How to Take a Tropical Vacation without Leaving Home

Three words: buy a lime.

Or, if you’re feeling decadent, buy two or three or ten.

Usually, I just use my bottle of lime juice when a recipe calls for lime, but when I made carrots and broccoli with lime dressing for my book club last month, I decided to go for the real deal.

Holy buckets.  I sliced the lime in half and it was like I was in Mexico, sitting on the beach or in the shade of an outdoor cafe.  I sat there inhaling that limey goodness for longer than is probably normal.

A few weeks later, I bought two more limes.  One I drizzled over some jicama (Pro Tip: It is exciting that Econofoods now sells jicama, but so far the jicama itself leaves something to be desired).  The other I sliced and added to Diet Coke.

I know.  This is not revolutionary.  But it is a tropical treat that I had forgotten about.  So, in case you, too, have forgotten about the wonder of limes, this post is for you.

And also for you: the recipe for carrots and broccoli with lime dressing.  It was not as lime-tastic as I hoped, but since I didn’t actually measure to see if the “juice of one lime” was the right number of tablespoons, I don’t know if the fault is mine or the recipe’s.

Broccoli and Carrots with Lime Dressing

2 carrots, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 stalks broccoli, heads cut into florets, stalks peeled and sliced on the diagonal

Dressing: 1 T. dark sesame oil (I used whatever sesame oil they had at the co-op, but spotted some at Econo the next week), 1 T. soy sauce, 2 tsp. honey, 3 T. fresh lime juice (about one lime), salt and pepper, dash of chili oil, Tabasco, or other hot pepper sauce (optional, but why the heck not?)

Bring about two inches of water to a rapid boil in a covered pot.  When the water boils, add the vegetables, cover, and simmer for about five minutes, until tender but firm (like a good parent).

While the vegetables cook, mix together all of the dressing ingredients.

Drain the vegetables, plunge them into cold water, drain again, and chill until ready to serve.  Or, serve at room temperature.

Just before serving, toss the vegetables with the dressing.

Eat it all up, because this dish was tasty but did not make very tasty leftovers.

One more lime treat to make your Monday feel tropical: the Muppets version of “Put the Lime in the Coconut” (thanks, YouTube, for alerting me to its existence):

What’s your favorite lime treat?

Or, how do you get that vacation feeling while still going to work?