Fresh Carrot Salad

After the craze of the holiday season I love the idea of January. That fresh start, a renewed commitment to cleaner eating and less drinking, kick starting the exercise routine again…. The freshly scribed list is beautiful, but the execution of these goals — a total bitch.  Like most, I start strong, go hardcore for few days and then slip right back to the old ways.

You know that old phrase about insanity doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? I decided to stack a few cards in my favor to make it through the month clean and lean (or at least able to zip up my skinnies by Valentine’s Day). A few tactics: wait to start until the kids are back and settled in school, printing out our January calendar for some serious prep and meal planning and letting my January Pick Now! Calendar point me to the freshest ingredients of the season.

This raw carrot salad is a great one to add into the rotation. It’s fresh, healthy, tasty, easy to throw together and grab from the fridge — a much better choice than scrounging out the leftover Christmas stollen. Even better, this can be made mid-morning making for an easy, bright side dish to serve with any type of protein for dinner.

My kids love these carrots, they have a zing, a crunch and a sweetness that really satisfies. There is no oil, just amazing bright flavor from the apple cider vinegar (see note below), lime and honey. I can personally attest that the leftovers make for a great lunch paired with beans and a dollop of Greek yogurt. We’ve got this, right?

Note: I always use Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar. It’s a locally owned company making awesome organic, raw and unfiltered vinegar. A few years back I did food styling for Edible Santa Barbara and Bragg Vinegar was a featured product. I got a serious schooling in the fundamentals of apple cider vinegar and have been a Bragg convert ever since.

Leftovers turned into lunch.