As I was preparing to make this dish, I was fairly certain I wouldn't be eating any of it. It violates one of my more firmly held food rules (no sweet with meat). Furthermore, I have a long history of greatly disliking cooked carrots on their own. Stick them in the oven with a roast, some potatoes, and onions and I love them. In chicken or veggie soup? Terrific. On their own? Nope. Mostly, though, I just like crunching on them raw, with or without dip. Jeannene, on the other hand, was thrilled. My wife loves sweet, soft veggies and is an avid dipper of sausage in syrup, which makes me shudder, if only inwardly, every single time. She never gets to have cooked carrots because I never make them. So, this cookbook project is quite beneficial to her.
I'd hoped I heard her wrong when she mentioned bacon as an ingredient, but when I got down to making these carrots, I saw that the recipe does, indeed, call for bacon. Oh, yuck. What ended up happening, though, was that it wasn't as abhorrent as I was expecting. Jeannene really loved it and I found that I could eat it and even sort of enjoy it. True, I gave myself more of the apple part than the carrot part, but I had an entire serving. I think any cooked carrot lover would be delighted with this recipe. It was good for me to stretch myself.
I'd worried that the carrots wouldn't be properly cooked in just 10 minutes, that Jeannene would be appalled at how crunchy they still were, but they softened up nicely (if you find that sort of thing nice). I mistakenly cut the apple into thin slices, rather than thin wedges, and I think it would be better with thick wedges to stand up better to the bulk of the baby carrots. The apple bits kind of became wisps. Next time, I will remember that. Next time? Really? Yes, because I love my wife.
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