Perfectly soft and full of rich flavor, these braised carrots go wonderfully with dinner any day of the week. 

Perfectly soft and full of rich flavor, these braised carrots go wonderfully with dinner any day of the week.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Ours passed by too quickly! Friday night, my husband and I went out to a local Mexican restaurant and enjoyed some chips and queso. There was a 30 minute wait for a table inside, and we were too hungry to wait, so we decided to sit on the covered patio. Thank goodness we had our coats with us, because even with several heaters it was still pretty chilly out there! 

Saturday was spent organizing all of our wedding decorations– deciding what we want to keep as memories or what we wanted to sell. Btw if anyone local needs gold/blush/navy wedding decor, I’m your gal. 

Perfectly soft and full of rich flavor, these braised carrots go wonderfully with dinner any day of the week.

On Sunday, I got up early and headed to the grocery store. As much as I don’t like getting up early on the weekend, it’s worth it when I need to go grocery shopping. The store is peaceful and quiet, and I get first pick of all the produce that hasn’t gotten all messed up by people rummaging through. I spent the day recipe testing, photographing, and filming my first video– it’ll be posted tomorrow! I’m so excited! 

Last week, I shared a post about Intuitive Cooking — becoming more attuned to different foods and flavors, and how to properly prepare them. The more a person learns and practices their cooking skills, the more comfortable they become with the kitchen, learning how to create various dishes and flavors.

I recently bought Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and I have slowly been making my way through. For someone who loves cooking, this book is like a really long story– Julia walks you through the simplest of French recipes to the more complicated, explaining every step of the way. By going through her book, I want to learn how to make the simplest of foods taste good. 

Perfectly soft and full of rich flavor, these braised carrots go wonderfully with dinner any day of the week.

One of my goals for 2017 is to find a way to make vegetables taste good for my husband. He has never been a big veggie guy. I’ve noticed that sometimes I tend to load up his plate with WAY more veggies than he’s used to, and sometimes they’re just steamed or sauteed in a little olive oil (the way I like them). To convert a non-veggie lover to a veggie-lover, I better try to up the flavor if I have any chance of triumph! 

Braising means to simmer food, just covered with liquid, in a closed pot until soft. To make these carrots, all you need to do is throw them in a pot along with water, salt, butter and sugar and simmer, covered, for about thirty minutes. The sugar helps to bring out the sweetness of the carrots and really makes a difference.

The result? He LOVED these carrots, and even requested that I put some in his lunch the next day. Success!  

Here’s the easy instructions for making delicious braised carrots: 

Braised Carrots
Serves 4
Print
Per pound of peeled, sliced carrots
  1. 1 Tbsp butter
  2. ½ tsp salt
  3. 1 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a 2 qt saucepan. Pour water to just cover carrots. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 30 minutes..
Notes
  1. Carrots should be peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces.
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child
Zen & Spice https://zenandspice.com/

1 Comment

  1. I love simple recipes. The carrots look so yummy. You know I prefer carrots cooked over raw!

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