Honey Garlic Roasted Carrots

I hate raw carrots.  Really.  And one of my strongest childhood memories is of my grandparents making carrot juice and their whole house smelling like carrots.  I don't like them in salads, pick them off of pad thai, can't stand coleslaw at all, refuse them heartily even with a dip or hummus or peanut butter.  There's gotta be a Dr. Seuss story in here.  I can tolerate them cooked in some things (like they're ok sometimes (if small and not mushy or hard) in soup, and I love nut-free (and that's a mission critical part) carrot cake...) but raw: just.can't.stand them.  And that goes for other orange vegetables too -- sweet potatoes, peppers, squash, pumpkin.  Some of the fruits are great....peaches, apricots, mangos, those little yellow orangey tomatoes.  Persimmon & papaya if I have to.  But in order to eat the orange vegetable category I have to track down recipes that are truly spectacular.

This one is.

I was gonna make them for dinner on Tuesday but decided against it for some reason.  However, I'd already made the glaze that morning so I just prepped the carrots, tossed the glaze, and dropped it all in a plastic dish with a lid & left them on the counter for 2 days.  Cooked them for lunch today.  Perfection. 

Moral of the story:  put this dish together when you have a few minutes and just leave it on your countertop to cook sometime that week.  You'll have a veggie side with no work beyond turning on your oven.  I'm pretty sure they'd be good as leftovers.  Also pretty sure you could do this with turnips or parsnips.  If you topped it with a few chopped pecans you'd have a holiday side dish.  Or simply extra protein.  If you like pecans.  Which I don't.  Unless it's pecan pie or they've been sugared first.  :)  So I won't do that, but you could.

You can see it at the link here but the basics are below.  It's really, really easy and if I like it I'm pretty sure you and even your kids will.

Stir together in a bowl:

• 1/4 c apricot or peach preserves/jam
• 2 T honey
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T butter, melted
• 1 t balsamic vinegar
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1/4 t ground mustard (if you don't have it don't bother buying it)
• 1/4 t thyme leaves
• 1/8 t ground cumin
• 3/4 t salt
• 1/8 t pepper

Then toss in 2 lbs carrots, peeled & ends chopped off, quartered the long way so they look like carrot sticks.  If you don't wanna peel carrots just use those little baby carrots.  More expensive but zero prep.

Cover a baking sheet with foil & lightly coat it with cooking spray.  The reason for the foil is simply that the glaze can blacken & burn and the clean up is a heck of a lot easier with foil.

Spread carrots in 1 layer on the pan with the sauce all over them.  Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  Give them a little toss around 15 minutes.  Poke with a fork to check tenderness.  Garnish with fresh parsley.

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Blueberries.  Is there a more wonderful, kid-friendly fruit?!  I found this cookbook at the library and brought it home.  I'm tempted to buy it, there are so many recipes I love.  This is one of them.  We adore blueberries in our house and if breakfast comes in cake form....well, who can argue with that?!

The recipe calls for an 8x8 square pan but I threw mine out a while ago and haven't replaced it so I used a round cake pan instead.  If you use a larger pan than that it would be fine but with a thinner layer you'd just need to track with the baking time...anywhere from 5-8 minutes less probably.  I have fresh blueberries in the fridge but used frozen ones for this recipe - just threw them in the microwave for 45 seconds to take the chill off. 

Total breakfast success.  100% delish.  And if we'd had more time (or company overnight) I'd serve with yogurt or scrambled eggs and bacon.  And pretty healthy -- high fiber blend of whole grain wheat & oats with antioxidant-rich blueberries.  Your kids will think they're eating dessert!

Mix together in a large bowl:

1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/2 c plain yogurt
3 T butter, melted (I only had 2T so added 1T canola oil)

In a separate bowl blend these together:

1/2 c oat flour (didn't have this so threw some oatmeal in a food processor til almost powdery)
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c sugar (although I think 1/4-1/3c would do)
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Then:

• Toss the dry into the wet & stir til just blended (not too much)
• Add 1 1/2 c blueberries & gently fold them in.
• Spread into a greased (I use cooking spray) 8x8 pan (see my note) then sprinkle with a little cinnamon & sugar on the top....I think I used maybe 1/2 t of sugar....pinch between my fingers & sprinkled over the top.
• Bake at 400 for 25 minutes (may take a few extra minutes to pass the toothpick test).

Note:  Recipe calls for 2T chopped walnuts on top too...I'm allergic to walnuts & couldn't come up with many foods I more intensely dislike the taste of but it would add a protein boost if you like them.  Almonds would be a great alternative.  If you go that route, a little lemon zest in the batter would be fantastic.  And speaking of alternatives....instead of blueberries....raspberries, blackberries, chopped peaches or apricots or pears....all of those would be great.

Source:  Cancer Wellness Cookbook, Kimberly Mathai (2014)