Here’s an easy, simple carrot salad that will be a great side dish. I love packing this for a summer picnic. Sweet, tangy, crisp yumminess! I like shaving the carrots into ribbons or strips using a vegetable peeler. If you wish, you could grate or julienne them.

Tips

- For extra crisp carrots, place the shaved carrots in a bowl of water with ice cubes.  Pat dry before dressing
- When you measure the ingredients for the vinaigrette, measure out the olive oil first. Then use the same measuring cup or spoon to measure the honey. They honey will slip out of the olive oil coated measuring spoon easily
- The vinaigrette will keep for a few weeks in the fridge, so its a great make ahead item!
- I used white wine vinegar for the salad dressing. Apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar will also work well. For a citrus touch, try adding lemon or orange juice and zest 

I love serving salad dressing in this mini creamer jug I brought back from my trip to Thailand.

Shaved Carrot Salad with Pecans and Honey Vinaigrette Recipe

serves about 2

3 medium carrots
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
Honey vinaigrette, recipe below

Peel the carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the carrots into long ribbons (see photos above). Lightly toast pecans in a skillet. Sprinkle pecans over shaved carrots. Serve chilled, with honey vinaigrette (recipe below).

Honey Vinaigrette Recipe
Whisk together 2 tablespoons each of olive oil, honey, and white wine vinegar. Add salt to taste.

I was suddenly gripped by an intense and urgent desire to make granola at home. Didn’t want to make dinner that night. Didn’t want to go to the store to buy granola ingredients. But I just had to make granola. Right that minute. (I’m weird like that). I suspect this granola craving rubbed off from my sister who was visiting me. She is a total granola junkie and can go through a whole box in a day. So M, this one is for you ♥ 

Like I said, I hardly had any of the ingredients needed to make granola. So I just used what I had on hand – instant oats, wheatgerm and almond meal.  This is by no means a ‘proper’ granola recipe, but it certainly tastes good. Take a look at some of the other granola recipes on the web:

Addictive granola on Tastes Like Home
Four grain granola bars on Whats For Lunch Honey
Savory granola trifle on Jugalbandi
Low fat citrust granola on Inn Cuisine
Granola cookies on Dandy Sugar

Clementines are a type of mandarin orange. They have cute little sweet segments with lots of juice. You could also use a tangerine for this recipe, but it probably wont be as sweet as a clementine. You could of course, substitute with good old orange.

Simple (Improvisational) Oat and Almond Granola Recipe
makes about 2 1/2 cups

1 cup rolled oats (I used instant oats because thats all I had, but rolled oats will make better granola)
1/4 cup wheatgerm
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I used almond meal because thats all I had)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pre heat oven to 300f

Place oats, wheatgerm, almonds and brown sugar in a bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together oil, vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of water. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well until clumps form. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake 30-40 minutes or till the granola is crunchy. Stir the granola every 15 minutes while it is baking. Once completely cooled, store granola in an airtight container.

Clementine Honey Recipe
makes about 1/4 cup

1/2 cup fresh clementine juice (substitute with tangerine or orange)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon tangerine zest

Place clementine juice and brown sugar in a small pan and bring to a boil. Continue boiling till the mixture reduces in half and becomes like a syrup. (Be careful sugar burns easily!). Turn off heat. Stir in honey and zest. Clementine honey will thicken once cool.

To make granola parfaits

Layer granola, Greek yogurt and tangerine honey in serving glasses.

Ive walked past boxes of snowy white Enoki Mushrooms at the Asian store. I’d stop to admire these floral looking clusters, but never bought them because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. But this time I picked up a box, telling myself if they were so pretty to look at I’m sure they’ll taste good.

Enokis are a delicate, slightly sweet mushroom. They hardly need any cooking. Infact, you could use them raw in this recipe if you wish.

Crispy SeitanSeitan – about 5 large pieces. I use white wave seitan.
Rice or plain flour – 6 tbsp
Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp
Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil

Mix the flour, chili powder, garlic powder and salt. Dredge the seitan pieces in the flour mixture. Heat one tbsp of oil in a pan, and pan fry the seitan till golden brown on both sides.

Now place the seitan on a cutting board and let it cool. Once cooled, cut into strips.

Enoki Mushrooms and Snow PeasEnoki Mushrooms – one 7 oz box
Snow Peas – about 25
Sesame Seeds – 2 tbsp

Cut off the end one third of the enoki cluster. You should now be able to separate the mushrooms into individual stems.

Saute the mushrooms in a pan with some oil on medium heat for about 1 minute.

You could also use the mushrooms raw.

Trim the ends of the snow peas. Boil water in a pot and add snow peas. Boil for 1 minute. Drain snow peas and place them in an ice bath. Drain before using.

Sesame Honey SauceSoy Sauce – 4 tbsp
Sesame Oil – 4 tbsp
Honey – 1 tbsp

Whisk all ingredients together.
Combine the mushrooms, snow peas and seitan in a bowl. Pour the sesame honey sauce over the vegetables. Toss carefully.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.