Crazy Carrots and Roasted Root Vegetable Recipe
30. December 2016Every year I plant carrots in our garden. And every year I wonder if they'll ever grow long and straight as depicted on the glamorous seed packets. But I've never had crazy carrots like this past year! Some are a bit NSWF looking, and others left me wondering how I would peel them.
I have a raised garden bed, so I think that's ideal for growing carrots. I typically plant them too close together and thin them out later. I should invest in a handy seed sower one day. Or maybe this clever DIY ruler seed spacer would help just as well for planting tiny carrot seeds. I've tried long and slender varieties as well as short and round ones. One year I tried a rainbow mix which yielded mostly orange carrots. That was a bummer!
I managed to get a handful of pretty nice looking carrots though. They weren't gigantic nor were they so tiny that they couldn't be used.
Our dog likes to munch on carrots most days, so anything smaller than my finger went to him. Here's Tuna Fish Joe photobombing the carrots. He was pretty much waiting for me to get out of the way so he could grab one and take off running.
Now, what to do with all these carrots? Depending on what I cook, I sometimes don't bother to remove the skins. Roasted carrots taste great with the peels on. And I grew these pretty root babies, so I KNOW they are organic and the peels are ok to eat. There are plenty of nutrients in peelings too, so why throw them away? If I ever peel carrots for a recipe, I'll scrub them well first. Then I'll freeze the peels to use later when I make vegetable stock.
My favorite way to cook carrots is to roast them with potatoes, olive oil, rosemary, with a touch of sea salt. It's simple and tastes great. Sometimes I'll glaze onions with ground turkey and add to the mix too. This is not a fancy recipe. I am NOT a recipe developer. But I do like to cook, and man o man do I like to eat! Below is a really simplified recipe.
Roasted Carrots & Potatoes with Glazed Onions & Turkey
- Preheat oven to 450˚.
- Scrub and wash carrots and potatoes well. Do NOT peel. I use an equal amount of carrots to potatoes. Sometimes I'll add a peeled and cubed sweet potato. If my husband isn't looking, I'll try to sneak in a parsnip too.
- Cube potatoes and slice carrots onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. I use olive oil.
- Sprinkle with a little celtic sea salt and rosemary. I've used fresh and dried rosemary.
- Bake at 450˚ for 15 minutes, then stir so veggies don't stick to pan. Bake for 15 more minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Glaze onions with a little oil in a skillet. Remove onions from skillet once browned. Add ground turkey to skillet and cook thoroughly until browned. I only use about 1/3 pound of meat, but the recipe is just as tasty meatless. Add onions back to skillet and stir into meat.
- Mix the meat and onion mixture into the vegetables.
- Nom nom nom.
These roasted vegetables can be eaten as a side or main dish. They're great in soup too! I'll often roast a head of garlic in foil at the same time the vegetables cook. Then I add everything to a pot of chicken stock and puree with an immersion blender. If you like chunkier soup, you can hand mash directly in your pot.
Want more carrot recipes? Here are a few of our favorite carrot recipes that we've tried. If you have a surplus of carrots from your garden, get to peeling (or not) & cooking now!
- Garlic Butter Roasted Carrots
- Cinnamon Butter Baked Carrots
- Honey-Balsamic Roasted Carrots
- Roasted Carrots and Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Carrot and Avocado Salad
- Parmesan Roasted Carrots
Have you grown any unique vegetables in your garden? Did your carrots appear to have legs, arms, or facial features? We'd love to hear your comments or see our photos.
