This may seem like a silly question, but I've read so much about how good artichokes are for you so I would like to add them into our diet. I've heard you're not supposed to eat certain parts, but I don't know what parts you're not supposed to eat or how to eat around them... I'm at a loss & feel kinda silly having to ask. I've had a couple of wonderful dips made with canned artichoke hearts, but I would prefer using fresh veggies if possible. Do they even come frozen? A friend told me she uses lots of frozen veggies to so they don't go bad.
Anyway, any tips, recipes, etc you could give me would be WONDERFUL! I am trying to introduce new veggies into our diet as it currently consists of potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes once in a while, peas or spinach when I can sneak them into something, hubby & my 5yo eat broccoli (I don't like it), and hubby & I eat salad. That's it. None of us like carrots, which we've tried many different ways. I know it's really sad... please help!! Any other good veggie recipes would be appreciated too.
We have a 5yo and a 3.5mo who is ready to start eating something other than formula. I'd really like to have a variety of options by the time the baby's ready to try them out. I've done online searches, and the results are so overwhelming I don't know where to start. I work full time, as does hubby, so quick & easy would be even better!
You mamas are so awesome! That's why I LOVE THIS SITE!! The veggies my family eats now is already more than what we ate in our house growing up, and are all that hubby ate. We are very excited to try some new ones. Artichokes are definitely on the list as I understand they, along with asparagus, will be in season soon! YAY!
Thanks so much for all the responses!
I love buying the marinated quarted artichoke hearts and make pizza with the chokes, tomatoes, baby spinach, feta cheese, mozzerella, onion, olives, you name it, its on there. My whole family loves it! I even make it to bring to dinner parties, cut up in smaller slices. YUM!
I love eating the hearts in pasta (you can buy them in jars) or cooking it and dipping the leaves in a garlicy melted butter dip is delicious.
Here is a soup that looks good, I may have to try it too.
http://www.sfgirlbybay.com/2010/04/09/friday-food-files-w...
I love steaming artichokes and pulling the meat off the leaves.
Basically, you cut the stem, cut the sharp edges off the leaves, boil/steam it for ~20 minutes, and pull the leaves off one-by-one and drag your teeth along the meat.
I make an aioli (garlic mayonnaise) to dip the leaves into.
My mom used to make stuffed artichokes - bread crumbs and seasoning stuffed into the leaves and then baked. You eat them the same way as above with the same dip - awesome!
Mmmm... artichokes are one of my favorite foods... You've already gotten my favorite way to eat them covers (boiled and dipped in buttter or lemon butter, heaven)... but here is 1 more and a few asparagus recipes, and a couple other OH! recipes:
- Roman artichokes (these are the TINY purple-ish ones, not the giants)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/artichoke...
- Broiled Asparagus (soy sauce can be omitted, but goes fabu with them)
Asparagus
1-2 cloves Garlic (chopped or sliced)
Olive Oil
Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper
Snap the tough part off the bottom of the A's. Rinse. Place in baking dish. Drizzel over olive oil (several table spoons), soy sauce (ditto), and garlic. Swish it about to coat. Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Place under the broiler. Done when bright green and or a little charred/crispy. Takes 2-5 minutes. Alternatively, do the same on the grill either in tinfoil or directly on the grill after marinating for a little while. TRY not to snitch too many ;)
Sauteed Asparagus
Olive Oil
Asparagus (Chop the asparagus into 2" long pieces)
Mushrooms (quartered or sliced)
Yellow summer squash (sliced)
Lemon (about 1/2)
Salt and Pepper
Heat up the olive oil, dump in A's and M's & S. Sautee until mushrooms are tender. Pour over lemon juice. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Typically about 10-15 minutes.
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Fresh Peas
Shell, rinse, sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt. You'll be amazed. ((the rinsing is to give the salt something to stick to... obviously, coming out of the pods the peas are already clean. You can us olive oil instead, but I prefer them straight))
In addition to Colleen's way to cook them, we dip it and then scrape the 'meat' off with our teeth. We dip them in two different sauces:
- melted butter
- sour cream, lime juice, dill weed, salt
But in a salad, I'll often throw in 'quartered' artichokes along with fresh orange slices, feta cheese, and any other salad topping you like, with a vinegrette salad dressing.
lol, it was my mom's favorite prank to invite my sister's boyfriends to dinner and serve these! OK, so you boil them about 45 minutes, there's a bunch of sauces you can choose, but we just used mayo with a little lemon juice in. Some recipes tell you to cut off the pointy ends of the leaves, but we never did. Anyhow, that is the part that you hold. You scrape the inside of the leaf on your teeth - the concave part, that is, after you dip it in sauce. The stem, or heart, as it is called is really good. The inner leaves you can pretty much just bite off and that is no problem. There is no part that will really hurt you, you just get more fiber, and most people wouldn't want to swallow the stickers. So there you go, good luck!
