today was nothing but activities for me! I had a wonderful day with Bill and my brother. It is finally starting to hit me that I am doing a half marathon in November and I want to do as best as I can- so I better start training while the weather is pretty!
I have this new way of running to motivate me- and that is to run to places with water... aka gas stations, lake naomi cafe lodge, and probably work soon! It's been a lot of fun and makes running more enjoyable. Honestly, I love to run...I will run however long I want to; sometimes though, it can be a struggle to motivate myself, especially when I don't start my mornings early. If my mornings do not go as I hope they do, I get all messed up! I love working out early; I found it much harder to work out later on in the day, so if I don't work out in the morning, I have a pretty terrible afternoon workout (if at all), and I feel like a turd.
Today was a totally different story- not only did I have an awesome run in this beautiful weather, I played some tennis with my two boys and walked my dog. PHEW, I am beat let me tell ya! For days like these, I always have to make sure to keep my protein up so I don't wear and tear my muscles and I can lift weights tomorrow. My go-to thing is Almond Butter. Yup, I am obsessed with this stuff like no other. I love it because it is the best protein fix after an intense work out. And not only that, but I make my own little concoction to not only get my protein fix, but also fiber as well! I love making homemade almond butter and I usually make it when my bulk foods section in my grocery store has a good price on almonds. That way, I can eat almonds on the go, or I can make almond milk, or just make more almond butter!
Almond butter is a great recipe that every gluten free veghead should know how to make- so here's mine!
Almond Butter
3 cups Almonds
2T Chia Seeds
2T Flax Seeds
1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend for 15 minutes
This is what it should look like after 2-3 minutes- still a fine flour texture but you have to scrape the sides
After 5 minutes, your mixture starts to be crumbly
After Another 5 minutes (10 minutes total) has gone buy, a little ball starts flying around (it's the most exciting part!)
This is after a total of 12-15 minutes- the most glorious part: when you have your buttery, silky texture.
Variations
- If you want "crunchy" texture, scoop out your almond butter and place in a cup of almonds and chop them up. Fold them into your almond butter
- Other butters you can try at home: Peanut, Cashew, Sunflower Seed, maybe hazelnut or walnut- the possibilities are endless!
- Mix and match seeds with other variations- I'm going to try a peanut butter banana butter, and see if pecan butter works
What are some butters you have made, or would like to see on here? Lemme know!
