Spring Carrot Patches

These little carrot pots are sooooo cute.  I had seen this idea a long time ago, I think on the Family Fun website, but had forgotten about them until I saw these on another food blog.  Not only are these cute, but they are easy, too.

For the dip, I used hummus, like the recipe suggested.  However, next time I make these, I will choose something else, because my kids haven't had hummus in a few years and now they think it looks "weird".  They used to like it, back when they were too young to care if something looked "weird" or not.  My husband and I love hummus, though.  We enjoyed these with both carrots and some store-bought pita chips.  I also used store-bought hummus for this, gasp!

If you make these and choose not to use hummus, make sure you use some kind of dip that is quite thick.  It needs to be able to hold carrot sticks firmly in place.  Next time, I plan on using Greek yogurt mixed with dry Ranch dressing mix, to make a Ranch dip.  I might even try straining the Greek yogurt to make it thicker, OR one could mix it with some Neufchatel cheese.  (Neufchatel is the cream cheese that boldly says "1/3 less fat than cream cheese!" on the package, FYI). 

So, here's all you need for these babies:  a thick dip, baby carrots, curly-leafed parsley, and food-safe pots OR little baking cups or tiny plastic cups to fit inside your pots.  The pastel pails I used are NOT food-safe.  (They're from Oriental Trading, BTW).  Since they are not food-safe, I needed to put the actual dip in something else.  I chose to use those cute little silicone cupcake "pots", above, given to me by a friend.  They were PERFECT!!  They held the dip well and fit snugly inside my evil, not-food-safe pastel buckets.  I had a blast making these. 

Spring Carrot Patches
adapted from Taste & Tell

hummus
baby carrots
curly parsley
small pots or pails

1.  Spoon hummus into small plastic cups that will fit inside the pots.

2.  Shortly before serving, poke a hole in the carrots using a toothpick or clean kitchen scissors and insert a small piece of parsley. You’ll want 3 to 4 carrots per pot.  “Plant” the carrots in the pot by putting the carrots in the hummus. 

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