Carrots Are Good For Your Eyes...

Somewhere in my childhood I remember my mother telling me that eating carrots was good for your eyes. How? I do not remember that part at all.

I'm also sure I remember being a young married lady when drinking carrot juice became 'fashionable' for some. They bought big juicers and made carrot juice to drink to make them healthier...and...if one drank too much they became orange!!

One of my favorite carrot dishes as a working mother of three teenagers was shredding carrots and cooking them with butter and brown sugar in a skillet. Being shredded makes them cook much more quickly (this is a huge plus when you are that busy) and cooking them in butter and brown sugar makes them taste a lot like candied sweet potatoes. Yummy!!

My dear hubby ran across a recipe I have prepared two times now using carrots. I mentioned it in my last Blog post and am now including that recipe just in case someone else might like it. I only have the page with the recipe on it, but it appears to have come from something called American Profile.com. It was submitted by Kelly McKillip, Sequim, Washington.
 
Toasted Hazelnut and Carrot Stir-fry

2 tablespoons clarified butter or vegetable oil or mixture of both
1 pound carrots
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (I will only use 1/4 teaspoon now)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used the powdered spice version)
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

1) Peel and cut carrots into matchstick-size pieces.
2) In a large wock or frying pan, heat butter or oil over high heat. Add all remaining ingredients except hazelnuts. Stir until carrots are coated and just begin to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add nuts and stir-fry 1 minute longer.

This recipe does cook up quickly and is a great side dish. The first time I prepared it was in the morning for our Homemaker's Club lunch and we didn't eat it until later and it was very good. The second time was this weekend and we ate it immediately after being prepared and it was very good.

The thing that takes the most time is cutting all those carrots into match stick size. I always keep those baby carrots that are already peeled and a nice snack size in my refrigerator. I just took half of my two pound bag and used that. I cut each baby carrot in half. Then I sliced the half into pieces the width of a match stick. Then I sliced those pieces into the final size of the match stick. I placed all these in a plastic container and covered with water. Then I placed the carrots in the refrigerator until ready to cook them for my meal. The first time I cut them up the night before and left them overnight to prepare in the morning. Just drain all the water off and cook away.

This is an excellent little recipe and not hard to prepare. We'll definitely keep this one in our veggie rotation, especially when company comes.

Now, I must go and look at my eyes in the mirror and see if they are any better at all...