It’s been sort of a very expensive week for me…
First off, I am the proud new owner of a brand new one of these!
Except mine will be white and I won’t be getting it for another 5 weeks, but I still had to leave a deposit for them to order it, you know…
And now, the more I look at it, the more I think it looks quite nice in blue also, maybe I should’ve went with the blue one instead.
You see, I’ve been driving the same truck for the last 10 years and while I really appreciate my truck, it’s just plain silly of me to keep on driving it. I must be doing well over 600 clicks a week and this thing is costing me a fortune in gaz. In fact, it won’t be costing me more money to drive a brand new car than it is costing me now to drive my faithful old “Charlie”. Yeah. I name my cars. Which reminds me… I have to find a name for the new guy.
Well, I have plenty of time to think about it, don’t I?
Then, for some obscure reason that I can’t seem to find a logical explanation for, it appears that my kitchen is getting way too small and I am running out of space where to put all my stuff… So I desperately needed to get a new cabinet to put all my “gear” away.
I went to IKEA and got me this sweet little [too expensive] cabinet, which set me back another handful of dollars. And hey, since I was there and was gonna have more room to put all my stuff, I grabbed a few things along the way…
Check this out! All this for $65! I was a happy camper!
Allright, better get busy with this cabinet if I’m gonna get it done today…
So many pieces, and that box one of two!
Wow, I’m a bit overwhelmed. Look at all this hardware! And that is bag one of two!
Thank goodness the instructions are clear... NOT!!!
Well, 5 hours later, the cabinet is up! Notice how it’s already FULL?
Great! Now I’m gonna need another one… I did buy this little what they call sofa table to put beside the cabinet, but somehow, I don’t think it’s going to work out, so I might have to bring that back and get another cabinet instead.
Seeing that the first one was put to such good use, I think that another one like that would be more useful!
What do you think?
Oh, and while at IKEA, I was a bad girl and had one of these (see the guilt? small image!) It had been well over a year since I’d indulged in a piece of that delicious pie and I decided that I would allow myself that little treat.
Besides, I knew I was gonna have a very light and healthy but oh so yummy supper! For real, no word of a lie, best carrot salad I ever had. For some reason, I had been craving that all week, and I couldn’t wait for Friday to come so I would finally get to enjoy my carrot salad!
Call me crazy, but I got a bit carried away while making it and started adding all sorts of dried fruits and nuts, namely raisins, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, pecans…
Then I saw IT. The secret ingredient that simply MADE that salad. Shredded coconut, of the unsweetened kind, of course!
WOW OH MY OH YUM!
You have to try this. Have to!
Here’s the recipe.
You will need it.
INGREDIENTS
- 2-4 carrots, depending on size, grated (no need to peel them!)
- 20g raisins
- 20g dried cranberries
- 10g pumpkin seeds
- 10g chopped pecans
- 10g chopped walnuts
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tbsp unsweetened grated coconut
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all ingredients through white wine vinegar to a large a mixing bowl. Set aside
- In a separate bowl, add vinegar, honey, salt, pepper and Dijon mustard. Blend until well combined. Pour over reserved salad and stir well.
- Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with more pumpkin seeds, chopped parsley and grated coconut, if desired.







That looks so delicious and about all I can face eating in this unbearable heat, no cooking, no way! I love Ikea too, I’ve got those ramekins you bought, I use them a lot for individual crumbles, so cute!!
It’s been pretty hot here also and I have been in the mood for a lot of fresh things also. BBQ or salads is pretty much the way to go these days. I love the little ramequins and can’t wait to use them. I’m always so excited when I get new kitchen gear, it puts my mind in “creation” mode.
Congrats on the NEW car. I think the new one should be a girl, You’ve gone form a truck to a car and it will have new smells, be shiiny and will get better mileage. You go girl!
Thanks Cindy! Funny, I was thinking the same thing… that new car should be a girl. Tiny, cute, classy, elegant, feminine… Definitely all girly attributes!
I think her name will be Carla. And white she will be!
That carrot salad looks so good! So fresh and flavorful! I love ikea… all the little stuff they sell as well as the furniture, but yeah, I don’t like putting it together so much, haha.
Thanks Liz! You have to give them credit for making instructions booklets that can be deciphered by anyone on the planet, though. Pictogram galore! It does take a while to really figure it out, but it gets the job done.
That does sound like a great salad! In India we use coconut in many salads including carrot salad.
I sure was glad I decided to give it a try! I think I will try including it more often, from now on!
Your salad looks delicious and those Ikea finds look amazing. I LOVE IKEA!
Isn’t IKEA the best? I could spend hours in that store and not get bored. I only wish I had never discovered their Almondy pie… that thing is pure evil, I tell you!
Congrats on the new car! And you got some great buys from Ikea! I wish I lived closer to any stores like that. And that cabinet looks really great! Love Ikea. And great job putting it together, those things can be so confusing
Your carrot salad looks great. The carrot salads I’ve seen are mostly mayo and carrots and kind of gross. This looks really good, especially the coconut in there!
Thanks Heidi! That cabinet took forever to put together, especially it was SUPER hot and humid and I was all alone… I agree that most carrot salads have loads of mayonnaise in them, or worse, that disgusting white salad dressing stuff (sorry, can’t stand it!) This version is really light and refreshing and super satisfying! I think I’m gonna have repeats on that one pretty soon!
Love, love, love! Look at all the gorgeous color.
Super delicious!! This carrot salad is just the kind of thing I love to eat all the time, anything crunch and fresh with added dried fruit and nuts = perfect food!! Love that you added coconut too, yum!
I made this salad tonight for dinner, and it was amazing! So refreshing on a hot summer day, and I bet it’s going to be even better left over (if it lasts that long!!!)
I don’t know if it’s just that the carrots I used were enormous, but I needed to make the dressing twice, I couldn’t taste it at all when measured like the recipe, so I more than doubled it.
Funny you should mention that, Jessica. I was looking at the recipe just this week and thought to myself that my carrots must’ve been really small for me to use 4 of them that day. I tend to choose my carrots on the small side, I just think they taste better! I’m guessing what I need to do is bring that carrot count down to 2-3 medium size carrots.
Of course, making double the dressing will always work too!
Next time I make it, I’ll actually measure the amount of grated carrots that I’m using.
Thanks a bunch for your great feedback! I truly appreciate that. And glad you liked the salad too!
This carrot salad looks like the bomb especially with the coconut i can just imagine the flavor of this mingling for awhile and the with all those nuts & fruit this would keep you going for awhile great recipe and awesome blog.
Thank you so very much, that is really kind of you to say!