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.

Apples make delightful, healthy addition to fall-like Carrot Salad

No coincidence that my spotting a clever new recipe for Carrot Salad, a staple I enjoyed in my childhood, and frequent drives past the setting for that enjoyment--the Casa Linda Shopping Center in Dallas--occurred within the same week.

Hubby and I motored by this east Dallas treasure--in my growing-up days known as Casa Linda Plaza and once home of the revered Wyatt's Cafeteria--on the way to the Dallas hospital which housed our newborn grandbaby.

No, August, did not turn out to be Baby Month as we expected. That little guy, with a mind of his own, must have decided that August was just too hot and that he'd wait until September, that great fall harbinger, to make his entrance.

But once September swept in, Precious Grandboy did, too. As Hubby and I blitzed past Casa Linda (now home of the revitalized Highland Park Cafeteria, a successor to the beloved Wyatt's of former day) to get to our many hospital visits, I again recalled to Hubby the story of my dining on carrot salad there so often that my hair could have turned orange.

Lo and behold, what should appear before me that same week but a delightful new recipe for Carrot Salad--not mimicking the cafeteria legend but an enjoyable one nevertheless. I was drawn to this recipe, featured in my "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" cookbook from the Chickasaw Nation, because it featured grated apples along with the standard carrots and cabbage. Resembling coleslaw, on preparation this dish immediately was tasty but became even more delectable after it marinated for about eight hours.

Apple days and more apple days are ahead of us. (What says autumn--especially September--more appropriately than does a shiny red apple?) My apple recipes already are getting a dusting off as I shelve my summer recipe binder and replace it with the one that says "fall".

Besides apple crisp and apple cobbler and some of the more expected apple-based menu items, I was happy to find apples in this most unexpected place--"healthening" up Carrot Salad.

Carrot Salad

2 red delicious apples, grated

1 lemon, juiced

1/2 pound carrots, raw, shredded

8 cups cabbage, shredded

Dressing:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and pepper

Put the oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, honey, and oregano in a screw-top jar. In a large bowl sprinkle the grated apples with the lemon juice; toss to coat. Add carrot and cabbage; mix thoroughly. Shake the dressing, pour over the salad, and toss well. Chill and serve. Makes 4-6 servings.