Saturday 28 May 2011

All the better to see you with my dear

I love carrots. You can eat them raw and dip them, grate them into salads, roast them, BBQ them, pan fry them with a little butter and brown sugar, boil them, and mash them.

Ok. I don't really like mashed carrots, but I love carrots any of the other ways I mentioned.

It's just that eating mashed up carrots reminds me of baby food and that's not the most appetizing thing.

But since carrots are so healthy, I'm ready to give up on a whole way to eat them just yet.

I used to think my mom was just trying to make me eat my veggies by telling me that carrots help you see better, but it's sort of true.

Carrots contains beta-carotene and your body can convert that into vitamin A. Vitamin A is an essential vitamin for healthy vision and fights things like cataracts, glaucoma, and night blindness.

It's found in bright orange and deep green leafy vegetables, liver, fish oil, eggs, and fortified dairy products. I do eat some eggs and dairy products, but liver and fish oil are not featured in my diet at all. That means I need to make sure I am getting my vitamin A in all those veggies.

One way to tell if you need to increase your carrot intake is to check how well you can see at night. If your vision isn't that great you might want to try my recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup.



Carrot Ginger Soup

4 cups of homemade chicken stock
1 large sweet onion, diced
6 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
pinch of salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 cup sour cream

1. Warm chicken stock in a soup pot and add onion, carrots, and potatoes to your stock. Simmer to cook through. It will take about 20 - 30 minutes.

2. Puree soup with an immersion blender. Add grated ginger and salt and pepper to taste. If you keep your ginger in the freezer, it's much easier to grate.

3. Serve soup with bowls of sour cream and fresh cilantro to top with. Enjoy!

My soup tastes great, even though it's mashed carrots.

It's a soup though, so it's different than regular mashed up baby food carrots. :)

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