How are your shoveling muscles feeling?

Mine are a little sore.

That may also be attributed to Body Pump, though. I taught yesterday at noon to a room of 60 people. No one has been working this week in Baltimore. Except for the front desk staff at the gym, I guess.

This big muscle head guy took my class and came up to me after and said “GIRL! You’re an ass kicker!”

Then he asked me if I was an attorney “in real life.” I’m not sure how that’s related.

Since we’ve been stuck in the house for the better part of the last 5 days, we’ve had to get pretty creative with our dwindling fridge stock.

I knew I wanted to make these pickled carrots after having some on New Year’s Day at Grist Iron Brewery on Seneca Lake. The GS ordered a charcuterie plate, and I was much more interested in these carrots than any of the meat.

They were so easy to make! I want to pickle everything now.

I ate several straight up this morning as a snack, but I can’t wait to put them on some kind of burger/taco/meaty sandwich. Yuuuuum.

Spicy Pickled Carrots

4-6 carrots, julienne

3 cups water

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

2 tbs salt

1 tsp sugar

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Combine water, vinegar, salt, sugar, garlic, and crushed red pepper and bring to a boil. I let mine boil for about 2-3 minutes and then turned off the heat.

While it’s coming to a boil, peel and chop up the carrots. I had originally planned to spiralize mine, but figured julienne would be easier to eat plain. The shape doesn’t really matter, but I may end up chopping them up into more of a slaw-like consistency if I put them on a taco.

Place the carrots in an air-tight container. A mason jar would be cuter but I went with a pop-top because it’s what I had.

Slowly pour the pickling liquid over the carrots. It’s okay if you have too much liquid, but make sure you scoop up the crushed red pepper and garlic and get that in the jar.

Refrigerate and serve cold.

They’re kind of salty and garlicky at first, and then have a slow burn at the end. If you’re not a carrot fan, you could use the same pickling liquid recipe with cucumbers, onions, etc.

I’m finally moving my car out from the igloo this morning for a work trip, so I’ll probably have to stop at the grocery store while I’m out for some taco/burger fixins’ to highlight these.

And more carrots.