For April, I selected carrots as our vegetable of the month. Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables because they are so versatile. They are delicious raw, baked, fried, roasted, broiled, or boiled. They can be used for appetizers, side dishes, soups, salads, or stir-fries.

They pair perfectly with potatoes and celery to add to roast chicken or pot roast. You can put them in smoothies, make carrot juice, or puree them for baby food. You can make carrot cake, pancakes, muffins, or cookies.

Carrots are root vegetables first grown in Afghanistan around 900 AD. In addition to orange, carrots also come in purple, yellow, red, and white. Early carrots were purple or white. Orange carrots were developed in the 15th or 16th centuries in Central Europe.

They are low in calories and a source of antioxidants, vitamins A, B6, C, and K, fiber, and potassium. They also contain calcium, magnesium, and iron. Rich in beta-carotene, they are good for your eyes and can help protect your eyes from the sun and lower your risk of developing cataracts. Yellow carrots contain lutein which can help prevent macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in the U.S. Red carrots contain lycopene which can help prevent heart disease.

Consuming too much beta-carotene can turn skin orange-yellow and interfere with the absorption of vitamin A.

For this issue, I made two of the three recipes I selected. I’ll get to the pancakes later this month, but I included the link for the recipe for you, https://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/carrot-cakes

I made gingered carrot and kale ribbons. I found the recipe on Rachael Ray’s website. Here is the link,

https://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/gingered-carrot-kale-ribbons

The recipe is simple and delicious. I ran out of leeks and kale, so I substituted red onions (aka purple onions) and a mixture of kale and spinach. The recipe came out great. The onions gave it a nice pop of flavor. Those are the only substitutions or changes I made. The carrots are the star of the recipe, but the ginger and golden raisins are definitely scene-stealers. I served it as a side dish paired with green beans, broccoli, and cedar plank salmon marinated with soy sauce, lemon, juice, garlic, black pepper, and ginger. Delicious!

I will definitely make this recipe again when I have leeks and more kale.

Next, I made a carrot cake. When my kids were little, they loved carrot cake as long as it didn’t have coconut. I have no idea why they don’t like coconut because I love it. In their honor, I found this delicious coconut-free recipe with cream cheese frosting on Sally’s Baking Addiction. Here is the link, https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/my-favorite-carrot-cake-recipe/

I used walnuts instead of pecans in this recipe. Walnuts aren’t as sweet as pecans, and I like how they balance out the flavor. There are several ingredients in a carrot cake, but shredding the carrots is the only time-consuming thing you have to do. Sally says not to buy shredded carrots and I have to agree – freshly shredded carrots are much moister and better for the texture of the cake.

While the cake was baking, I made the cream cheese frosting. The recipe calls for 4 cups of confectioners’ sugar and that was a real “red flag” for me. I don’t like my frosting overly sweet, so I decided to add a cup at a time and one cup was all I needed. I’d advise you to use the same trick when you make it. It’s easier to add to a recipe than try to counteract an ingredient.

The cake and frosting were delicious. Carrot cake is one of the few cakes that tastes better after being refrigerated and this cake can be refrigerated for up to five days.

Our vegetable for May will be beets.

The Twelve Months of Vegetables

January                             Cabbage             Mahi Mahi Soft Tacos

February                           Zucchini              Chocolate Zucchini Bread

March                               Leeks                   Colcannon

April                                   Carrots               Gingered Carrot & Kale Ribbons and Carrot Cake

May                                   Beets

June                                   Kale

July                                    Broccoli

 August                               Potatoes

September                       Green Beans     

October                            Spinach

November                        Corn

December                        Asparagus