A few days ago I was excited to be able to harvest my first official garden haul of the Spring that included different lettuce, kale & chard varieties, strawberries, cilantro & cilantro flowers, and a bunch of beautiful carrots.  

I started planting this year around the end of February and early March, and then all of sudden around this time in April and early May, everything starts to really grow crazy.  It’s a lot of fun growing your own food as an investment not only in your health with integrity-sourced real food, but in your bank account in terms of saving money.

And the ultimate perk is when you can include the freshest “fast” food garden-t0-table elements in your meals and meal prep throughout your week. 

This particular week I’m featuring the carrots.

Before we get to the recipe, I got to tell yuh, the sweetness (almost candy-like) and crunchiness was absolutely unmatched to store-bought conventionally grown carrots; even many store-bought organic carrots I’ve bought.  It’s all about soil health, and these particular carrots this year were grown in organic soil with added biodynamic compost.  

As for the recipe, I wanted to do a spin to one of those carrot slaw/salads made with raisins that we see (btw, very cool perk of growing… whatever is ready in your garden that you harvest, it makes you have to get creative and think of recipes/flavors to make with your food right then and there; a great added element when it comes to learning how to cook).

So my spin on this recipe is rather than raisins, I switched this carrot salad up with goji berries, and then added raw almonds, coconut & more with a coconut yogurt dressing rather than a traditional mayo-based slaw dressing.

Overall this carrot salad is made with 100% real food ingredients and recipe-friendly:

• Paleo
• Raw food
• Vegetarian/vegan-adaptable
• ReBoot Protocol Week 1+
• Dairy-free 
• Gluten-free
• Soy-free (most mayo made with soy oil)

INGREDIENTS

Serving:  6-8 or great for meal prep

4 cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup dried goji berries, soaked in water

1/2 cup raw almonds (vegan adapt: sub alternative nut of choice)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoon mint, chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup plain, unsweetened cultured coconut yogurt

1/2 tablespoon raw, unpasteurized honey (vegan adapt: sub honey alternative of choice)

Harvested garden-to-table carrots aka “fast” food

Beautiful Real Food

Prepped Ingredients – Pre-mixed

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METHOD

1.  Add dried goji berries to some clean (non-tap) water for 20 minutes.  This will allow them to plump up.

2.  Prep your other ingredients while goji berries are soaking.

• Carrots:  I used my food processor or you can go manual with a grater
• Chop cilantro and mint
• Measure out shredded coconut
• Combine raw honey and coconut yogurt in a bowl and mix well

3.  Once all ingredients are ready, drain the goji berries after 20 minutes, give them a pat dry, and combine all the prepped individual ingredients in a big bowl.

4.  Add a teaspoon of salt to the bowl and mix everything together with your hands (of course you can use a spoon, but get into the energy of it with your hands for more fun!)

Done and done. Easy, right?

This was one of my meal preps for the week that I kept in a glass bowl in the fridge. I made it Monday and it’s now Friday, still have some left and it still tastes great!  It will last you at least a good week, if not more.

Makes 6-8 nice size portions as a side to a main meal or to eat by itself.  

COST

About $6 total with the amount of goji berries, coconut and raw almonds used.  Carrots, cilantro and mint from the garden as “food profits”.

In total, about $1 or less per serving for integrity-sourced (organically grown) real food.  

Beats going to Starbucks for a latte and breakfast sandwich which will typically run us more than $6!

Buon Appetito

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