2 recipes: Soy Glazed Carrots and Oven Fried Okra

Here are two side dish recipes that we tried tonight. First, I love carrots, but don't know how to cook them on their own. I usually roast them with several other vegetables or throw them in soups/stews/roasts. This recipe sounded like it would be tasty, so I decided to try it out tonight. We thought the carrots were really good. I am sure you could change up the recipe to make it your own.

I was raised in the South, which means that fried okra was a common side dish at several places. I absolutely love okra, but NEVER make it because the only way I know how is to fry it up in a skillet. I searched for a healthier version of "fried okra" and this was my first attempt. We thought it was decent but I think I will try a few things differently next time.

Soy Glazed Carrots
Serves 4

Original Recipe: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/honey-and-soy-glazed-carrots

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh whole carrots - peeled and sliced into chunks or sticks
1 tablespoon light margarine - melted
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce - I used the lower sodium soy sauce

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-On a non-stick baking sheet, spray non-stick cooking spray
-In a bowl, combine sliced carrots, melted butter, honey, and soy sauce and mix until well combined.
-Put carrots on baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes. Flip carrots once during cooking process.
-Our oven took exactly 20 minutes, which is when the carrots were cooked but still slightly crunchy, which is how we like them.

Oven Fried Okra
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen cut okra - not the breaded kind
8 tablespoons cornmeal
2 eggs or 1/2 cup eggbeaters
1/4 cup skim milk
pepper
cajun seasoning or any other seasoning you wish to use

Directions:
-In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and milk and stir together. Set aside
-In another mixing bowl, add the cornmeal and any seasonings you wish to use and stir together.
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-On a baking sheet, spray with non-stick cooking spray.
-Take a few pieces of okra at a time and place in the egg/milk mixture and then dip in cornmeal mixture. Set on baking sheet
-Repeat process until all okra is breaded and on baking sheet.
-Bake for approx 20-25 minutes, making sure to flip okra at least once during cooking process.


*Modifications/Suggestions
-Next time we make this dish, I intend to dip the okra in the egg mixture, then cornmeal mixture, and then repeat the process 1 more time for each batch of okra. This will give it more of a crust and will make it taste more like "fried" okra.
-For a healthier type of okra, this dish was definitely not bad.

Enjoy :)