Carrot Crazy

 

I think of carrots as one of the best frugal food bargains.   They are cheap, healthy and versatile.  I use them in soups, stocks, salads, sauces and roast them as a side dish.  The LTSL refrigerator always has at least one carrot in the crisper drawer.  For 79 cents a pound, I am getting vitamins, fiber and a low calorie ingredient that tastes good.

 These days I am seeking out fat carrots.  My willingness to buy a bag is based on girth first.  Since carrots have a longer shelf life than a lot of other forms of produce, I will buy a larger bag over a smaller one if the carrots are larger.   The bonus is that Teddy loves them, so everything I make with a carrot is a treat for her.  Chicken stock is simmering on the stove and she's going to enjoy all of the mushed up leftovers -- including the carrots.

The reason I like the fat ones, is that I am spiralizing them for pasta and noodle soups.  A cup of spaghetti  has something like 200 calories per cup, but a cup of carrots is just 60.  The chicken cacciatore I made a few nights ago used a half box of pasta and this bowl of spiralized carrots.  We had six meals. I did add three sliced up chicken/feta/spinach sausages -- but no extra pasta.

I toss the carrots in  with the pasta when there is about a minute left to cook.  That way, I can make sure the carrots and pasta get thoroughly mixed.  Don't be worried that I am boiling off nutrients because I save the pasta water.  I used a decent amount on the left-overs so the spaghetti wouldn't dry out when we baked it the second day.  I will use the rest of the pasta water in a soup I am staring today.  The carrots gave the water a little extra flavor and having the gluten in from the pasta will help thicken my stock.

Zucchini noodles are awesome too -- but that vegetable is more pricey in the cold weather.  Carrots are inexpensive all year and that is why I love them so much.