Blech, Sunday night already and a bittersweet one heading into a busy week at work. I’ve been in a bit of a fog this weekend dealing with sinus pressure and headaches, a rare annoyance for me, so it’s been nice to sleep in and relax a little bit at home. Yesterday I had a snack plate of leftovers for lunch before running out to stock up at Costco, a large plate of chopped veggies with a container of leftover carrot miso dressing and hummus for dipping.

After Costco, I spent some time in the kitchen preparing a simple, yet delicious, raw fruit salad for a Cinco de Mayo themed birthday party for my niece. It just contained chopped watermelon, pineapple, and fresh minced mint leaves for a crisp and refreshing treat in the hot weather.

It’s always a party hit that’s so simple to throw together.

Thankfully there were plenty of vegan options at the party too from baked beans.

To fresh, homemade salsas.

I was able to assemble a tasty, layered vegan plate of beans, minced black olives, salsa, lettuce and crumbled tortilla chips that looked strange, but was very tasty.

It was a fun, but long party full of screaming kids on a trampoline and plenty of alcohol, both hubby and I were pretty wiped by the evening and happy to get home to take the dogs for a long walk and enjoy the super bright moon – wow!

We weren’t the only ones, I noticed a lot of walkers and runners out at 9:30 PM enjoying the rare moon, you won’t catch me running that late after a few margaritas!

Today was another relaxing day of sleeping in and leisurely catching up on chores for the week. And we saw The Avengers in the afternoon in a very crowded theater. All I can say is wow! The movie was non-stop action with amazing effects, totally worth putting up with the crowds for! And it inspired me to create a new hemp dressing for dinner, well Ironman did since he’s always eating healthy in the Ironman movies and was snacking on blueberries in The Avengers.

Print Recipe

Blueberry Hemp Dressing 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds

1/2 cup water

4 tbsp. turbinado sugar or agave nectar

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt Place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend to a smooth and creamy texture. Makes about 4 servings.

The dressing is light, airy, and sweet, with a refreshing tang from the balsamic vinegar, perfect for veggie or fruit salads. It pairs well with spinach, red peppers, carrots, and other slightly sweet veggies. And it has a pretty purple blue color that’s very cheery for spring and summer.

Don’t forget to enter my OXO giveaway, I will announce the winner in a couple of days!