Orange Roasted Carrots with Honey, a chunk of meat, and some dirt

Today, with the help of my migrant farm workers (my mom and stepdad) the garden has been planted. I would have taken a photo, but for the most part it's merely a slab of dirt. But in a couple months I will have eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, kohlrabi, beets, beans, radishes, turnips, cabbage, broccoli, onions, and an assortment of squashes (zucchini, yellow, and acorn). But like I said, for now it's a slab of dirt. They also weeded and planted in my herb garden. My stepdad pruned one of my rosebushes and promised that I would have bigger more vibrant roses because of it. My little family of Robin Red Breasts looked on the whole time. So far I count 3 babies. They're only a couple days old.

My mom and stepdad are Master Gardeners. So having them spend the day meant a day spent outside enjoying the warm temperatures and the sunshine. They complimented my tulips out front and told me that if the tree bush that I have growing there is an elderberry, that the berries would then be edible. Now I just have to go about finding out what exactly an Elderberry is supposed to look like.

My mom even pulled up most of the dandelions in the yard and pointed out a virulent weed (I forgot the name, but the phrase "virulent weed" had me pulling weeds as best I could!) and she helped me pull all of it from under the Maple. So I made them a batch of chocolate chip cookies to snack on and tried not to be completely annoying while I watched them work. Gardening is much more fun when you can be involved. I also made them dinner. Because I know that I have some vegetarian readers, I didn't take any photos of the chunk of meat that I served them. It was a 2 1/2 pound eye of round roast that I got at Costco on the very cheap. I also prepared it from the recipe from this cookbook on page 417. It was FABULOUS!

What I will tell you about is the Orange-Roasted Baby Carrots with Honey. They may have completely charcoaled the pan I roasted them in, but they were really really good. My mom kept eating them and the recipe went home with them in the stack of 2007 Bon Appetit magazines. The orange wasn't overpowering at all. It was like a little kiss of it. And the honey enhanced the carrots natural sweetness so I couldn't really tell it was there either. It was like a whole lot of really good pieces making an even better whole. Even if my carrots weren't baby. They were the baby cut mini kind Ala Costco again. I love that store.

Orange-Roasted Carrots with Honey

from Bon Appetit

1 1/2 pounds peeled baby carrots

2 Tbsp olive oil

zest of one orange

juice of one orange

1 1/2 Tbsp honey

salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange carrots in single layer on rimmed baking sheet. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and orange peel; sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Pour orange juice over; cover tightly with foil. Roast until crisp tender, about 10 minutes. Remove foil. Increase temperature to 450 degrees F. Drizzle honey over carrots. Roast uncovered until carrots are tender and browned in spots, about 10 minutes longer. Drizzle lightly with additional olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.