One of my all-time favorite foods is grilled artichokes! Halve the choke and steam the halves for a few minutes -not too long. Brush olive oil on them and sprinkle course kosher salt and pepper over them. Grill them until the tips are browned and you have some grill marks on them.
To eat -peel each individual leaf off and, using your teeth and tongue -"suck/scrap" the soft part off of the underleaf. Then -and this is the BEST -eat the grilled "heart" and the soft part of the stem. OMG -it's SO WONDERFUL! I wish they weren't so expensive, because I could eat tons of them that way.
Hi D. - you have the basic recipe. Trim off the end of the stem and the sharp points on the leaves with scissors and boil them whole about 45 minutes. I like adding some lemon and salt to the water. The part that you don't want to eat is the center where the leaves look more like fuzz. The artichoke heart is the "meatiest" part and it is right above the stem and the fuzzy part is on top of it. When you peel off the leaves, dip in melted butter and just skim off the bottom fleshy part with your teeth. When you get passed all the leaves. Cut off the fuzz and then cut the heart into pieces, dip into some more butter and enjoy.
Hubby and I love love love artichokes, our kids don't yet (1 1/2 & 3 1/2). You can buy baby artichokes cut in half and marinate in italian dressing for a day and then grill on the barbque. They are good and you can eat the whole thing.
My favorite is the jumbo artichokes. I cut off the top inch of it, cut off all the thorns just below the thorn, cut all but about an inch of the stalk. Pull off the first 2 layers of leaves and then cut the skin off the stalk. Boil in water until the leaves are easy to pull off, drain and you are ready to eat scraping off the meat on the inside of the leaves with your teeth. Once you get to the little, thin leaves in the middle you can pull them out and you will then see the hair inside. Cut out the hair. You then have the stalk and a thick bowl looking thing called the artichoke heart that you can eat. It is the best part. It's like licking a tootsie pop so you can get to the inside. LOL. =)
I like to dip the leaves/heart in mayonaise mixed with salt and pepper. My husband dips his in melted real butter.
I hope you enjoy it. Another thing you might try is asparagus, you can boil/steam them or drizzle with olive oil and Ms Dash and grill on the barbque, yummy. Our kids do eat asparagus and they are super healthy for you too.
I LOVE artichokes!!!! Have since I was a kid. They are rather expensive, unless you live in california where mote of the artichokes in the us are grown.
Here's what I do to cook them- give them a good rinse, trim the stem and boil or steam them until tender. This can take up to 30-45 minutes. Melt some butter and put into a small dish. This is to dip the leaves. To eat, tou just peel the leaves off one by one and dip the bottoms of the leaves (where it is the fleshiest) in butter. Put in your mouth and scrape the flesh off with your teeth. The leaves themselves are NOT edible, just the fleshy part.
When you get down to the choke (or thistle- artichokes are related to sunflowers and you are eating the flower head when you eat one) scrape it out with a fork or spoon. Cut up the heart and dip in butter. This is often the best part! The entire heart is edible.
Hearts do come frozen or canned and are very good too. Just follow the direction on the package and toss into pasta or anything else you like.
Good Luck!!
I love fresh artichokes! The easiest way I found to eat and cook them is cut off the stalk to have a flush bottom, clip off the stickers at top of the leaves with kitchen shears and cut off a small portion of the top of the artichoke-wash off completely then leave a little water inside-put in microwave safe dish and cover with saran wrap leaving a vent area and microwave for about 7 minutes. I eat with melted butter, just pull off the leaves and dip then scrap with your teeth and don't forget the best part which is heart in the middle (just clean all the hairy like stuff off the top and devour. I am pregnant and this is one of my cravings at the moment, can't get enough of them, I just wish they were cheaper :)
Hi Artichokes are great but I find I want to dip them in something super fatty so we don't eat them too often!
Try these:
Green beans- toss in boiling water for about 2-3 minutes, drain. Stir fry about 5 minutes in olive oil, a few cloves minced garlic, squeeze of lemon juice and salt & pepper. Yummy!
Asparagus- stir fry in seseme oil, minced garlic, fresh or dry ginger, cook stirring bout 5 minutes. Turn down heat, sprinkle a couple tablespoon of soy sauce and cover until tender.
Zuccini- Stir fry sliced zuc and onions with minced garlic S & P, olive oil for a few minutes, super easy.
