Artichoke

A lovely snack...very healthy and very filling = artichoke. While a lot of people might be scared of these guys, or may even find it difficult to cook/prepare, they really aren't! Panda and I bought a batch of 4 from Costco over the weekend, and it was for little over $5, GREAT DEAL! Especially how humongous these guys are.

To prepare: simply bring a pot of water to boil, add chopped garlic and drop the artichokes inside the pot. Cover the pot slightly with a lid, and cook for about 20-25 minutes (depends on the size). A sure way to test when it's cooked, is to grab one of the leaves and pull...if you can pull it off, it's ready, if not let it boil for another 5 minutes or so. If you pull it and it feels like it's about to come off, but doesn't, it's ready. The artichoke is still cooking on the inside when you pull it out. Dip the leaves into your favorite dressing (ours is ranch), and munch away! When you get to the heart, you just take a knife and "scoop" the "hairs" away...and voila!

oh how tasty you truly are...