Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Happy first official full week of spring! I always wonder what it’s like for people...

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Happy first official full week of spring! I always wonder what it’s like for people who live in Southern California during seasonal changes. Take San Diego, for example. It’s always sunny and beautiful. Every single day. So, when spring comes along, are they excited or is it just like every other time of the year?

Is it like Thanksgiving in Europe? Europeans probably don’t get excited about Thanksgiving, just as I’d imagine San Diegans don’t bat an eye at the announcement of spring.

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

On the other hand, those of us in seasonal climates (spring, summer, fall, winter) are jumping up and down. I’ve seen so many girls lately wearing dresses and skirts and shivering. But ya know what? They don’t care, because fa-la-la-la it’s spring!

So, if you live in San Diego, comment on this post. I’m very curious. And also very, very jealous.

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Spring is just like New Year’s for me. I get so rejuvenated and motivated to make healthy changes in my life. I have some extremely exciting news for everyone soon, so I’m literally pulling out my eyebrows trying not to word vomit it out.

While I’d consider myself a very healthy person, there’s always room for improvement. We’re humans, we make mistakes and we fall off track.

Plus, April 1st is my birthday.

I repeat, April 1st is my birthday.

Needless to say, I’ve been the butt of many jokes over the years (April 1st is also April Fool’s Day) and have always associated my birthday with springtime. It’s a lovely time of year to be born, just wish my older brother hadn’t put so many Creepy Crawlers in my shower.

Don’t remember Creepy Crawlers? Does this image bring up any memories?

Creepy Crawlers

Anyway, I’m seriously digressing and I’ll have plenty of time to reminisce on my actual birthday post. Mark your calendars.

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

What I’m even more excited about now is that I’ve partnered up with four amazing ladies for a monthly series that includes themed recipe roundups. Of course, everything that I contribute is spiralized, but their recipes aren’t.

These girls kick butt at making healthy recipes, I’m so proud to be part of the group! Now, you can expect to see us on a monthly basis. Check out the team:

Inspiralized Recipe Roundup

And, most importantly, check out their awesome recipes:

Inspiralized Recipe Roundup

Left column:

Chinese Chopped Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing from Nosh and Nourish

Sushi Salad with Cauliflower Rice and Carrot-Ginger Dressing from The Healthy Maven

Right column:

Honey Lime Fruit Salad with Homemade {Paleo} Cinnamon Sugar Chips from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen

Strawberry Arugula Salad with Poppyseed Dressing from Fit Foodie Lee

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa from Inspiralized

For this roundup, featuring “Spring Salads,” I’ve made a carrot rice salad. I’ve infused the carrot rice with jalapenos for a spicy, flavorful kick. The peppers are charred on the stovetop (you can roast them if you don’t have a gas stove) and the avocado-tomato salsa is made with fresh avocado, onion, lime and tomatoes. The natural flavors in all of the vegetables create a delicious sauce for the salad.

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

This rice salad bowl is topped off with salty roasted pepitas, giving the salad that lovable crunch that works well with the creaminess of the avocado.

You may be raising your eyes skeptically to the carrots. I promise, when the carrots are spiralized and made into rice, they lose that bitter carrot-like taste and take on a whole new flavor and texture. Plus, the juices of the other ingredients and the sauteed jalapenos make for an unreal combination. You won’t realize you’re eating carrots.

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Carrots are often eaten as a snack or a side dish, but here, they’re the protagonist. Carrots have amazing health benefits, such as being a huge source of Vitamin A.

Plus, how many times can you dice carrots into your salad? Or dip them in hummus? Bo-ring!

What do you think of this spring salad roundup?  

 

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

  • For the salsa:
  • 2 plum tomatoes seeds remove, chopped
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1/4 cup diced red onion
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1-2 avocados insides cubed
  • For the pepper:
  • 1 large red bell pepper
  • For the carrot rice:
  • 1 large carrot peeled, Blade C
  • 1 large clove of garlic minced
  • 1 small jalapeno seeds removed, minced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 2 tbsp roasted salted pepitas

Instructions

  • In a bowl, place in all of the ingredients for the salsa. Toss to combine and set aside.
  • Place a red bell pepper on the stovetop with the heat on high. Char, rotating, until pepper skin is completely blackened. Place in a paper bag or plastic container, seal, and let steam for about 5 minutes. Then, peel off the skin of the pepper and slice into strips. Set aside.
  • Place your carrot noodles into a food processor and pulse until made into rice-like bits. Then, place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil. Then, add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Then, add in the jalapenos and carrot rice and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes and add in the vegetable broth. Cook for 5 more minutes or until carrot has softened.
  • In two bowls, divide the rice. Then, top with equal parts of the salsa and peppers. Finally, top each with 1 tbsp of pepitas. Enjoy!

Jalapeno Carrot Rice Salad with Charred Peppers, Pepitas & Avocado-Tomato Salsa

 

with love, Ali

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comments

  • This looks absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try it! *mentally altering shopping list in my head as I write this*
  • I enjoyed reading your post this morning! I'm excited for your new venture posting new healthy creations! This carrot salad looks amazing! Also - Just the other day my kids and I were wondering if people in Florida get excited about the change of seasons!! Very funny that you mentioned that today!!
  • Love these flavors, Ali! And looking forward to your new healthy creations!
  • Being "close enough" to San Diego, I agree there isn't the full change of seasons but there is definitely a trend towards acceptable temps to lay on the beach! You'll have to come visit to see for yourself ;). The cilantro and avocado are totally in theme with SoCal! -JJ
  • This recipe looks great! Thanks to you, I'm using my new spiralizer every day! I live in SoCal and I miss having seasons! Believe it or not, perfect weather gets very boring. ;-) And I have to laugh when I see everyone wearing a parka as soon as it goes below 65.
  • I think carrots are my new favorite thing to spiralize :) Love the recipe!
  • Oh Ali, I should've know you were a fellow Aries ( just celebrated my birthday Saturday) . Can't wait to try this recipe out. Love to spiralize!
  • Love the roundup Ali! All looking fantastic! Yours is a serious power bowl there! So much nutrition! I need one of these ASAP! As for spring, I lived in So Cal for 8 months at one point, and I remember going to Indiana (yes....indiana) for my spring break, it was like 40 degrees and raining. I thought I was going to die! You take it for granted, so I guess its good we have changes in seasons as it makes us appreciate :)
  • I've been pulling up this post ALL DAY and salivating over the image!! I can't wait to make this :) New to your blog and delighted to have found you!
  • SoCal is great. We in San Diego pray for rain all winter and my garden was planted by the end of February. Still praying for rain.... Love our weather. Grew up in snow country and can't imagine ever going back.
  • Just made this for dinner and I can honestly say this is one of the BEST veggie dishes I've ever tried! I used butternut squash rice instead of carrot rice since that's what I had, and I literally need to make another batch because I wanted some to bring for lunch tomorrow and won't have any leftovers since I can't stop eating it! You are making eating more vegetables SO MUCH FUN, Ali! Thank you!
  • I really want to try out carrots with my spiralizer but I can't find carrots that are large enough to spiralize! Maybe South Florida is a bad environment for them and the imported ones are smaller? The biggest ones I can find are about 1/5" diameter at the largest point :( I'm going to try this anyway with the grating blade on my food processor (followed by pulsing with the regular blade) since I have a huge bag of small carrots to use up! It just won't be as much fun as the spiralizer.
  • Making this tonight--what are the nutritional stats??