Carrot Ribbon Salad with Cashew Sauce

This weekend was amazing!

I started this little blog of mine when Ryan was in law school. I was going out-of-my-mind with boredom, and needed an outlet of some kind to keep me somewhat sane. If any of you are related to a former-law student, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyway, this past weekend, it finally happened. Ryan graduated. It was amazing, and I couldn't be more proud of him, and our little family during the past 3 years. Now that graduation has come and gone, and we are starting Ryan's clerkship in a couple weeks, I've wondered what I should do with this little piece of blogland I have going on here.

I think I'll keep it going for the time being :)

This salad was ridiculous. I've never eaten carrots in ribbons before (no expensive equipment required, just a hand-held vegetable peeler, kids. You can probably find one at the dollar store.), but it certainly was a fun way to glam-up your usual side dish. Ryan hates raw carrots, but drenched in this heavenly cashew sauce, he was easily convinced. Cashews really are amazing, and have such an amazingly buttery quality. So you kind of feel like you're eating a heavy-sauce here, but guess what? It's not.

Originally, this recipe called for using jalapeno, instead of green pepper. I still had some green pepper left over from my Studio 5 segment, so I just used that instead. I LOVED that flavor in the sauce, and I'm so glad I made the switch.

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Carrot Ribbon Salad with Cashew Sauce

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots, cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
1/2 C roasted salted cashews + more chopped for garnish
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T chopped green peppers
3 T lime juice
1/4 C water
chopped cilantro for garnish
salt 

Method:
1. Prepare carrots and put into a large bowl or large flat plate.
2. Puree 1/2 C cashews in a blender with EVOO, peppers, lime juice, and water until completely smooth.
3. Pour sauce over carrots. Sprinkle with cilantro & cashews and season with salt.

Recipe adapted from: The Food Network Magazine, April 2013 Issue, Pg. 109