Carrots look so innocent, especially those inaccurately named “baby carrots” sold in the store. But if you’re part of a winter farm share, you might find them overwhelming. Carrots are a storage crop, meaning that farmers harvest them in the fall and store them throughout the winter. If you’re part of a CSA and don’t use them up before the next delivery, you can easily find six pounds in your fridge.

It’s rare, even for us, to finish them all off. But today as my husband scrubbed carrots for lunch, he announced somewhat victoriously, “We’re almost out of carrots!” (He’s not normally so excited by vegetables. That’s my thing.) Some went to soup; others went to salad. The bulk of them we ate raw with hummus.

As a nutritionist told me, carrots make a better choice than pita for scooping up this rich, healthy chickpea spread. It’s easy to get carbohydrates in our diet, she said. It’s harder to get all that vitamin A. Not sure that your kiddos will like it? You might be surprised. Even my picky 3-year-old eats it by the spoonful.

Hummus
Serves 8

4 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Juice of 1 to 1 1/2 lemons
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
1/3 to 1/2 cup tahini
2/3 to 3/4 cup plain yogurt

Put all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Taste and add additional lemon juice, tahini or yogurt, as desired. Serve with carrot sticks, celery or whole-wheat pita wedges. (Remember that carrots and celery are on the Environmental Working Group’s list of foods with the most pesticide residue, so buy organic.)