Carrot Salad with Lemon Walnut Vinaigrette

We are expecting yet more snow. Somewhere around 8 to 14 inches of snow is predicted. It's just downright depressing. The Meijer's was packed full of people stocking up before the storm when I went grocery shopping today. I have to admit I was stocking up too. But I was only stocking up until the big doctor's appointment next Friday. I also went to the library and although I discovered that it has a larger cookbook section than the local Borders, it took me almost 2 hours to find 5 books to check out. I was careful, just in case, to pick books that I can renew for 3 weeks at a time, so that IF I have to be off my feet I'll have something to read. I've also learned that I need to alphabetize my book list by author and genre (fiction, nonfiction, etc.) because either I was looking in the wrong places or my book list is highly obscure. I'd love it if you could recommend a good book to add to my reading list.

So by the time I got home, I was cranky and developing a headache. I wanted something to eat that wasn't a lot of hassle, yet tasted good. I started some soup. While the soup was cooking (for 30 minutes, but at that point it seemed like forever), I made this wonderful perky salad. Yes, I called it perky. Try it, you'll see what I mean.

The hardest part about the salad was shredding the 2 whole carrots. But even that I did on the box grater instead of the Cuisinart. We don't have a dishwasher and it was a cleanup issue. So once the carrots were shredded, bing bang boom, I mixed up the vinaigrette and it was done. And it was good. The mustard and lemon and walnut oil created a surprisingly happy combination. To quote one of the actress guest judges on the original Iron Chef "Hee hee hee hee. It tastes like a party in my mouth. hee hee hee hee."

Carrots in Lemon-Walnut Vinaigrette

from Healthy Cooking For Two (Or Just You!)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp walnut oil

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrots

Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and mustard until blended; then gradually whisk in oil.

Add the carrots and toss well. Taste the salad and season it with salt and pepper as needed.

Per Serving: 78 calories, 4.7g total fat, 0.4g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 32mg sodium, 0.9g protein, 9.1g carbohydrates, 2.7g dietary fiber.

If you have a nut allergy, you can substitute canola oil for the walnut oil.