Switching Up Salad

We are about halfway through November and I am still surprised every time I look at the calendar.  It is cold and we've had snow, but somehow it doesn't feel like mid-November yet. I'm lost somewhere in September, I think, as that sounds much more reasonable. Summer always seems to go fast, but this one really flew by.

One of the drawbacks of the colder months is less access to fresh vegetables at a good price. One major budget blower in the winter is lettuce. In the summer a big, beautiful romaine is $0.79. In the winter they are small, wilty, and $2.49 ($2.99 some days). The price increase and quality drop has already begun, and I came home lettuce-less on my most recent grocery run.

One thing that is cheap and plentiful this time of year is carrots. I really like carrots, but I have a hard time just eating a carrot and not being so completely bored. I find even dipping them boring - and my jaw gets mad at all the crunching. I asked Google if there was a way to make carrots more exciting - and Google didn't let me down (it rarely does).

I found a recipe for carrot salad. So simple, I never thought to do it. Just grate a carrot, season it, and eat. This recipe suggested mayo and lemon juice. I tried it and it tasted pretty good. The next day I mixed a spoonful of Greek salad dressing with the shredded carrot and it also tasted pretty good. For my third try I mixed in some chopped cucumber and topped it with cucumber dressing. It was tasty too.

I currently have 5lbs of carrots in the fridge and I'm looking forward to eating them as fun salads.