Carrot Food Storage Recipes

Dried Carrots

Dried carrots are like money in the bank. Dried carrots keep well and reconstitute nicely for use in breads, salads, and soups. To dry your own raw carrots: Slice washed, tender carrots 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick or coarsely shred or grate them. Toss with some lemon juice. Arrange on dryer racks and dry until crisp.

Tip for using Dehydrated Carrots-. (remember it takes about half the amount of dehydrated carrots to equal the regular measurement)

Curried Carrot Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  • 2 pounds carrots, chopped (1 lb. dehydrated carrots, soaked in hot water to rehydrate)
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups water, or (use part of the water used to rehydrate the carrots) as needed

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Sauté onion until tender and translucent. Stir in the curry powder. Add the chopped carrots, and stir until the carrots are coated. Pour in the vegetable broth, and simmer until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes.

Transfer the carrots and broth to a blender, and puree until smooth. Pour back into the pot, and thin with water to your preferred consistency.

Chilled Carrot-Ginger Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 diced medium red onion
  • 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 Tbsp of minced fresh ginger
  • 2-3 cloves finely minced garlic
  • 1½ c. chopped carrots ( ¾ cup dehydrated carrots)
  • 3 c. vegetable broth
  • ¼ c. orange juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼-½ c cream or milk (optional)

Heat olive oil over medium heat in the bottom of stockpot. Add onions and cook until soft, but do not brown. Add ginger and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.

Add carrots, broth, and orange juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until carrots are exceedingly tender, about 20-30 minutes. In batches, puree soup in blender (or do it in the pot if you have an immersion blender).

Thin with additional broth as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Oatmeal Carrot Cookies-makes 6 dozen

  • 1 C. Butter, softened (2 sticks)
  • 1 C. Shortening
  • 1-1/2 C. Sugar
  • 1-1/2 C. Brown Sugar
  • 4 Eggs (1/4 C. dehydrated eggs + 1/2 C. water)
  • 2 t. Vanilla Extract
  • 2 C. Finely Shredded Carrots (1 cup dehydrated carrots)
  • 4 C. Quick-cooking Oats
  • 1-1/2 C. Whole Wheat Flour (notice this recipe has a lot of brown sugar so it will hide the wheat well)
  • 2 t. Baking Soda
  • 2 t. Salt
  • 1 t. Pumpkin Pie Spice or Cinnamon
  • 1 C. Chopped Walnuts (optional)
  • 1 C. Raisins (Soak in water while you’re making the dough)

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, shortening andsugars. beat in eggs and vanilla. Add Carrots; mix well.

Combine the oats, flour, baking soda and sal; add to cremaed mixture and mix well. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. bake at 375 for 10-13 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes beofre removing wire racks.

 

 

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins

Ingredients:

2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. oil
3 eggs (3 T. Dehydrated Eggs + 1/3 c. water…if you want a really fun trick use your left over carrot or raisin water to add to the egg powder.)
2 c. carrots, finely grated (1c. dehydrated carrots. Pulse in blender before re-hydrating to make them smaller pieces. They take 20 minutes in cold water to rehydrate so if you need them sooner, simply put them in warmer water.)
1 c. crushed pineapple, drained (If you have orange juice you’ll be serving, drain the pineapple juice into your orange juice for a fun topical blend orange juice.)
3 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
1 T. soda
1 t. cinnamon
2 t. vanilla
1 c. raisins
1 c. walnuts, broken

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 bread pans, 1 Bundt pan, or 2 muffin pans (12 each) with vegetable cooking spray. Beat together brown sugar, oil and eggs (no need to reconstitute eggs before adding to this mix). Stir in carrots and pineapple. Blend together dry ingredients; stir into batter thoroughly. Add vanilla, raisins, and nuts. Pour into prepared pan. Bake bread pans for 40-45 minutes, muffins for 20 minutes, and Bundt pan 1 hour or until done.
Makes 1 Bundt pan, 2 bread pans, or 24 muffins.

Adding the nuts on top of the muffins not only gives it a great look and flavor (it lightly toasts the nuts) but it is also a great way to serve nut lovers and non-nut lovers alike since it becomes obvious which have nuts and which don’t.

Carrot Cake:

Ingredients:

  • 2 C. Sugar
  • 1 1/2 C. Vegetable Oil (orapplesauce)
  • 4 Eggs (1/2 C. dehydrated eggs + 1 C. Water) beat before adding to batter

In separate bowl combine and add to above:

  • 2 C. Flour
  • 2 t. Baking Soda
  • 1/4 t. Salt
  • 2 t. Cinnamon

Fold in:

  • 2-4 Cups finely grated carrots (if you don’t have carrots from your garden, dehydrated carrots from the cannery work great. Just make sure you pulse them a couple of times in the blender before you rehydrate to make them into smaller pieces)
  • 3/4 C. broken nuts (optional)

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes, till it pulls away from sides of pan.

BEST EVER Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1/2 C. (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, softened
  • 4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
  • 2 C. Powdered Sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
  • 1 t. Vanilla Extract

Cream butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Frost cake and top with additional chopped nuts if desired.

SUPER HEALTHY CARROT CAKE

Pfffft!  Just kidding!

 

It’s made with whole wheat flour and even dehydrated carrots with canned crushed pineapple but tastes waaaay too good to be healthy. Trust me, NO ONE will ever know that you’re using your food storage in this recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup dry dehydrated carrots
  • 1 can crushed pineapple, drained (20 oz.)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
  • 1/2 cup coconut (optional)

 

Cover dehydrated carrots with 3 cups of cool water and allow to soak for 20 minutes. Drain and grind into course bits. (3 cups of finely shredded carrots, packed, may be substituted.)

In large bowl, blend together oil and brown and white sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating until blended. In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time to the oil mixture, beating just enough to blend. Fold the carrots and pineapple into the batter. Add nuts and or coconut if desired. Pour batter into a greased and floured extra large cake pan, 10 1/2″ x 15″. Bake in a preheated, 350 degree, oven for about 1 hour. Cool completely before frosting. (see frosting recipe above)

This is our very top of the list, absolute best, number one, recipe for amazingly moist and rich carrot cake. Don’t let the creepy smell of the dehydrated carrots scare you away. No one has ever suspected that I’ve used the little varmints and I always get asked to share the recipe.

One tip you should know is that this carrot cake improves with age so if you can, make it a day or two ahead of time and then store it frosted and covered with plastic in the refrigerator. The rest will improve the flavor and it’s so nice to have a truly wicked dessert that doesn’t have to be fussed over at the last minute. This one’s been a winner. Every time!