Gingered Carrots

Now that the growing season is officially over, I don't feel guilty digging some of my carrots.  Yes, they keep quite well right in the ground, but it's not so much fun digging through snow to get to them.  Right now, we have them mulched with leaves, mostly to keep the deer away.  It's still easy to kick off a few leaves and pull the carrots from the ground.  In the dead of winter you need a shovel to dig the frozen ground. Maybe I can use them all up in the next month or so, and beat the worst of the snow.

This year's carrots grew very nicely.  They are long and straight with very few blemishes.  Nice.  We've learned the hard way that thinning the row of carrots early in the growing season is essential.  If they are not thinned, they twist around each other becoming stunted and deformed.  It's doesn't feel good to pull up perfectly healthy little plants, but you've got to do it.  We try to leave 2 inches between each carrot.

Carrots are a basic vegetable for me, almost like onions.  A carrot here, a carrot there - they go in soups, stews, salads, casseroles, and of course, raw with dip.

Today I'm using "Grandma Hill's" Ginger Glazed Carrots recipe. She was a great cook. I still enjoy using some of her recipes and remembering days past.

Ginger Glazed Carrots
1 pound carrots
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon minced ginger, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Peel and chunk carrots into uniform pieces. Heat all ingredients + 1/3 cup of water to boiling in saucepan.  Cover and simmer until carrots are just tender. (About 8 minutes.) Remove cover and continue cooking, stirring    gently until liquid evaporates and carrots are glazed.