Carrot and Celery Salad: Coming Back from the Holidays

This crunchy salad will pull you through your January resolutions and beyond! Eat it as a snack or for lunch with a little added grilled chicken or shrimp or turkey. It stays crunchy for several days, so you can make a bunch.

Apparently there are a lot of women who can get pregnant, have a baby and emerge fairly unscathed and svelte. I was not one of them.

I think my waist expanded the minute the test read positive for me. And it kept going from there. So much so that at the end of my second pregnancy I had a plan: I was going to start Weight Watchers as soon as possible and then join a boot camp. I was so over the extra pounds, I actually followed through with both.

I don’t remember a lot about those few months with a newborn and a three-year-old, but I do remember sitting in Weight Watchers meetings in the community room at Central Market, listening to all the people who had been successful on the diet. They all had tips to share, which is one reason why I am absolutely in favor of face-to-face meetings as opposed to online dieting (which I know is much less convenient than all of the online options we have 15 years later). One of those tips really stuck: The Carrot and Celery Salad.

It sounds austere and awful, I know. But this salad is neither. Raw carrots and celery make it super crunchy, and, as the Weight Watchers member who shared the recipe said, “Avocado gives it body.” The salad is super fresh and bright with lots of lemon and plenty of salt and pepper. I add diced grape tomatoes and jalapeño because I like them. Carrot and Celery Salad – it’s an unlikely addiction, and a healthy one at that. Eat it at snack time or for lunch with a little added grilled chicken or shrimp or turkey. It stays crunchy for several days, so you can make a bunch.

Whether you’re truly post-baby or just feeling that way after all the holiday cookies, this yummy little salad in the fridge is the virtue we’re all craving in January. 

Simple Carrot and Celery Salad

Ingredients: 

5 carrots, peeled and chopped
5 celery stalks, chopped (I cut the ribs in half lengthwise, then chop)
½ avocado, chopped (or use the whole avocado if you prefer)
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, diced
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe directions: 

Mix all the ingredients together. Taste for seasoning – you may want to add a little extra lemon or jalapeño. Adjust the ratios of vegetables to your taste as well. This salad will pull you through your January resolutions and beyond!