Wait, how is it Sunday night already? Another weekend vanished too quickly! Keeping my fingers crossed that it’ll be a quieter week at work with the New Year’s mini break, we’ll see. We got a bunch of organic beets in our farm box this week and, due to lack of creativity, I decided to throw one in my breakfast smoothie which turned it an amazing shade of neon pink.
And tasted great blended with a banana, fresh ginger, carrots, cinnamon, and Garden of Life’s Raw Protein.
In our family Christmas Yankee gift exchange, I ended up with a Walmart gift card. I haven’t purchased anything from Walmart in years, so long that I can’t remember the last time. But in an effort to save money after the holidays, I decided to use it for my weekly grocery shopping. But needed some serious fuel before braving a Walmart and had lunch at Baagan with my mom of a huge chickpea salad and kale chips.
Perfect curry flavor and texture as usual, I cleaned the plate promptly. And good thing, because Walmart was a sanity tester on a busy weekend day, the parking lot alone almost had me turning around! I decided to make this an interesting experiment to compare prices on the items I usually buy from Trader Joe’s, Costco, Target, and Whole Foods and see how Walmart’s selection of healthy food has improved over the years. Well, not much. I ended up buying mostly alcohol, nuts, almond milk, and some pantry staples like organic vegetable broth. But I found the prices weren’t really better, at least on what I was buying. The almond milk was more expensive than Trader Joe’s and the selection was worse, they didn’t have unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. I couldn’t find tofu, tempeh, or vegan alternative cheese and meat products anywhere and the fresh produce quality and selection was weak with no organic produce. I have no desire to go back anytime soon, especially since they didn’t have hubby’s favorite toilet paper!
When I got home, I was ready for a little experimenting in the kitchen to get back to a happy place and decided to try a recipe inspired by a very non-vegan version on Good Eats. And I have to say, my raw vegan version came out very nicely.
Creamy Carrot Noodle Salad
- 2 lbs. of carrots turned into “ribbons” using a veggie peeler
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- 1/2 cup of shelled hemp seeds
- 1 banana, peeled and chopped
- 2 pitted dates
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of water
To create the sauce, place hemp seeds, banana, curry powder, dates, salt, lemon juice, and water into a high speed blender and blend to a smooth and creamy texture.
Mix the sauce, raisins, and carrot ribbons together in a large bowl. Serve and enjoy, makes 6 servings.
It was a little labor intensive peeling the carrots into ribbons, but worth it for the fun texture.
The sauce is very thick and creamy with a mild and sweet curry flavor.
It coats the carrots nicely while the raisins add a nice little sweet burst.
The leftovers can sit in the fridge for a few days for easy meals and the sweeter flavor might be a hit with younger kids.
like you i have not been to walmart for at least 6 years. last time i went i was in Reno and they were selling Pit Bulls out of a truck in the parking lot-nice. anyway, at least you got some staples :)
I too am in budget mode, but am thrilled to learn from your post that Walmart is not worth the trouble! Thanks for being the guinea pig.