Balsamic Roasted Carrots - with honey!

We finally pulled up all the carrots in the greenhouse (which is working more like a hoophouse right now) and planted tomatoes in their place.  In celebration of this momentous occasion, I bring you a tasty little recipe that requires very little effort.  Go find some carrots at your local farmer's market and try it out!  I adapted this recipe from the Alaska from Scratch blog.  

Ingredients

• 8 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise down the center (I chose not to peel them, and sliced them into quarters for faster cooking)
• salt and pepper
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• 1t brown sugar
• 2T olive oil
• fresh rosemary, chopped
• honey, for drizzling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place carrots side-by-side on a baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped rosemary.  Don't crowd the pan, to ensure that they roast instead of steam (I crowded mine a bit too much).
3. In a small bowl, stir together balsamic and brown sugar until combined. Add olive oil. Drizzle the whole mixture over carrots. Toss to coat.
4. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until carrots are crisp-tender and caramelized (cooking times can vary depending on the thickness of your carrots). Drizzle with raw honey. Serve immediately.

I believe I photographed these carrots more than any other vegetable I've grown.  Why?  Because I was so very proud of them!  Carrots are hard to weed, and in our Ohio clay soil they have a hard time forcing their roots down, limiting their size potential.  But these carrots were kind to me, and grew beautiful and long.  The kids learned they could easily go out to the greenhouse and grab a carrot for a snack (much to my delight).  They fed the tops to the goats and munched on the bottoms while I worked.  

I also found it amusing that I planted the carrots while I was pregnant with Bridger back in October, and as I was harvesting them in May I noticed they were approximately the same length (although Bridger wins on weight).  So naturally, I photographed them side by side.

  

 And then my photographer friend Courtney caught this cute picture of Mason holding these carrots once again during our family picture photo shoot last month.

And sometimes the carrots did funny things like wrap around each other while growing, so naturally, another picture was in order.

As you see, these carrots will forever be recorded in history in the Barnes family photo albums.  And so the season goes on, the carrots are gone, and I must find another crop to photograph.  Tomatoes?  Potatoes?  We'll see!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Jayne