Pumpkin Parfait

I really am not a fan of always working 3 12-hour shifts in a row (the exception would be if I worked nights). Really, one 3-in-a-row week here or there is fine with me, because it means a longer weekend (even though I am useless on my first day off afterward). I worked Wednesday through Friday this week. On Friday I changed into street clothes as fast as possible, layered myself in smell-goods, and drove off into the sunset for dinner at Ted's Montana Grill and a concert at the Civic Center.

My chicken soup and salad held me through lunch, and the pumpkin and granola parfait I made for my afternoon snack re-energized me while I was charting admission assessments or between med passes. I stole the recipe from the February issue of Fitness magazine and made it gluten and lactose-free.

Pumpkin and Granola Parfait
1 container (6 ounces) plain [or vanilla] low-fat [goat milk] yogurt
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice [*see my combo below]
1 [handful of GF granola, or about the same amount as one crumbled granola bar]
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Mix together yogurt, honey and pumpkin-pie spice. In a bowl, layer yogurt mixture, granola bar crumbs and pumpkin.


Pumpkin Pie Spice
make a little container of this, and save some for future creations.

1 part cloves
2 parts ginger
4 parts cinnamon

(Ex: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves)


The remaining part of the weekend was a typically busy weekend in A-Town. Saturday we laid low, ending the day with pasta night at a friend's new place. I tried the Tinkyada white rice spaghetti, which is quite good. It tastes just like gluten-containing pasta, imagine that. While the white rice version is good, I am smitten with their spinach spaghetti. GF Italians everywhere are declaring it molto bene, I'm sure.

Sunday we went to my favorite brunch spot, R. Thomas, for another amazing brunch. Nick and I ran a few errands in Buckhead, took the scenic route by the mansions off Paces Ferry home, danced in Nick's living room, saw seeing STOMP (ah-mazing! in-credible!) at the fabulous Fox Theatre, and topped it off with the second half of the Superbowl. Now that it's Monday all over again, I have to come down from such a great weekend slowly, and ease myself into preparing a few more delicious meals this week.