12.18.09: All About Carrots

Sitting at lunch today, the conversation between us rolled around to foods we hate. Hate is not a mistake in that sentence. It's the foods that we simply can not stand to smell, taste or be in the same room with. I, of course, could not let this opportunity go to waste because of my personal trauma.

"Trauma" might be a slight exaggeration, but not my "hate". My "hate"? Easy. Carrot Cake / Spice Cake in any form or fashion. You can even cover it in cream cheese frosting and I'll gag at the site and smell of it. Oh, and oatmeal raisin cookies...don't even get me started about raisins.

A good & faithful friend who, with all her good intentions said, oh you haven't had carrot cake the way I (emphasis added) make it. I politely said that I've had it many (emphasis added) ways and I didn't remotely like any of them. So what did she do? Go home and make them her special way - hence the "you can even cover it in cream cheese frosting and I'll gag at the site and smell of it" comment. Which wasn't really far from the truth. One bite and I was looking around for a trash can to spit into and scrape off my tongue. It tainted cream cheese frosting for me, even to this day.

Nothing personal you understand but when I say I don't like something, please don't try to convince me otherwise. I'm a black and white kind of gal: good / bad, right / wrong, like it / don't like it. There is no in between or growing to like it, for me at least.

Odd though...I love carrots. Raw or cooked, in stew, on salads or anything in between - you name it I'll gobble them up. In a cake (insert gag reflex here) there's no way I would touch it/them with a 10 foot pole.

Did you really need to know that? Probably not BUT I'm getting ready to make Roasted Carrots, so I thought I'd whet your appetite. Ready? Ok - brace yourself:

Roasted Carrots

12 carrots - tops cut off, sliced long ways into even sized pieces*

*I sliced them one more time to make thick matchsticks

Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil then toss to coat

Sprinkle a generous handful of fresh thyme on top
Salt and pepper to your liking

It goes into a 400 degree oven for 35-45 min

Did you blink and miss it?

Are you looking for the rest of the recipe?

Back up and read it again.

It really is that simple!

Here's the finished product!

The result is a smell that will haunt me forever...

and not in a "carrot cake with cream cheese frosting way".

THIS IS NOT MY AMAZING CREATION, it's Pastor Ryan's. For step by step great photos, humor, and where all credit and praise should go to, check it out at Pastor Ryan's Roasted Carrot Recipe as seen on Pioneer Woman's website ... but you can thank me in the morning for passing it along.