Carrot Salad

 

This one is so good and so GAP/SCD perfect.  Once you are able to consume raw carrots this salad is quick and easy.

The recipe looks something like this…

1 1/2  grated carrot per person

kefir or coconut milk or a combination of homemade mayo with yogurt enough to moisten the salad.

A handful of raisins

A handful of grated coconut

A couple of tablespoons of honey if desired.

Mix it all together and let sit a couple of hours for the flavors to meld together.  This is a salad that is good to keep on hand for those carrot lovers…it makes a great snack and a terrific side dish for a meal.

I have only given a basic recipe.  Carrots Salad can be made with all kinds of variances.  Some people use only orange juice and honey…My mother has put peanut butter in it…etc. Also things like walnuts can be added…or for a different flavor hot or bell peppers, or cucumbers…etc.     Or you could dissolve gelatin in heated water and add it to orange juice and make a cold molded salad.

This post is all about an idea.  If you have never made a carrot salad give it a try.  Dust off the food process and see how quickly you can put this one together and then see how quickly it will get eaten.

 

 

 

Carrot Soup

A couple of days ago, I prepared the juice for my next batch of carrot wine. I hate to waste food so I decided to use the leftover cooked carrots to make a carrot soup.   The problem was that I didn’t have any chicken stock on hand but I did have venison broth.  I was not sure if an alternative stock would be very good, particularly since the carrots themselves were a little bitter.  But I decided to go ahead and give it a try.  I blended up most of the carrots in the stock and immediately thought it was a mistake.  Have you ever done that, started out with a good idea and then stopped after you started on something only to think that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all? 

Well, that was the way of my carrot soup. Now, I had a big pot of “soup” and I had to figure out a way to make it something my family would be willing to eat.   Well, I opened up the spice drawer and began with the salt and pepper.  When making soup you always start with the salt and pepper. These two are essential.  Salt is necessary to bring out the flavor in the spices.  Pepper is just part of most good foods.   I added in a scoop of coconut oil to give the carrots and venison a little fat to help the digestion along.  Then I decided on curry powder because it goes well on most veggies.  At this point my carrot soup tasted more like carrot goo and I was beginning to panic.   In a state of wondering what we were going to eat for lunch if this failed, I remembered that a dash of nutmeg is essential to all vegetable soups.

The mess still tasted bitter…I kept thinking and looking in my spice drawer, asking myself what goes with nutmeg?   Well of course, coriander and cinnamon.  That was much better but I could still detect a faint bitterness from the carrots.  What would you do?

I added in some crushed mint.   This was a real gamble because darling hubby isn’t always fond of mint in his food.  He tolerates it very well in his mint juleps and tea but when it comes to food it can be over powering to his palate.

Surprisingly, the mint cut the bitter and the soup was actually good. (Even according to Hubby.)  I gave it a good drizzle of honey to sweeten it up a little bit and we had lunch!!

So when you are having one of those days, when things aren’t working out the way you want them to, take a deep breath, and don’t give up.

Happy New Year!!

carrot soup