Feeling Nutty 5 Minute Dip

I finally got caught up last night!

So excited about Serena and Nate!!!

I didn’t think I was going to have time to watch last night because I was planning our FL trip for a couple hours and it got very late.

I was drinking green tea all night in my new mug.

Surely I can’t be the only person who gets giddy over new mugs? ;) It honestly made my whole day every time I looked at it. So much better than the brown one I was drinking out of!

However, I pushed my limits with the tea. I was drinking tea until 11pm and then I could NOT sleep for the life of me. I was all wired up on caffeine and Gossip Girl. I finally fell asleep around 2:30 am. Note to self: Only decaf after 6pm!

I managed to have a lovely tempo run this morning despite my bad sleep.

If I only slept 5-6 hours, a healthy dose of exercise usually makes me feel like I actually slept 6.5-7 hours.

The tempo run:

• Mile 1: 6mph, incline 2%
• Mile 2: 6.2 mph, incline 2%
• Mile 3: 6.4 mph, incline 2%
• Mile 4: 6.6 mph, incline 2% (I sprinted the last 100 metres at 8 mph)
• Total time: 37:57 mins.

I also did 60 lunges on each leg. I felt on cloud nine after this workout. I also got some super exciting news about my best friend and I have just been grinning all day long!

I made this easy nut dip last night. I have been meaning to make a nut dip for ages now and yesterday was a dip kind of day!

Feeling Nutty 5 Minute Dip

Adapted from ‘Rawsome Nut Dip’ from Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup pistachios
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/2 of a bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 6-8 tablespoons water
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of both basil and thyme

Directions: Toss ingredients into a food processor and process until almost smooth. Use a spoon to scrape side of bowl when needed. Serve with crackers, veggies, or on toast. This can even be used as a layer in a veggie lasagna!

Note: Feel free to play around with different nuts- that’s what I did! Try to use more sweet nuts (cashew, almonds pistachios) than bitter nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, etc) for optimal results.

This dip is really good! I toasted up some Ezekiel bread and spread some on and it was so delicious. I also can’t wait to try it as a layer in a veggie lasagna. I have been meaning to make a vegan lasagna for a while. Anyone have any good recipes?

FYI: I updated some notes and observations about my Energize Me Creamy Fruit Dip from yesterday! See the original post for the notes (following the directions).

I am also glad to hear that I am not the only photo happy photographer! :mrgreen:

I took about 40 shots for this photo shoot. A bit better, right? ;) I am trying to cut down the amount of pictures that I take because my hard drive is FULL of food pictures. It is actually quite ridiculous how many I have on my PC!!! I just love photography.

I organize my personal pictures in folders by year (2000-2002 are grouped together since I didn’t have many):

And within these folders are sub-folders organized by the event + date:

As for my blog pictures, I organize them in a different folder on my desktop. I organize them by year and then by month (no specific dates). I am hoping to move all my food pictures onto an external hard drive because they are taking up WAY too much space and slowing me down!

How do you organize your digital pictures? Do you put them into one folder or do you organize them by date or subject? What about hard copies of pictures- do you use photo albums?

I am the worst for not printing pictures. I have a gazillion photos on my PC but I never get around to printing any! Thankfully Eric backs up my PC for me.

Have a GREAT one!

If you don’t like who you are and where you are, don’t worry about it because you’re not stuck either with who you are or where you are. you can grow. You can change .You can be more than you are.
~Zig Ziglar