Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

These glazed carrots were a new addition to my family's Thanksgiving this year, and they have now become something I make regularly. They're easy, but a total crowd pleaser. Carrots are a very simple side dish, but adding the brown sugar brings out their natural sweetness and enhances the flavor.

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Red Cabbage and Carrot Slaw

In this fun time of limited grocery store supplies, I recently ended up buying a couple red cabbages since there was no lettuce available. I have always loved cabbage salads and slaws and decided to look for a lighter recipe that would last a few days. The plus side of a cabbage salad is that it will still be crisp and delicious on day two.

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Vegetarian Asian Noodle Salad

My office recently had a potluck and I often struggle whit finding out the best options to bring to these. There are always too many appetizers and dessert, so my aim is usually for something a bit heartier. Since I don't own a crock pot, I am limited to cold options. I decided and Asian noodle salad would be a great option. These are best served cold so it makes the perfect potluck menu item. I kept this dish vegetarian so that everyone could enjoy it. You can make this a day ahead and just mix it before serving it the following day.

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French Green Lentils with Roasted Beets and Carrots

About 6 years ago I was on a huge lentil kick. I used to make lentil salads every other day for work and find ways to add them to my everyday meals. I made a lot of mujaddara during this time as well. For some reason lentils have since gone off my radar, until my mom sent me this recipe. This is a warm, comfort food type of dish that is very guilt free (at least in my opinion). This makes a main course as itself, especially if you serve this with a salad and some crusty bread.

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Carrots

When I was younger I used to dread any meal that involved Brussels sprouts. Luckily, times have changed and I now love them! From Brussels sprout chips to grilled Brussels sprouts, I love them all. This recipe is a very simple one and you can add any roasting vegetables you like to the mix. I happened to have carrots and Brussels sprouts at home, so that is what I used. I also sometimes add chopped rosemary or other herbs to this mix.

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Honey Rosemary Roasted Carrots

I discovered my love for honey roasted carrots about 5 years ago when I was in a phase of making lamb roasts every few weeks. One day I decided to drizzle some honey on the vegetables surrounding the meat and I was hooked. I remembering eating more veggies than anything else that night. I now like to make honey roasted carrots as a side dish to a variety of main courses. I last made these as part of a vegetarian feast where I made a bunch of different salads and roasts (I had a ton of farmer's market veggies to use up). I use fresh rosemary in this recipe, but you can improvise with whatever you like.

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Carrot and Green Onion Salad

My local grocery store has been stocking really great organic carrots lately. They are much sweeter than the normal carrots in the shop and make a great salad on their own. I feel like a kid lately, snacking on carrot sticks and dunking them into all sorts of dips, but they are so good. If you have a mandoline, this salad comes together really quickly. What I also love about carrot salads is that they don't get soggy, so if you have leftovers you can still eat them (and actually enjoy them) on the second day.

You can definitely play around with this salad. I sometimes add a bell pepper or some cucumber if I have other veggies to use up. You can also use different vinegar, such as white wine vinegar, and if you don't have a mandoline or kitchen gadget for slicing carrots, you can just grate them with the large holes on a box grater.
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Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

After another spell of cloudy, snowy weather, I decided it was time to start baking again. I was craving cream cheese frosting, and what suits that better than carrot cake? I wanted to make a moist, flavor-packed cupcake and this recipe sounded like the perfect fit. This batter is not only delicious when licked off a spatula, it makes one of the best carrot cakes I've had.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the ingredients available for Smitten Kitchen's frosting, so I made a basic cream cheese frosting which was delicious and so easy to make. I usually don't have much success with your usual buttercream frostings as I find them too sweet, but I've never made a cream cheese frosting that didn't turn out great.

If you need to make these ahead of time, keep the cupcakes stored in an airtight container up to 2 days and frost them just before you need them. I had 1 leftover cupcake (which I had in the fridge so nobody else coud find it) and it was still great the next day. I also made slightly fewer cupcakes than the recipe suggested since I filled my cupcake forms higher than 3/4 full. Either way you go about making these, they will be a definite hit with any carrot cake fan.

