Cranberries brighten up carrot salad and circumvent "pickiness"

Where carrot salad is concerned, the case for "Do as I say, not as I do" never could have been more apt.

Our girl-child was (and still is) a picky eater. When I say picky, I mean the type of eater who practically sits at the table with tweezers and, morsel by morsel, plunges into every serving of food to separate out what she chooses to ingest and what she doesn't.

Repeated parental efforts to dissuade this habit didn't go very far. One day after a not-so-gentle reprimand she countered, "It's the same thing you do with carrot salad."

She had stopped me in my tracks. Horrified, I realized her words were true. Much as I loved to order carrot salad at any cafeteria (an earlier blog discussed how I grew up dining on carrot salad while eating at the old Wyatt's cafeteria in Dallas' Casa Linda shopping center), I steered clear of the raisins in the salad and always picked around them to eat only the shredded carrots and dressing.

I had modeled an annoying behavior that my child had picked up. Ooooh, how little eyes are always watching. Lesson learned.

That's partly why I was delighted when I stumbled on this recipe for Ginger-Carrot Salad with Cranberries. After I read it, I knew that no watching eyes surveying me as I dined on this dish could nail me for being picky, since this recipe subs dried cranberries for the less-than-desirable regular raisins. The contrast of the red cranberries to the orange of the carrots makes this a beautiful holiday offering. And of course you can't get any more healthy than with a mixture such as this one (sliced, cholesterol-lowering almonds represent a terrific addition.)

With Ginger-Carrot Salad with Cranberries I could practice what I preach and for sure eat every morsel on my plate--with no picking!

Ginger-Carrot Salad with Cranberries

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon freshly grated or finely minced ginger

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

2 cups grated carrots

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

In medium bowl whisk together lemon juice, honey, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and yogurt. Toss with carrots and cranberries. Garnish with sliced almonds. Chill before you serve. Makes 4 servings.