Another way we eat veggies is cooked on the grill with one of those skillet things with holes in it. Gives a great BBQ taste and you can marinade before with Olive oil, garlic, basil, apple cider vinegar, and a little soy sauce. Really good and I put the leftovers on pizza, in omelettes, quiche what ever is on that weeks menu. Old steamed veggies are so boring it's no wonder people don't like to eat them, get creative!
Hi D., not a silly questions at all. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with fresh artichokes, I get mine from a jar, so thanks for asking the question!
I thrown mine in a salad or on pizza.
As for other veggies, here are a few of my simple favourites:
Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over trimmed asparagus. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Saute squash and zucchini slices with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic (can add cayenne pepper too if you like it hot) in a pan until soft
Steam broccoli and top with lots of shredded cheese
Saute 1 bag of spinach in a pan with olive oil and minced garlic
HEB makes a frozen Select Artichoke in the frozen veggie section.
Take one package of Artichoke and put in saucepan with 1 cup extra virgin olive oil and 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins. Break up the artichoke into smaller pieces. When finished, pour over some precooked penne. Then sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Happy Eating.
I know this is after your what happened but had to say thank you for the question. I love artichoke but only have had them when at a restaurant because I didn't have a clue. Now I do!!
And, I love asparagus and have a super easy delicious recipe. Wrap each stalk in bacon, I've even used turkey bacon. Grill on the grill, medium flame, or broil in oven. It is so good.
We eat ours steamed with melted garlic butter or mayo.
You just steam them till tender and pull of the leaves as others have said and dip and scrape with your teeth, then discard the leaf. Easy ~Eating artichokes this way is more of an event/activity...we occasionally make up one for every body in the family and then sit around a chat while we "eat" them...I put eat in quotes because you will see when you try them that there really isn't that much eating involved, but its tasty and fun:)
The choke is the part in the very center that looks like a bunch of fibers...don't eat that...it will make you choke-Ha!
I usually snip up the end and take off a few of the outside leaves before steaming...enjoy!
~Other easy veggies that my kids and picky hubby love are Yellow,orange and red bell peppers sliced, tomatoes, cucumbers, purple onions either together or alone with a drizzle of Rice wine vinegar-Super yummy!
Sandra R.'s description of an artichoke heart is about the closest I have ever come to being driven wild by anything written on a website anywhere. Then again, I don't go to certain kinds of websites!
But I do love artichokes. When I was pregnant sometimes I would make 3 or 4 and eat them all by myself. I am not kidding.
My favorite sauce for dipping artichokes: Hollandaise sauce, home-made, not from a packet, it's all egg yolks and butter and lemon juice. A heart attack in every drop and so to DIE FOR.
You will never touch a pickled artichoke again after you've had a fresh one.
I am so in the mood for a Arti right now. We cut off the long stem on the bottom open the leaves a little and stuff with Italian flavored bread crumbs top with real grated parmasean and sometimes a pad of butter on top of each put in a pot 1/2 way up the artichoke with water put a lid on it and it cooks in 45 minutes. So yummy I am actually salivating while writting this. YUMMMMMMM
All the recipes are awesome!!!
Can I PLEASE add a joke?
This is no way, shape or form, to be mis-construed as anything other than an absolute joke, just to make you laugh.
Post: How do you eat an artichoke?
Reply: You dont, those things are gross!!!
Ba dum dum!!!! Thank you ladies and gentleman....Good Night!!!!
Margaret :) (big smile)
YES! We eat them every week... we buy the multi bag from Costco.
Even my picky son loves them, and my daughter.
We just steam in water over the stove, and squeeze lemon on it.
Purist style.
TOTALLY good veggie!
All the best,
Susan
Try bok choy! It is really easy and my family all likes it. You can buy it at Walmart for 99 cents in the produce section. Wash it, chop it up (about 1 inch strips), then sautee it in olive oil with some onion. Yum!
Fresh artichokes are easy to cook, a little challenging to eat! I steam them, I per adult depending on size, until the leaves pull out easily. You eat by pulling off the leaves and scraping the soft part off with you teeth. When the leaves are all gone, you scrape out the "choke", which is the hairy part. The rest that is left is the heart, solid delicious artichoke. Yum. I make a very easy healthy dip with non fat plain yogurt mixed with a little mustard and maybe some herbs (fresh lemon thyme is my favorite, but any you like is good). HEB has frozen artichoke hearts which I put in casseroles and stir fry a lot.
Try asparagus, chard (rainbow chard is pretty, so kids like it) which you cook like spinach, simply steamed, beets, snow peas, and greens of all kinds. I will try a new veggie each month just to see. Central Market foodies (green striped aprons) will be glad to tell you how to prepare them.
Enjoy!
