My kids do quite well with cooked vegetables, but we are still working on enjoying them raw. Not too long ago, I was flipping through one of my favorite cookbooks, The New Moosewood Cookbook, and came across a recipe for Carrot-Yogurt Salad that looked like something my kids might actually eat. I made a small batch, thinking I could eat it myself if it didn’t go over well.

I didn’t even get seconds! My kids went crazy over it, and they continue to request it weekly. They ask if we can take it to potlucks and if they can serve it at their birthday parties. They like it that much.

So I thought I’d share it with you the way we make it since I rarely make recipes as written because a) I’m lazy and b) I live in Malaysia and there’s usually at least one ingredient I can’t find or afford the exorbitant import price.

But before I share the recipe, I just want to sing the praises of this cookbook for a minute. I love cookbooks that you can sit and enjoy like a real book. I’ve shared a few of my favorites before: There’s my totally dog-eared Complete Book of Mexican Cooking (my review here) from the 60s that reads like a cultural biography and a cooking travelogue, and Deceptively Delicious (my review here) which we love for its illustrations, gorgeous food pictures, and little anecdotes about the Seinfeld family. And then there’s Extending the Table, which is packed with little cultural food stories and recipes from all over the world.

The New Moosewood Cookbook is another one of these cookbooks that I return to over and over again like an old friend. It is a vegetarian cookbook full of recipes that bring out amazing flavors of fruits and vegetables and combine them in unique ways.

I find this book absolutely stunning because the ENTIRE book, over 200 pages and including all of the front-papers, is hand-lettered by the author, Mollie Katzen. Most of the recipes also have hand-drawn borders or pen-and-ink sketches as well, and there are two sections of full-page mouth-watering photos of selected recipes. (There’s no photo of this carrot salad in the book because, as you can see above, it’s not a gorgeous salad. But it makes up for it with yumminess!)

I’ve taken pictures of a few of the pages so you can see how gorgeous this book is. I’m always amazed at the intricacy of the illustrations!

And that she actually WROTE OUT every single page. I can’t imagine. I hardly write anything anymore!

And here’s one last illustrated page with a facing photo page. Gorgeous!

Thanks for letting me gush about this cookbook a little. I appreciate it! Now, here’s the recipe you’ve been waiting for!

I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe like we do. My kids love it as is, so I’ve been hesitant to change it up, but I’d love to try it with some grated beet for some of the carrot and maybe with a few other change-ups like cashews instead of almonds or dried blueberries rather than raisins.

Please let me know in the comments what you think of this recipe and if you have any other kid-friendly salad ideas, feel free to leave me links for them as well!