in a bowl

- Sprinkle a little cinnamon on the blueberries for added taste (optional)

- Add two or three tablespoons (use more or less depending upon taste) of roasted sunflower seeds.

- Mix in yogurt

Mixing cinnamon is another option that I have just discovered.

I have always liked cinnamon but never thought to add it to yogurt until recently when I was out shopping and a marketer was passing out samples of yogurt that were flavored with spices like cinnamon and ginger along with fruit or something else mixed in.

The taste was appealing but a little strong so I have started just lightly sprinkling a little cinnamon on the blueberries before adding the other ingredients.