5 Ways to Consume Carrots

So you have a package of carrots in the fridge. You want to use them up before they go bad. What to do? There are at least five ways to make use of those carrots. Carrots are highly nutritious for us. Therefore, it’s a great way to get some added healthy benefits into your sweet treats or regular meals. Some dishes will require some extra grading efforts, while others can simply be chopped or cut thinly. 

1. Carrot Cake 

I may not be a big fan of cake, but I promised my family a carrot cake, with frosting… so they got one. Carrot cake is actually one cake I truly enjoy, minus the frosting. While attending a Scottish ballet performance a few years ago, my husband and I enjoyed some carrot cake during the intermission. It was quite good. I still gave my husband the frosting, though. We sent our compliments to the chef. 

Below is a picture of the first carrot cake I made. There is definitely some room for improvement as I made some mistakes along the way. If I were making carrot cake just for myself, I’d make it without frosting. But as I was trying to please everyone else, I got started following a carrot cake recipe with plans to make a frosting they’d enjoy. I followed the recipe to the T. The actual cake part was fine. But the cream cheese frosting was something to be changed. It turned out not to be as big of a hit as I would have liked. The recipe called for a mixture of cream cheese, butter, honey, and walnuts. Next time, I think I’ll just make the carrot cake and offer some cream cheese on the side as my husband suggested. I’m sure there are some people out there who might truly enjoy such a combination… so I’ll keep it in the books for a later date.  

My son was putting in some practice on being polite. I’m not sure if he didn’t want to hurt my feelings or if he genuinely was trying to convince himself that the frosting didn’t taste bad. He kept chanting to himself, “Gross. No. No. It’s not gross. It’s good. The frosting is good.” Then he made another grand effort and took one more bite. But he couldn’t take it anymore. “Ugggh, the frosting…. Mama! I don’t like the frosting.” I told him he didn’t have to eat it, so he said, “Can you take it off?” Well, son, that’s simple. I have many years of practice removing frosting from cake. He was then a happy camper again. 

Carrot cake uses about two cups of graded carrots, so you should be able to get rid of a big portion of your carrots. Be careful not to overcook your carrot cake, as to make sure it doesn’t harden or get crispy. If you really want a fluffy cake, remember to sift your flour before you mix all of your ingredients together. Make sure that you have the correct pan. For a carrot cake you’ll want a wider and flatter pan. If you use a bread pan, it won’t cook as quickly, leaving the middle gooey. You’ll then be forced to leave the “cake” cooking long enough to be edible, and it will just be more like carrot bread.

2. Carrot Corn Muffins 

Do you like cornbread? Why not try carrot corn muffins? You won’t need as many carrots for carrot corn muffins, but it’s still a good way to get rid of those carrots. I made these on a day when I didn’t have any eggs. Thanks to all of those vegan bakers out there, I was able to search and find a solution for the eggless baking problem. It turns out all you need is some flax meal and water. They tasted great, and I didn’t get any complaints. Just empty plates. 

3. Stir-Fry 

You can’t go wrong with adding graded carrots into your stir-fry. And with this option you don’t even have to spend extra energy grading the carrots, since cutting thin circles could still work just fine. Good vegetables for stir-fry meals include onions, broccoli, baby corn-on-the-cobs, snap beans, and of course carrots. You can easily add in noodles and/or meats. 

4. Beef or Potato Stew 

Carrots are a key signature of stews. Beef Stew. Potato Stew. Or Beef and Potato Stew. It’s common for the main three vegetable ingredients to be carrots, celery, and onions, adding in the potatoes and beef chunks. Carrots help give the stew a nice taste. Chop up the carrots and add them to the stew. Again, there is no need for grading. 

 5. Roast (Beef-or other meat-, Carrots, Potatoes)

If you like the idea of a beef stew, but don’t want the extra soup water, then a baked roast could be just what the doctor ordered. Baked carrots roasted with onions and potatoes, marinating in the meat drizzle as they cook, really bring out such a great flavor in this savory dish. Don’t worry about grading the carrots. Just chop up your carrots with the other chopped vegetables and place them around the roast before you bake. Both the stew and the baked roast are great menu items during the winter, as these are tasty foods that will warm you up and cleanse you out. Can’t go wrong with that.