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Swiss Carrot Cake (Rüeblicake)

This is another recipe from Betty Bossi, the brand put on some great Swiss cookbook. The Betty Bossi recipes I use are generally older than me, but they are great. I especially love the Betty Bossi baking books, where I have yet to make a cookie or cake that I dislike (of course I skip over some of the really outdated sounding recipes). This cake is great plain, or you could top it with a cream cheese topping. I sometimes make muffins out of this batter. That way, if it's just me at home, I can freeze most of them and just thaw them when my sweet tooth kicks in.

This is a really simple carrot cake, but it is a flavor I love every time I make it. Though I haven't tried it yet, I would guess you could sub half the butter for applesauce. Somehow I never remember to buy apple sauce before I make this recipe, but while I'm making it I remember that it would have been a good idea. For the almonds, you could use either almond meal (which is just finely ground almonds) or put slivered almonds in a food processor or blender. Either method works, but I usually grind the almonds myself.

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Pan Roasted Chicken with White Wine

I came up with this recipe while looking at coq au vin recipes the other day. I had some chicken in my fridge, but was missing all the fancy kitchen supplies to follow any recipe exactly. I was also missing some ingredients that seemed essential. So I opted for  a pan roasted chicken, which turned out being easy and delicious. If you had a bigger pan, you could keep your veggies in bigger pieces and add other vegetables as well. There is plenty of sauce to add more meat if you want to (you could double the amount of meat). I also didn't have a pan with a lid, so I placed another heavy bottomed pan on top of the other to create a lid effect, which worked great as well. I also added some cut up strips of bacon to this recipe, but didn't feel like it added much flavor, so next time I will omit them.

There is a lot of sauce to be used when you serve this meal. I made mashed potatoes with this dish and put a generous spoon of the sauce over the mash. It would be great over noodles as well. This dish warms up well, so your leftovers will be tasty too. If you're lucky enough to have herbs growing in your garden, the ingredients for this recipe and really simple and easy to find.

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Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

When it comes to baking, I don't usually make an effort to use "healthy" ingredients (at most I'll mix in some whole wheat flour with my white flour). I stick with butter and sugar and am usually please with the results. Sometimes, though, I really want to have a breakfast muffin that doesn't make me feel guilty for having consumed something so unhealthy at 9 am (and lets face it, I usually have at least 2). I actually came across this recipe on accident and was really, really skeptical about the ingredients. I thought I would give it a try since, oddly enough, I had everything required at home. I was not expecting to like these. I was hoping that they would be good enough for an on-the-go type of snack or a quick breakfast option, but didn't think I would love them. I was so very wrong. Turns out these muffins were so good that the first batch of 20 were gone within 2 days and I made another batch a week later. I even made a third batch to put in the freezer so I could just snack on these when I wanted.

Now to clarify a few things. These muffins are probably not considered healthy by people who bake with alternative ingredients and count their calorie intake. They do contain sugar and white flour, but they require much less of both ingredients than many muffins do. There are also tons of healthy ingredients baked into the muffins, like zucchini, carrots, almonds, and apple. I also cut down the amount of oil required in half and added some apple sauce to the mix to keep things slightly healthier. They are unbelievably moist and stay that way even a few days after you bake them. I stored mine in an airtight container and they were still great on day 3.

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Soba Noodles with Fresh Vegetables

A while back, my sister's friend sent her this recipe for an easy soba noodle dish. If you've never eaten or cooked soba noodles before, don't worry. Soba noodles are made from buckwheat, and though they cook quicker than traditional pasta, their taste is not too different. When my sister first made made this dish, I was instantly hooked. The dressing is delicious and pairs perfectly with the flavors of each ingredient, the veggies are crispy and fresh, and it still tastes amazing the next day.

I've had this a couple times now, and each time it has been slightly different. Once I was out of cilantro, but didn't feel like anything was missing since the dressing is so flavorful. Another time I forgot to use tofu, and realized that it does not play an important role in the dish. Feel free to leave it out and save yourself a step by not having to fry cubes of tofu. You can also play around with the vegetables used. Last time I made this, I added extra napa cabbage and edamame since I was trying to use them up.

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