I am so thankful to have a rest day at home today after a long week, it was wonderful sleeping in a little this morning after running on a lack of sleep for most of this week. There was a lot going on at work including a major upgrade that I was up until 1:30 AM working on from home one night while having to be back at work by 7:30 AM that morning. And man, I felt the lack of sleep the next day being in a low-energy fog and craving lots of junky foods, resisting the bin of Red Vines always sitting in our department was harder than usual. And I’ve been noticing a lot of not-healthy food cravings this week just because I’ve been exhausted and craving anything to make it better. But when I was able to get to sleep, it didn’t come easily with so much work stuff running through my mind – not good at all!
So this week I’ll be focusing on getting my sleep schedule back in gear and how what I’m doing and eating when could be affecting it. One thing Cherie Soria mentioned at last year’s Raw Health Expo is she stays away from fruit and sweets after 2 PM because they can be too stimulating before sleep for her which I think I’ll try this week, no more fruit for dessert and I’ll just have to have raw dessert balls for breakfast instead. :-) I’ve also read that foods that are too salty late in the day can be equally sleep disrupting with water bloat and middle-of-the-night peeing. So I’ll be conscious of how much salt I’m consuming too. Also I’ll be cutting the calorie intake off at 7PM on work nights which is my usual rule… except the occasional glass of wine last week after a stressful day, that will be stopping too this week. Sigh.
Sticking to a high raw diet this week has not been tough at all because it’s been hot – really dry and hot! Today’s high is 106, hello summer! Even hot coffee is a turn-off in these temps, bring on the cold and wet salads and smoothies! Our pets have been enjoying toasting in the warm sunshine while I’ve been totting large water bottles with me where ever I go.
And craving lots of meal salads making the perfect excuse to create lots of new, hearty dressings to go with them.
Dill is one of my favorite herbs that is just perfect in cool, summer recipes with it’s strong and crisp flavor. And it goes so well with creamy and tangy dressings.
Creamy Hemp Dill Dressing
- 1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. dried dill
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup water
Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend to a smooth and creamy texture. Makes about 4 servings.
The dressing is thick, very thick needing to be scooped out of the blender container and the way I like it because it coats the veggies evenly.
And makes a very creamy and rich salad with a tangy dill kick that was perfect topped with fresh group pepper.
It made a lovely chilled satisfying summer dinner on an extremely hot summer evening.
As usual, this dressing was Miko-approved too.
that’s a perfect dressing and salad…the flavors of it all, fresh, raw, easy…love this!
and 106F??! It’s like..maybe 62F and overcast here so far!
we make similar dressings! love using hemp and sunflowers in sauces.
good luck with getting your sleep cycle back, we need to do the same
I’ve been loooooving dill lately!