Artichokes Won't Make You Choke

One of my new favorite blogs is Vindicate the Vegetable which challenges readers to eat veggies. This blog is perfect for me and my husband (who has recently decided to try vegetables other than lettuce) as we are trying to eat more real food and less junk. This week's vegetable is artichoke. I was not even sure I could find a fresh artichoke, but they were at Wal-Mart. The cashier had to look up the number to key in. She made the comment that she had never seen anyone actually buy an artichoke. Hmmm...I wondered about the freshness of my purchase but decided it was too late to turn back.

Since this was the first time either of either my husband or I had eaten artichoke, I decided to keep it simple and just steam it. I put some water, a little lime juice, and a clove of chopped garlic in a bowl. I put the artichoke the mixture and popped it into the microwave. We melted a little butter for dipping. It was delicious. The title of this post came from my husband who said before he took a bite, "I hope I don't choke on this". He is new to the veggie world. We both like it, and I can see us eating artichoke more often. Now that I know we like it I will be more open to recipes that list artichoke as an ingredient. Below is a picture of the one I cooked before we devoured it.