Shredded Carrot Salad

So I have been in Texas for slightly over 48 hours and I am yet again reminded of how not conducive this state is to a vegetarian diet. I usually will settle for some sort of fish dish because technically I'm a pescetarian, but a)"pescetarian" sounds way more pretentious than "vegetarian" and b)any fish in Dallas, TX is either coming out of the Gulf of Mexico (Mmmm delicious oil!) or being imported from some far away fish farm. No thank you!

So taking matters into my own hands, and with a little help from Stumble Upon, I made a delightful Carrot Salad that's super light and tasty and perfect for a very hot and humid Texan summer.

Shredded Carrot Salad

Ingredients:
3 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
2 green onions
1/2 white onion
3 tablespoons EVOO
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce (I recommend the green tabasco sauce)
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
Freshly ground black pepper and Sea salt

Directions:
Finely chop both the white and the green onions. Combine shredded carrots, cilantro, and onions in a large mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, combine EVOO, lime juice, hot sauce, mustard and whisk until fully mixed. Add salt and pepper according to your preference.

Drizzle dressing over the solid ingredients and stir until everything is evenly distributed. Put in the fridge and let sit for at least an hour to chill. You can absolutely eat it right away, but it is much more refreshing once it has been chilled and once the flavors have had some time to absorb through the salad.


I wish I had taken a photo of the salad, but I devoured it before I could even think to do so. The original recipe for the salad can be seen here with an image, but there are some major differences between the two (namely, I did not put mint into my salad, while I did add white onion. Also, I made a slightly different dressing).
Next time I make this salad I'm thinking of throwing in some celery for a little more flavor and crunch. Enjoy!

Happy Food Times

The other day Mikey came home from work with a totally rad surprise for me-- My very own Whole Foods team member discount card! I get 20% off of everything in the store. Thank you, Whole Foods benefits program! Needless to say, I have already put that little piece of plastic to good use. This past weekend alone I have baked banana bread, sugar cookies, and lemon cookies, all of which were delish, though nothing out of the ordinary because I tend to bake sweets on a regular basis. I did break out of my shell a bit and I made some roasted red peppers stuffed with a crimini mushroom and parmesan risotto. 

Oh. My. God.

 I'm not sure if they tasted so good because they actually were, or if the taste of my pride was overpowering all the flavors of the dish itself. I didn't even follow a recipe, which I personally think is the best part.

These pictures don't make the food look very appetizing (I have terrible lighting in my apartment), and even with the discount I don't really want to spend extra money on parsley or rosemary sprigs just to use as a garnish for my food. That, and I really dislike when food is garnished with something edible that you're not even supposed to eat! How wasteful. I think next time I will sprinkle some green onions on top to add some more color and flavor. Oh, or maybe a little bit of lemon zest and nutmeg! Ugh, now I'm just making myself hungry.