Moroccan Carrot Beet Salad, My Baby, and Day 3 of Whole 30

I know it’s been forever since I’ve written anything. I’m sort of thinking about not writing here anymore so I can spend more time with my precious baby.  We’ll see.  Until I decide, thank you to the sweet and faithful few who are still visiting.

So…….. I’m doing a Whole30. Today is day 3.  I’m not going to go all into it, but google it if you aren’t familiar.  It’s basically 30 days of no sugar, alcohol, dairy, grains, or legumes.  You can only eat meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds.  That’s the gist.  It has actually been ok so far, but it’s definitely revealing how much I crave the comforts of cheese, wine, and bread.  I haven’t weighed myself in ages, but I know I’m still about 15 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight, and I’m hoping this will help me lose at least some of that and also work on some sugar-dependency issues.  So………

Here’s a carrot beet salad I made for lunch using the ‘dressing’ from the 101 Cookbooks recipe for Moroccan Carrot and Chickpea Salad.  My salad is basically equal parts shredded beets and carrots,* plus olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, and red pepper– plus some diced dried fruit.  I’ve used raisins and prunes with great success. (I know you think prunes are weird, but they literally are the best kind of dried fruit to use in this recipe.  Trust me.) Serve it on top of greens (I used celery greens, because it was all we had) or chickpeas, if you’re not doing a Whole30, or almost anything else. (Oh, also add a dash of garlic powder.  Also, Heidi Swanson tells you to grow your own cumin tree, gather the pods, roast them and grind them in a mortar and pestle or something insanely time-consuming like that, but I just use cumin powder.)

*I know it looks like there are a lot more beets than carrots, but they’re mixed together, so it just looks like beets.  I topped it with extra carrots for the color.

Guys, this combination (cumin, a dash of lemon, dash of cayenne, plus a small amount of dried fruit) is literally my new favorite thing in the world.  It’s incredible. Please promise me you will go to 101 Cookbooks and learn how to make it. It is so easy.  I used this ‘dressing’ (spice flavor combination? not sure what to call it?) on top of roasted eggplant yesterday, mixed with a spoon of almond butter, and it was incredible.  After you make this once, you will be sprinkling everything in sight with cumin, lemon juice, cayenne, and dried, chopped prunes (or raisins when you don’t want to chop anything), trust me.  I’m not even kidding.

And here’s another picture of Will, my angel baby who is almost 4 months old.  Look at those genius eyes.  (Montessori baby toy courtesy of my lovely friend Hannah!)