To mark International Carrot Day – celebrated annually on 4 April – try your hand at these winning Food Lover’s Market recipes.

Carrot-and-banana smoothies

Perfectly blended with bananas and carrots, this immune booster will have you craving more. This is a great way to get your daily fruit and vegetables in without chewing anything. This breakfast smoothie is loaded with nutrition and the right amount of sweetness. If you missed breakfast, don’t worry; it only takes five minutes.

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 500 ml (2 cups) frozen fruit/veg like a combination of mango and carroT
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) almond nut butter
• 125 ml (½ cup) water
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) chia seeds (optional)
• 15 ml (1 bsp) orange blossom honey (optional)
• juice of 1 lime (optional)
• ice (optional)

Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Garnish with some extra fruit and enjoy as a nutritious breakfast or snack.

Carrot and Beetroot Salad

This easy-peasy salad is so colourful and crunchy, plus it’s bursting with nutrients you need for the colder winters! It’s got a dose of Vitamin C and folic acid from the beets and carotenoid, which is an antioxidant. The salad dressing is a must, as it brings a beautiful flavour to the salad, making it a holistic dish in terms of flavour.

Enjoy this salad on its own or with a protein of choice, such as chicken breasts, a fillet of fish, or boiled eggs.

Ingredients: 

• 6 medium to large carrots, shaved into ribbons or grated
• 4 beetroots, cooked and thinly slice, or raw and grated.
• 6 radishes, cut into thin rounds with a mandolin or thinly sliced, or grated
• 2 rounds feta cheese, crumbled
• ½ to 1 cup pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted (optional)

Mustard dressing

• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp crushed garlic
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
• freshly ground salt and pepper

Directions:

Arrange the carrot ribbons on a platter and dot the beetroot and radish shavings in between.

Sprinkle the crumbled feta and toasted pumpkin seeds over the top.

For the dressing: Place the extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, mustard, honey and coriander leaves in a bowl. Blitz for a couple of seconds with a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the prepared ribbon salad just before serving.

Carrot-cake cookie sandwiches

Carrot cake-inspired cookies filled with vanilla cream cheese that are gluten-free, egg-free and sugar-free, high in protein, but definitely not fun-free!) Ingredients:

Cookies

• 500 ml (2 cups) carrots, peeled and grated
• 125 ml (½ cup) raisins or cranberries
• 500 ml (2 cups) rolled oats
• 125 ml (½ cup) pea protein
• 125 ml (½ cup) almond flour
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) xylitol 
• 10 ml (2 tsp) ground cinnamon
• 5 ml (1 tsp) nutmeg
• 5 ml (1 tsp) baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 250 ml (1 cup) unsweetened apple sauce
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) honey
• 10 ml (2 tsp) apple cider vinegar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Icing

• 250 g full-fat cream cheese
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) xylitol icing sugar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract

Method:

Cookies: Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper and spray with a non-stick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl combine the grated carrots, raisins or cranberries and all dry ingredients. In a smaller mixing bowl combine the apple sauce, honey, vinegar and vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients and combine the wet mixture with the dry ingredients. Mix using a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball. Use your hands and divide the mixture into 12. Roll each piece into a golf ball-sized ball and flatten on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies for about 25-30 minutes, or until cooked. They will harden on cooling.
Cream-cheese icing: Combine all ingredients and mix well. Once the cookies are completely cooled down, spread the cream cheese icing on six of the cookies and smash with the remaining cookies to create a sandwich.