Tonight I completed my very last run before the marathon this Sunday… which meant 4 miles in the icy, freezing cold!!!
Ok, not really. When I was running it was in the high 50’s/low 60s. I absolutely LOVE this weather, but I think I was a bit underdressed! The wind was also pretty brutal… I’m very thankful we are expecting such great marathon temps, but I do think the cold will be more challenging than I am anticipating.
Are you waiting on pins and needles for me to let you know the secret recipe for my Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip that I mentioned in yesterday’s post!?!?!
Here ya go folks… I must say that I was not the only one that fell head over heels for this dip, even the guys at the football party were chowing down like it was the regular, cholesterol and fat-laden “real” cheese dip 
Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip:
*1 c. raw cashews
* 3 T. lemon juice
* 2 T. nutritional yeast
* 2 T. tahini
* 1 c. unsweetened almond milk
* 1. tsp red wine vinegar
* 2 T. olive oil
* 2 squirts mustard
* 2 tsp. salt
* 1 T. cornstarch
* 1 tsp paprika
* ½ tsp turmeric
* about 3/4 c. canned or homemade salsa, to taste
Blend all ingredients until smooth, unless you want to leave some salsa chunks for texture. This was awesome!!! I have made mock “cheese” many times before, some good, some eh, and some bad. This is truly a fabulous recipe and I urge you to try it!!
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Tonight’s meal wasn’t quite as groundbreaking, but it was a bit different and interesting thanks to this guy….
Welcome to my kitchen, celery root!
Pretty attractive, huh?? It’s a bit scary and intimidating at first, but very simple to fix – I just sliced off the jagged, tough edges with a regular steak knife and then sliced up the inside like I would a potato. I cut them into tiny matchstick shapes since I wanted the meal to cook faster.
Here’s what the inside looks like… it’s got a bit of that faint “watermark” look, kind of like an eggplant does, on the inside.
Sometimes known as “celeriac”, celery root is full of potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin B6.
I threw the chopped up celery root with a few potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions sliced and roasted them for about an hour.
This was served alongside a soup that I made from making a variation of my Creamy Tomato Sauce, but this time it was even better since I made it with muchas handfuls of fresh basil! Does fresh basil not make the world go round?!?!
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I love trying new types of produce like celery root – what is the oddest food item you have tried recently, or would like to try once you get up the guts – since it can be scary trying something as bizzaro-looking as the celery root!
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Gratitude Journal:
1) I feel so grateful to have the job that I have. It can be very challenging at times, but overall it makes me very happy and I feel very lucky!
2) It felt great to run my last run today before the marathon… I just know that by Sunday I will be itching to run again!!!
3) As boring as I may be, I’m off to get to bed in a few minutes here and let me tell ya that I cannot WAIT to get a lovely 8 hours of sleep! And on that note, have a lovely night! 
I'm a school social worker who is also a newlywed (and had a Big Fat Greek Wedding, no less!) living in Chicago. I am starting this blog to talk about the training process I will go through to prepare for the Chicago Marathon, while also raising awareness for Ceasefire, a Chicago anti-violence program.
Can’t wait to try this!!
[...] The World’s Best Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip [...]
i cannot wait to try this nacho cheese! yum!!!
YAY for finishing training! GET it girl! you are going to do awesome in your marathon!
Val, thank you for your comforting words last week. It really means a lot to me. Sorry also for not commenting. I missed your posts!
OMG, your marathon is this weekend already?! Good luck, you are so going to rock that race!
So close!!!! I canNOT wait to read your race report, girlie, on Sunday/Monday/whenever you get it up!!!
Sounds like we got the same wind you have- I am about to head out in it now… going to overdress probably, after reading about how you were cold!!!!
Love your body this week- it is going to do amazing things for you this weekend!!!
That celery root is awfully funky looking!
The marathon is coming up fast! I can’t wait to read about how you smoked it!
Hi there! Thank you for checking out my blog – naturally, I had to do the same with you
As for the social work piece – I graduated last May (08) with a Master’s in clinical social work, and worked as a domestic violence counselor while doing my fieldwork, as well as in my job since graduation. What about you?
I love the tagline of your blog – I’m going to browse around a bit more!
That nacho cheese looks soooo good! Get some rest tonight!
Love roasted root veggies!! The oddest ones I have tried recently were yucca root & rutabaga. Love them both!
your dip sounds great – i’m definitely gonna give it a try sometime! are the cashews necessary or can you use another raw nut?
[...] used a variation of my nacho cheese dip recipe (minus the salsa), but added some more nuts and tweaked the rest of the recipe a bit to make it even [...]
[...] Through the raw food movement I discovered new methods of preparing food, and found new recipes that have greatly inspired how I cook today. Without discovering great new finds, such as that you can make something taste cheesey by grinding cashews or by adding nutritional yeast – I never would have had the creativity to create many of my now-favorite recipes, like my favorite Vegan Cheesey Nacho Sauce! [...]
[...] recipe to tweak to make the dish. Over the summer I was quite pleased with the creation of my Vegan Nacho Cheese Dip, which can be easily modified to make just about any cheesey dish. Here’s how I did [...]