Two Carrot Gems

Carrots are inexpensive, but often overlooked as a side dish option, especially in the cooked form. Shane likes the flavor of raw carrots, but says he has a hard time swallowing them for some reason. For that reason, I almost always serve them cooked.

Here are a couple of carrot recipes that appear in my October menus. The bacon in the first gives the carrots an almost "western" flavor, while the glaze in the second is similar to the flavor of apple butter.



Chuckwagon Carrots

3 cups sliced carrots
1/4 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (I used turkey bacon for both health and economy)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons sliced green onions
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper

Place carrots in medium saucepan; add enough water to cover. Bring to a full boil. Cook over medium heat until carrots are tender-crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain; return to pan.

Add remaining ingredients. Cover; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 6 minutes.

Serves 4.

Source: Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes





Cinnamon Carrots

1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup tomato juice*
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound frozen baby carrots, cooked and drained**

In a 2-qt. saucepan, stir together cornstarch, tomato juice, brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth.

Over medium heat, cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add carrots. Heat through, stirring occasionally.

Serves 4.

Source: Campbell's Quick and Easy Recipes



* I had bought vegetable juice cocktail (V-8) for another recipe, so used that instead of tomato juice.

** For cost savings, I used regular fresh carrots instead of frozen baby carrots. I cut them into strips, add just a little water, covered with plastic wrap and microwaved for 4-5 minutes until tender-crisp, then drained them before adding to tomato glaze.